Bupa upbeat despite fall in membership

Private medical group Bupa yesterday reported a 0.8 per cent fall in UK membership of its health insurance and "wellbeing" division in the first half, but said changes to NHS care by the coalition government could provide a boost for the firms.

While conditions in the UK, Spain and US were challenging, Bupa added, operations in Australia and a number of other countries benefited from a more benign environment as it reported a 10 per cent rise in revenue to 3.71 billion. Underlying profit, meanwhile, rose 5 per cent to 183.6 million during the period.

Ray King, chief executive of Bupa, said: "The UK and US governments started to articulate their plans for reform of their healthcare systems and we believe that this should offer new opportunities for our businesses in the future."