The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price popped 3% today following the release of its 2019 full-year financial results this morning.
Medibank Private is one of Australia’s largest private health insurers in a market which includes NIB Holdings (ASX: NHF) and not-for-profit insurers. Medibank listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in November 2014 with an Initial Public Offering price of $2.00.
Medibank Report Highlights
- Medibank’s number of policyholders came in at 3.77 million, a slight increase from the prior year of 3.74 million.
- Medibank advised it had increased its overall market share by 5 basis points to 26.9%.
- Health insurance premium revenue of $6.46 billion (2.3% increase from the prior year).
- Full-year profit rose 3.5% to $458.7 million.
- A final and special dividend of 7.4 and 2.5 cents per share, respectively, was declared
Medibank CEO Craig Drummond said, “This is a good quality result, demonstrating that the investment we have made to improve the value and service proposition for our customers is making our business stronger and more sustainable in a challenging market environment.”
“Looking forward to 2020, the Health Insurance business is positioned to grow, and we are well placed to become a leader in the in-home care market.”
Is It Time To Buy Medibank Shares?
Although I was impressed that Medibank managed to grow its profit, I believe there are better companies within the ASX 200 (ASX: XJO), which offer the potential of higher returns than Medibank.
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At the time of publishing, William does not have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned.
