EQUITY IMPACT Health care firm’s shares temporarily suspended

NMC Health has asked for a “temporary suspension” of its London listed shares, which the stock market regulator has agreed to.

“The company is focused on providing additional clarity to the market as to its financial position and to restoring its admission to trading. The company will continue to be bound by listing, transparency and disclosure rules.”

NMC Health operates multiple hospitals in the UAE, both directly owned and those that it acquired such as Al Zahra. In 2018, it reported its best-ever performance in terms of revenues and profit.

This represents a huge come down for the once high-flying shares, with the NMC Health market capitalisation crossing $8 billion at one point. The shares were even part of the FTSE 100 index.

The suspension of the shares less than 24 hours after NMC announced the dismissal of its CEO, Prasanth Manghat, suggests things could get a lot worse for the company, at least from an internal standpoint. The shares had closed on Wednesday at £938.4. The company had gone in for its IPO in 2012, raising $187.5 million in 100 days.

Sense prevails

Market analysts say suspending the trading of shares was the most sensible thing NMC could have done under the circumstances. “The dripdrip of bad news could have suffocated the stock’s performance — the only plus would be any positive numbers for the 2019 results,” said an analyst. (NMC Health, the Middle East’s largest health care operator, is expected to announce its 2019 financials in the next few days.)

The share price had dropped nearly 70 per cent since late December.