VCA Inc. (WOOF) has reported 36.02 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $40.69 million, or $0.50 a share in the quarter, compared with $63.60 million, or $0.78 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $47.43 million, or $0.58 a share compared with $41.01 million or $0.50 a share, a year ago. Revenue during the quarter grew 20.49 percent to $643.08 million from $533.72 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 110 basis points over the previous year period to 20.96 percent. Total expenses were 87.99 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 87.56 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 43 basis points in operating margin to 12.01 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $77.22 million, compared with $66.38 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $89.10 million compared to $72.58 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin improved 26 basis points in the quarter to 13.85 percent from 13.60 percent in the last year period.
Bob Antin, chairman and chief executive officer, stated, "We had a strong fourth quarter, which concluded another excellent year. We experienced solid organic revenue growth of 4.9% and 5.3% in our core Animal Hospital and Laboratory business segments, respectively.
Operating cash flow improvesVCA Inc. has generated cash of $389.83 million from operating activities during the year, up 22.76 percent or $72.29 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $828.24 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $203.65 million in the last year. It has incurred net capital expenditure of $121.22 million on net basis during the year, up 142.32 percent or $71.19 million from year ago.
Cash flow from financing activities was $421.32 million for the year as against cash outgo of $95.27 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $81.41 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, down 17.68 percent or $17.48 million from $98.89 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Working capital turns negative
Working capital of VCA Inc. has turned negative to $15.45 million on Dec. 31, 2016 from positive $49.86 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Current ratio was at 0.95 as on Dec. 31, 2016, down from 1.21 on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt increases substantially
VCA Inc. has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $1,347.72 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 55.56 percent or $481.38 million from $866.34 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Total debt was 39.95 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 34.55 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Debt to equity ratio was at 0.86 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 0.69 as on Dec. 31, 2015. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: editor@irisindia.net
