Australia's largest IVF provider, Virtus Health, is targeting the United Kingdom as its next opportunity for international expansion.
Virtus, which has been facing intense competition and flat growth in Australia, already has a fertility centre in Singapore and three clinics in Ireland.
Chief executive Sue Channon says Virtus will continue to expand via acquisitions and "greenfield" developments in key international and domestic markets.
"More specifically, in the international markets, the UK is our primary focus at this time," she said on Tuesday.
"Our strategy in the UK will be to buy a small cornerstone (operation) and build onto that."
Virtus is also reviewing additional opportunities in southeast Asia.
The company favoured countries that had a similar legal framework and clinical practices to Australia, and where English was the spoken language.
"So you can see Singapore, Ireland, UK meet that criteria for us," Ms Channon said.
She said Virtus's business in Ireland was performing well but the company was unlikely to expand further there at this point in time.
Her comments came as Virtus reported a net profit of $29.4 million for the year to June 30, down 4.7 per cent from $30.9 million in 2013/14 due to one-off costs and losing market share in Queensland and Victoria.
The group warned in June that it faced bigger-than-expected one-off costs of $2.3 million because it hadn't harvested and implanted as many fertilised eggs as expected for prospective parents.
Underlying profit, which excludes one-off costs linked to the set-up of its Singapore business, rose 5.1 per cent to $33.6 million, in line with the company's guidance for mid-single digit growth.
Virtus experienced an increase in IVF cycles in NSW, but weakness in the Queensland and Victorian economies had hurt IVF activity in those states.
A significant change to clinical practice at Melbourne IVF resulted in a reduction in the number of fresh and frozen IVF cycles undertaken, which resulted in a revenue loss of about $3 million.
Virtus said its international operations were making an increasing contribution
The Irish clinics performed 1,878 cycles during the year.
The Singapore clinic, which opened in December 2014, was attracting good patient interest but the number of cycles was just 86.
Ms Channon said Virtus had under-estimated the impact of Chinese New Year and the conservatism Singaporeans.
Total Virtus cycles rose to 17,064 in fiscal 2015, up from 15,021 in the prior year.
Shares in Virtus closed 17 cents higher at $4.76.
VIRTUS EYES UK FOR EXPANSION
* Net profit: down 4.7pct to $29.4m
* Revenue: up 16.1pct to $233.7m
* Final dividend: steady at 14 cents a share.
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