UPDATE 1-SAfrica's Medi-Clinic full year earnings up 5 pct

JOHANNESBURG, May 16 (Reuters) - South African hospital group Medi-Clinic (MDCJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday its full-year headline earnings rose by 5 percent to 608 million rand ($80.49 million) for the year to March.

The group said its earnings were mainly boosted by its acquisition of Hirslanden, a healthcare group based in Switzerland.

"The acquisition of the Hirslanden group represents the quantum leap into the international arena which the group has been contemplating for many years," Medi-Clinic chairman, Edwin de la Hertzog, said in a statement.

"Although it required a significant amount of capital, Hirslanden is a high quality company in a financially stable country. It should be seen as the platform from where the Group would like to expand further into Europe in the future."

Medi clinic raised 4.5 billion in a rights offer last year, primarily to fund the Swiss acquisition, and 500 million rand of this is being used to fund expansion in Southern Africa.

The group said during the next financial year more than half of its revenue would come from outside South Africa.

Medi-Clinic revenue rose to 9.6 billion rand from 5.4 billion rand in the previous year. The Southern Africa business revenue was 6.1 billion, while revenue from international operations totalled 3.5 billion.

Shares in Medi-Clinic were trading 0.50 percent up at 20.00 rand against the mid-cap index , which was up 0.67 percent by 1051 GMT. (Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie; Editing by Quentin Bryar)