Ailing rand aids Life Healthcare. The private hospitals group says its full-year results will be better than

previously expected, helped by the weak rand and a better performance from

Alliance Medical in the UK.

Life Healthcare has been given a boost by rand weakness this year. In a

trading statement on Friday, the private healthcare group said its results for

the year to end-September would be better than previously expected after the

rand weakened against the pound, the euro and Poland's zloty. It also credited

better than expected results from the UK's Alliance Medical, which will be

included for the full year.

The group expects to report a 67% to 77% increase in earnings per share (EPS),

while headline EPS will be 35% to 45% higher. It said its results would

reflect a gain of about 74 rand million relating to the acquisition of the

minority shareholding in Alliance Medical, from a 65 rand million loss last year.

The comparative numbers also included transaction and funding costs of 694 rand

million related to the acquisition and a 167 rand million impairment of Polish

business Scanmed Multimedis.

Life bought Alliance Medical in late 2016 and results of the UK diagnostics

specialist were only included for part of its 2017 financial year. It said

Alliance delivered a strong performance in its Irish, Italian and northern

Europe diagnostics businesses. The UK molecular imaging business (PET-CT)

continued to experience good scan volume growth with 2018 volumes up by 12%

from last year.

In August, the group sold its 49.7% stake in India's Max Healthcare to

investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) for 4.3 rand billion before

costs and taxes. Max's book value at the end of March amounted to 2.9 rand billion

and it's expected to report a net loss of between 115 rand million and 135 rand

million for the year.

Life's results are scheduled for release on 23 November. Its shares ended

trade 0.8% lower at 25.84 rand on Friday.