IHH posts healthy Q4 profit of RM195.86m

IHH Healthcare Bhd's fourth quarter profit ended December 2012 has jumped almost four-fold to RM195.86 million.

The exceptional performance was due to consolidation of earnings from IHH's hospitals in Turkey and savings in construction costs of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore.

It was also boosted by a RM31.6 million valuation gain in its investment properties and a RM41.7 million write back of impairment loss previously recognised on a financial asset.

IHH's last quarter revenue soared 79 per cent to RM1.52 billion from RM847.99 million.

Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, which started operations in June last year, added 10 per cent inpatient admissions to 14,271 from 13,037 at the group's hospitals there, IHH managing director Dr Lim Cheok Peng said at a briefing here yesterday.

Also present were IHH chairman Tan Sri Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman and IHH chief financial officer Tan See Haw.

Controlled by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, IHH is growing its presence in Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, China and Vietnam.

As a regional hospital operator, IHH debuted on Kuala Lumpur and Singapore stock exchanges seven months ago.

Dr Lim highlighted that last year, IHH used its listing proceeds to repay Parkway's acquisition loans, sharply reducing the group's gearing from 45.31 times to 0.26.

This was further lowered to 0.19 two months ago when it recapitalised Acibadem and repaid US$250 million (RM775 million), or 55 per cent, of Acibadem's US dollar-denominated borrowings.

Dr Lim sees another exciting year in 2013 with continued business growth across multiple markets.

"We hope to do even better this year."

On its expansion plans, he noted that from now until 2015, the company has set aside RM1.8 billion in capital expenditure to fund new hospitals in the region.

Asked on its ongoing development in Malaysia, he said the new 150-bed Gleneagles Medini hospital in Johor is scheduled for completion in early 2015.

Last year, IHH submitted a bid to run a private hospital tendered out by the Hong Kong government.

"We're awaiting an answer. The authorities are scheduled to announce the winner in this quarter or the next," Dr Lim said.