KUALA LUMPUR: IHH Healthcare Bhd’s 31.1%-owned Fortis Healthcare Ltd of India is expected to continue to be accretive for years to come after it reported an operational profit before tax for the first time in its fourth quarter results.
The outgoing managing director and CEO of IHH, Dr Tan See Leng, said its disciplined efforts at turning Fortis around are starting to pay off.
“We achieved all of our targets in our 100-day plan for Fortis. You would also have seen from IHH’s Q1 results that Fortis is contributing to our revenue and ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation),” he said during the IHH Media Appreciation & Hari Raya Aidilfitri Celebration Lunch yesterday.
The 100-day turnaround plan was to guide Fortis for immediate stabilisation, including to quickly resolve the overhang in cash-strapped Fortis and renegotiate credit lines, including covering overheads and payment of wages to staff and vendors, to ensure that the hospital group can return to normal operations.
Fortis’ consolidated operations turned profit before tax positive (prior to other income, exceptional items and one-offs) at Rs15.9 crores (RM94.8 million) in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019. Reported net profit after accounting for exceptional items stood at Rs135.6 crores in the quarter versus a loss of Rs932 crores in Q4’18.
IHH had acquired a 31.1% stake in Fortis in November 2018 in a US$584 million (RM2.35 billion) deal after an extended bidding war for control of the company.
Currently, Fortis operates its healthcare delivery services in India, Dubai and Sri Lanka with 43 healthcare facilities (including projects under development), 9,000 potential beds and over 400 diagnostic centres.
This year, Tan said, IHH has already set out its strategic priorities, including to integrate and consolidate its newly acquired assets, especially Fortis. “One key milestone last year is our transformational acquisition of Fortis. As its biggest shareholder, we are now the second largest private healthcare provider in India, one of the fastest growing markets for healthcare in the world.”
IHH has operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and India.
