BARCHESTER Healthcare, the nursing home group backed by Dermot Desmond and John Magnier, is considering splitting into two separate companies, one to focus on operating and the other a property holding company.

The company has been named as one of the most profitable companies in Britain in the Profit Track 100, an annual survey compiled in association with The Sunday Times.

Barchester now operates 170 nursing homes in Britain and provides residential care to 10,000 people and employs 13,000 staff.

The rise in profit has been achieved through acquisition, primarily the purchase of Westminster Health Care for £525m (€753m) in October 2004, and organic growth.

Mike Parsons, chief executive of Barchester, said the company would post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £70m in 2005 and was projected to earn £85m this year.

He said the company board was examining the possibility of splitting the company to create two investment vehicles for its shareholders. A stock market flotation of the company was also an option, said Parsons, but there were no immediate plans.

The company had a loyal shareholder base, the majority of them Irish, who had invested in the company since 1993 and had never received a dividend. “These are long-term investors,” he said.

Barchester was named in the Fast Track 100 and also as one of the 100 best companies to work for in separate surveys in the past five months.

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