Medical transcription services company MedQuist Holdings Inc. said Monday that its profit grew in the first quarter after it acquired Spheris Inc.
MedQuist changed its name from CBaySystems Holdings in January and completed its initial public offering in February. Its profit was $9.3 million, or 5 cents per share, for the period that ended March 31. That's up from $2.1 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items like charges related to job cuts and future lease payments, the company said it earned 31 cents per share. Revenue rose 31 percent, to $111.2 million from $85.1 million.
Analysts expected it to report adjusted profit of 22 cents per share and $109.6 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
MedQuist acquired clinical documentation technology and services company Spheris in April 2010, and that deal added $31 million to its revenue in the most recent quarter. The company said its documentation volume rose 39 percent to 866 million lines.
MedQuist Holdings owns a majority stake in MedQuist Inc., a company that was already publicly traded at the time of MedQuist Holdings' IPO. MedQuist Holdings expects to complete a merger with MedQuist Inc. in the third quarter. At that time, MedQuist Inc.'s shares will stop trading publicly.
Shares of MedQuist Holdings rose 53 cents, or 5 percent, to $11.05 in afternoon trading. Shares of MedQuist Inc. rose 24 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $10.75.