PureHealth Adds UK Laboratory Operations Through Circle Health Group

PureHealth is extending its diagnostics business into Britain, with its subsidiary Circle Health Group assuming selected UK laboratory operations from Unilabs Limited. The handover covers two hub laboratories, one at Euston and one at Cavendish Square in London, backed by a set of fully licensed labs elsewhere in the country.

Those operations will support a hospital estate of more than 50 sites. Their work covers pathology, histopathology, blood sciences, microbiology and specialist diagnostics, and they count more than 90 external healthcare clients.

The PureLab connection

The expanded platform leans on PureLab, PureHealth's laboratory arm, which runs a network of more than 150 laboratories and processes over 25 million tests each year. Automation and AI-enabled diagnostics sit behind that throughput.

Bringing labs closer to wards

Folding laboratory services into the hospital group is meant to sharpen oversight of quality and capacity and shorten turnaround times, while putting laboratory specialists and clinicians in closer contact across the hospital network.

Shaista Asif, group chief executive of PureHealth, said the expansion illustrates how the company creates greater value by linking expertise across its international portfolio. Growth abroad, she added, is raising the share of the business that overseas markets contribute, diversifying revenue and creating long-term value for shareholders.

Paul Manning, chief executive of Circle Health Group, said tighter integration of diagnostics and hospitals delivers a more connected model of care. He said it improves collaboration between clinicians and laboratory specialists, makes operations more responsive, and gives the group a foundation for continued growth while keeping service quality intact for its external healthcare partners.

What it adds to the group

PureHealth describes the UK move as adding complementary capabilities that deepen integration along the care pathway and diversify income streams.

International operations contributed positively to the group's margins in the first half of 2026. Revenue from those operations rose 56% year on year to $1.4 billion (AED 5 billion) in that period. Circle Health Group posted underlying revenue growth of 6.3% year on year in the first half, supported by a larger share of higher-acuity and complex inpatient procedures.

PureHealth acquired Circle Health Group in August 2023 in a transaction valued at $1.2 billion (AED 4.41 billion). Forbes Middle East ranks PureHealth 54th on its list of the region's 100 Most Valuable Companies 2026, and places Asif 17th on the region's Top 100 CEOs 2026 list.