Finance
UK's Spire Healthcare flags profit at low end as NHS slows commissioning
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 3, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 3, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Spire Healthcare warns of lower profits due to NHS commissioning slowdown, affecting its financial outlook and shares, while exploring strategic options.
Dec 3 (Reuters) - British private hospital group Spire Healthcare on Wednesday warned annual profit would come in at the bottom end of guidance, citing a slowdown in UK's National Health Service commissioning activity to the independent sector due to budget restrictions.
Shares fell nearly 15% to 190.2 pence by 0953 GMT.
Spire Healthcare supports Britain's NHS by taking patients off waiting lists at the same tariff prices as local NHS trusts, and by delivering NHS services, according to the company.
While self‑pay demand continues to grow, it has not been sufficient to offset the recent slowdown in NHS commissioning, the company said, underlining the mounting crisis across the state‑run, publicly funded system.
The outlook comes as the company is reviewing a range of strategic options, including a potential sale of the business, as part of efforts to address concerns that the business is undervalued.
The company expects adjusted EBITDA for the year 2026 to be broadly in line or slightly ahead of 2025 compared with market estimate of 311.4 million pounds, according to a Jefferies note.
The company had expected to record adjusted core profit between 270 million pounds and 285 million pounds ($357.64-$377.51 million) for 2025.
"This is a disappointing statement, particularly the downgrade for FY26, which given the company is expected to deliver a further 30 million pounds of costs savings in FY26, implies the core business will be going backwards," Panmure Liberum Analyst Seb Jantet said in a note.
($1 = 0.7549 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Ankita Bora in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Tasim Zahid)
EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It is a financial metric used to evaluate a company's operating performance.
Adjusted EBITDA is a modified version of EBITDA that excludes certain one-time or non-recurring expenses, providing a clearer picture of a company's operational profitability.
A profit warning is a statement issued by a company indicating that its earnings will be lower than expected, often leading to a decline in its stock price.
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