IHH Healthcare slips into the red in Q3

KUALA LUMPUR: IHH Healthcare Bhd slipped into the red with a net loss of RM104.07mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018, against a net profit of RM82.09mil a year earlier.

The group said the loss, incurred on the back of 1.4% higher revenue of RM2.84bil, was mainly due to the recognition of foreign exchange (forex) losses of RM752.5mil on subsidiary Acibadem Holdings’ non-Turkish lira-denominated borrowings.

“However, excluding exceptional items, profit more than doubled from a year ago to RM309mil as a result of the stronger operational performance and forex gains from a stronger US dollar on IHH’s US dollar-denominated cash balances,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

For the first nine months, IHH’s revenue stood at RM8.36bil versus RM8.26bil in the previous corresponding period while net profit fell 86.4% to RM118.3mil.

The group maintained a strong financial position as at end-September 2018, with a cash balance of RM6.1bil and net gearing of 0.04 times (Dec 31, 2017: 0.03 times). Net cash generated from operating activities was RM1.3bil, IHH said.

Managing director and chief executive officer Dr Tan See Leng said as long-term healthcare providers, the group focused on delivering strong operational performance, which it continued to do in all its markets.

He said the group’s immediate priority is to stabilise operations, improve operational metrics and ramp up performance to realise this transformational opportunity for the group. — Bernama