Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals reported net income attributable to the company fell to $22.4 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, down significantly from $35.6 million for the same period of the prior year.
For the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2014, LifePoint's revenues grew to $1.3 billion from $952.6 million in the comparable quarter of 2013. Even with the increase in revenue, LifePoint's net income was down for the quarter due to the negative effect of a $45.5 million impairment charge for the write down of property, equipment, allocated goodwill and certain other assets in connection with the sale of three hospitals in Alabama.
Leif Murphy, executive vice president and CFO of LifePoint, was pleased with the hospital operator's fourth-quarter financial results and said, "We had another strong quarter in line with our expectations," in a conference call on Thursday.
For the full fiscal year 2014, LifePoint's revenues were $4.5 billion, up from $3.7 billion for FY 2013. Net income attributable to the hospital operator for the full year fell to $126.1 million from $128.2 million in FY 2013.
For 2015, LifePoint expects earnings in the range of $3.75 per share to $4.14 per share and revenues of $5.05 billion to $5.15 billion. Analysts expect the hospital operator to see full year earnings of $3.78 per share on revenues of $5.08 billion, according to Nasdaq.
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