Pre-tax profits at Hermitage private hospital increase by 4% to €2.6m
Accounts just lodged with the Companies Office show that Hermitage Clinic Ltd recorded the increase in pre-tax profit after revenues last year increased by 3% from €52.99m to €54.44m in the 12 months to the end of December last.
The clinic is a 101-bed hospital in Lucan, Dublin, and according to the directors’ report: “During the year, the hospital continued to suffer price reductions from health insurers and other purchasers.
“The hospital also experienced increased costs attributable in part to the use of more expensive consumables and drugs in patient care.
“These pressures are expected to continue into 2013. In order to mitigate these factors, the hospital must increase activity levels and achieve cost savings through improved efficiency and more aggressive procurement.”
Separate figures provided by Health Minister James Reilly, in a written Dáil response last week to Fine Gael deputy Billy Timmins, confirm that numbers on health insurance fell by almost 9% from 2.297m at the end of 2008 to 2.098m to the end of December last.
Mr Reilly confirmed that numbers on health insurance fell further to 2.048m, or 44.6% of the population, by the end of September this year.
A note attached to the Hermitage accounts states the company “is expected to continue to generate profits and positive cash flows on its own account for the foreseeable future”.
The figures show that the clinic’s operating profits decreased from €3.28m to €3.19m last year .
However, interest payments decreasing from €717,764 to €531,285 last year resulted in the increase in pre-tax profits last year. Corporation tax last year of €144,321 resulted in a profit of €2.523m for the year.
The figures show that the numbers employed by the clinic last year increased from 379 to 387, with staff costs increasing from €19.18m to €19.25m.
The accounts show that medical and clinical staff last year increased from 286 to 305, with staff categorised ‘other’ declining from 93 to 82.
The clinic’s staff costs last year included temporary, contract and agency staff costs of €174,016. Directors remuneration last year increased from €426,161 to €439,221.
The profit in 2012 reduced the firm’s accumulated loss from €21.75m to €19.23m.
In their report, the directors state that the Hermitage clinic has been reliant on funding from its shareholders since the clinic commenced activity in December 2006.
They state: “The company has received €26m in funding from its shareholders up to December 31st, 2012. The directors continue to monitor the clinic’s activities and required funding levels on a regular basis and are satisfied the clinic’s current level of funding is adequate to support the clinic’s ongoing financing requirements for the foreseeable future.”
Many of the shareholders own major stakes in the much longer established Blackrock Clinic in Dublin and in the Galway Clinic.
