IHH Healthcare posted a 45 per cent fall in net profit to RM768 million for its first quarter ended Mar 31, from RM1.4 billion in the corresponding period of the year before.
Profit fell mainly because of the high base in Q1 2023, which included a one-off gain from the sale of its non-core asset, International Medical University (IMU), said the healthcare provider in a bourse filing on Wednesday (May 29).
Earnings per share stood at 8.72 sen for the quarter, down from 15.79 sen in the year-ago quarter.
But the company’s Q1 revenue hit a quarterly high, rising 16 per cent to RM6 billion from RM5.1 billion the year before. It was the first time revenue broke the RM6 billion mark.
The company attributed the double-digit growth in revenue and Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) to its sustained patient volumes and its provision of more complex treatments.
No dividend was declared for the quarter; in the year-ago period, a dividend of 9.60 sen was paid out. The company had given a special dividend in Q1 2023, which represented a 100 per cent payout of the gains from the divestment of IMU.
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For the quarter, occupancy stood at 70 per cent, with 218,981 in-patient admissions. The group also conducted 24.2 million laboratory tests.
It had 12,166 operational beds as at Mar 31.
Looking ahead, the group said it is confident of its growth trajectory, including plans to add close to 4,000 new beds in the next five years.
It said it expects continued revenue growth, fuelled by healthcare megatrends, and will focus on driving profitability and sustaining healthy returns on equity, while being prudent about capital management and mitigating inflationary and interest-rate pressures.
Prem Kumar Nair, IHH’s group chief executive, added: “Overall, we expect favourable tailwinds from secular trends in the countries we operate in, which will underpin our longer-term growth.”
Shares of IHH closed 1.7 per cent lower at S$1.77 on Wednesday, before the results were announced.
