After 37 years of being listed on the JSE, the hospital group Mediclinic was delisted towards the end of May. The delisting followed a £3.7bn buyout by a consortium consisting of Remgro and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

Last Friday, as a show of good faith, Remgro chose to release Mediclinic's final set of listed results for the year to March 2023, although it is no longer legally required to do so.

When it made its purchase offer, the Bidco Consortium reserved the right to reduce its offer by the amount of any dividend declared before the effective takeover date. To prevent a dilution of the share price, and in a departure from previous policy targeting a payout ratio of 25% to 35% of full-year adjusted earnings, management chose not to pay out any final dividends to shareholders. Mediclinic's last trading date was 25 May this year.

For the year to March 2023, group revenue grew by 12% to £3.6-billion, while the adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased by 9% to £570-million. Management attributed the growth in revenue to an 11.2% increase in inpatient admissions and a 16.2% growth in day-case admissions. This was, however, partially offset by lower average revenue per case due to mix changes, exacerbated by the post-Covid-19 environment, and below-inflation tariff increases.

Mediclinic saw softer revenue performance on the back of increased employee costs due to general nurse shortages in...