Dental centre operator Pacific Smiles Group Ltd (ASX: PSQ) today announced its FY18 NPAT of $9.3 million is almost 10% lower than its FY17 profit, as its share price slipped into the red by 3% today.
Pacific did manage to boost its EBITDA 2.9% on FY17, with FY18 EBITDA coming in at $21.5 million, and dentist fee hikes raked in $164.5 million for the company – up 12% on last year.
But with 10 new dental centres opened over FY18, you'd expect profit to have jumped up in-kind.
Certainly such a big roll out costs serious dollars and Pacific is paying out shareholders 6.1c per share in fully-franked full-year dividends, but investors will hope forecasts of an FY19 EBITDA increase of 10% translates into the profit uptick for FY19 they did not get in FY18.
It's all but impossible Pacific will ever reach the dizzying heights of healthcare sector darlings CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) or Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH).
