Australia's Ramsay Health Care hits over 4-month low on steep drop in annual profit

(Reuters) -Ramsay Health Care posted a steep drop in its annual results, hurt by a one-off charge and poor performance at its European division and British mental health service business, sending its shares to a more than four-month low.

The Australian private hospital operator posted a net profit after tax of A$24 million ($15.60 million) for the year ended June 30 on Thursday, compared with A$888.7 million a year ago.

That also missed the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$70.4 million.

Weaker results from Ramsay Santé, its European arm and Elysium, the British mental health business, higher net financing costs, among others, weighed on the firm's bottom line, the company said.

A one-off post-tax charge of A$291 million related to underperformance at Elysium further squeezed its earnings.

Santé, a private healthcare operator in Europe with its services spread across France, Italy, Norway, among others, has been underperforming for a while now.

Earlier this year, the company hinted at a potential sale of Santé and appointed Goldman Sachs to look at strategic options for its stake in the division.

"Ramsay remains committed to optimising shareholder returns and is reviewing a range of options (for Santé)," the hospital operator said on Thursday.

Shares of the firm dropped as much as 15.7% to A$32.1, as of 0214 GMT, hitting their record weakest session.

($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Alan Barona and Rashmi Aich)