Medibank Private managing director George Savvides has brushed off speculation about the government-owned company being privatised.
He shrugged off the rumour saying speculation about selling comes and goes.
“We don’t sit around waiting for somebody to say who should own the shares,” Mr Savvides said. “It’s just part of the journey of being a government business enterprise.”
Mr Savvides is happy with the performance of Australia’s largest health insurer this financial year, even though Medibank’s net profit slumped 57 per cent to $126.6 million in the 2012 financial year. But revenue reached a record high for a second year running – $5.4 billion.
Medibank’s 2012 annual report flagged that it would pay the government a special dividend of $300 million, on top of a $91 million ordinary dividend.
Labor does not support a sale of Medibank, the Coalition would be keen to sell it off if it wins the next election.
Mr Savvides wasn’t fazed by the speculation and was instead focused on challenging market conditions, such as the growth of insurance comparison sites and member downgrades and drop-offs as government income-testing of private health insurance bites.
NIB has described the privatisation of Medibank as “inevitable” and tipped the private health insurance system to grow by 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent a year, with government measures having only a “moderate impact”.
Medibank has 4500 employees and 3.7 million customers, or more than a quarter of the market. Next is Bupa Australia, with 3.5 million members.
Source: The Age.