2335 GMT - Sonic Healthcare lacks national scale in the U.S. despite investing A$2.3 billion in M&A there, and Barrenjoey says the path to growing its footprint is unclear. So, Barrenjoey explores a possible sale of the U.S. business and concludes it would be highly attractive to Sonic's bigger rivals. Assuming a sales price of 11-14x FY 2026 Ebitda, with proceeds used on a share buyback, Sonic's proforma EPS could change by -1% to +6% that year, Barrenjoey says. Sonic's return on invested capital could improve to 6.8%, from 6.5%. "While not necessarily financially compelling, the broader benefits of such a transaction include a decrease in maintenance capex into the U.S. region, and the ability to deploy future capital into higher returning regions such as Germany (via bolt-ons)," analyst Saul Hadassin says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 26, 2025 18:35 ET (22:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.