Virtus Health Ltd (ASX: VRT) shares are teetering up and down following the company's half-year results release this morning. At the market's open, the Virtus Health share price surged nearly 6% to a new 52-week of $6.52. However, at the time of writing, Virus shares have pulled back to $6.18, up 0.32% for the day so far.
Let's take a peek and see how Australia's largest in vitro fertilisation provider performed over the first half of FY21 (1HFY21).
What's moving the Virtus Health share price?
The Virtus Health share price is all over the show today after the company reported group revenue of $169.6 million for 1HFY21, compared to H1FY20's $142.1 million in revenue.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was $59 million, beating H1FY20's EBITDA of $35.5 million.
Virtus declared an interim, fully franked dividend of 12 cents per share for the period.
Group CEO Kate Munnings commented on doing business during the challenging conditions presented by coronavirus. She said:
While we all felt the impact of COVID-19 on our services, our clinics have responded strongly. I am proud of how our team mobilised post the initial COVID-19 global shutdown, and how they have been able to continue to provide our essential services safely during the numerous lockdowns that have been experienced since then. We have experienced record levels of activity since restarting in mid-2020, demonstrating the resilience of assisted reproductive services.
Company outlook
After withstanding the disruptions of COVID-19, Virtus anticipates normalisation of growth rates heading into H2FY2021.
However, Virtus did caution that rising COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom and Europe have led to stricter restrictions across the UK and Ireland which may continue to impact future business activities.
Commenting on what lies ahead, Munnings added:
We will continue to differentiate our services to drive further improvements in IVF pregnancy rates, via the One Lab approach, which was prototyped and implemented in Victoria, and resulted in IVF pregnancy rates increasing by 15% in the last three years. Melbourne IVF is now the clear leader in IVF pregnancy outcomes in Victoria, as demonstrated in the VARTA 2020 Annual Report published in December 2020.
We expect to see sporadic disruptions from local and international COVID outbreaks for some time yet but remain optimistic that our clinics will continue to maintain their resilience.
Foolish takeaway
Over the past six months, the Virtus Health share price has soared by more than 90%. This has come after the company's shares dropped as low as $1.56 in March 2020. Based on the current Virtus share price, the company has a market capitalisation of around $496 million and 79 million shares outstanding.
