Shares in Abu Dhabi-based NMC Health closed on the London Stock Exchange yesterday, 3rd November, over two pounds (AED 10) up on the week, breaching the 30 pounds (AED 150) barrier for the first time as institutional investors continued to display interest in the stock. The shares closed at 30.89 pounds, up from 28.86 pounds at the end of the previous week.

The company, the UAE’s largest healthcare provider, listed on the London market in 2012 and joined the FTSE 100 Index for the first time in August, making it one of the top 100 companies quoted in London. It is currently valued at around 6.3 billion pounds (around AED 31.5 billion).

Founded in 1975 by Abu Dhabi resident B.R. Shetty, it was the first Abu Dhabi company to list on the London market.

In its latest results, in August, NMC Health reported a 39 percent rise in half-year profits to US$97.8 million, (around AED359 million), a performance ascribed by one analyst to the success of its strategy to expand into higher value services and new territories outside the UAE.

With sixty percent of the company being held by large shareholders, including Shetty, only 40 percent of its shares are tradable on the open market.