Johannesburg - Life Healthcare, which is on the acquisition trail, on Friday reported revenue up 12 percent to R16 billion in the year to September.
In a statement to shareholders, the listed hospital group - which has recently been in headlines after 36 psychiatric patients died after being transferred out of its care at a Gauteng facility - said turnover grew to R16 billion, with South African revenue gaining 8.8 percent and Poland’s income gaining 81.2 percent to R1.2 billion.
However, Life Healthcare says its change in case mix from surgical to medical resulted in a lower revenue per paid patient day (PPD) growth. The company this morning also issued a cautionary, saying it was seeking an acquisition.
Its costs were also impacted by a weaker exchange rate in the first half of the year, retrenchment expenses incurred because of the loss of the Life Esidimeni Gauteng mental health contracts, professional fees incurred because of a Healthcare Market inquiry and increasing costs in malpractice insurance.
Earlier this year, the Competition Tribunal said Life Healthcare and Joint Medical Holdings (JMH) agreed to jointly pay a record R10 million administrative penalty for implementing a merger without approval from the antitrust authorities.
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Life Healthcare also invested R763 million in Poland, and another R320 million in India, it adds.
The private healthcare company added its southern Africa business added 176 beds, 36 renal dialysis stations and one oncology centre during the year.”
In Poland, Scanmed expanded its network of facilities through a number of acquisitions during the year, executing on the expansion strategy of its facilities, and continuing to invest in long-term growth opportunities. It acquired PGM for R629 million and Carint for R103 million, which were funded from debt raised in Poland.
The Scanmed Group now consists of 624 beds, 12 inpatient cardiology centres and 40 medical facilities.
Life Healthcare’s total investment in the business is now R2.2 billion (30 September 2015: R1.4 billion).
In India, Life Healthcare has so far invested R2.5 billion from its South African operations into Max, which includes an additional R320 million invested during the year to fund the Max Smart acquisition in India by Max.
Max added 331 beds during the year, mostly through the acquisition of Max Smart, bringing the number of operational beds to 2 384.
Max’s holding company listed in July, and Life Healthcare’s stake in that investment is worth R5.3 billion, it says.
The board has declared a final distribution for the year by way of the issue of fully paid Life Healthcare Group ordinary shares of 0.0001 cent each. Shareholders can, in respect of all or part of their shareholding, to elect to receive a gross cash dividend of 92 cents per ordinary share instead of the scrip distribution.
Its shares were flat this morning at R35.72.
IOL