Apollo Hospitals net profit up 29%

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL) has posted 29 per cent growth in net profit to ~86.93 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2018, compared to ~67.44 crore during the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Total income grew 16.8 per cent to ~2,046.75 crore during the quarter, as against ~1,864.13 crore during the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Sanjay Nayar, member and CEO of KKR India — an Independent Director of the company since 2014 — has resigned from the board with effect from February 9. The company, in a regulatory filing, said that Nayar has expressed his inability to devote adequate time to the affairs of the company going forward, given his increased professional commitments. Company officials were immediately not available for a comment. Nayar was appointed to the post with effect from February 10, 2014, after the USbased Private Equity player Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has infused around Rs 550 crore in AHEL’s holding company PCR Investments in October, 2013, which was expected to be used to repay promoters' debt and build more hospitals.

The company on Saturday said that it plans to transfer the front-end retail pharmacy business carried out in the standalone pharmacy segment to a seperate entity.