Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 19): KPJ Healthcare Bhd posted a net profit of RM53.32 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4QFY18) down 12.47% from RM60.92 million in the same quarter last year due to higher effective tax rate and losses from the discontinued Australian operations.

Quarterly earnings per share fell to 1.28 sen, from 1.4 sen in 4QFY17, the healthcare group said in a filing today.

The decline was despite quarterly revenue rising 3.55% to RM863.35 million from RM833.73 million previously, mostly helped by better contribution from its Malaysian operations which made up over 95% of group revenue.

For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), KPJ’s net profit saw growth of 10.83% to RM179.44 million from RM161.91 million the year before, as full-year revenue rose 4.03% to a record-high of RM3.31 billion from RM3.18 billion in FY17.

“Our focus on improvements in operational efficiencies coupled with strict cost discipline throughout the year resulted in a positive impact on costs and diluted the effects of cost escalation,” said KPJ on its full-year performance.

The company expects the improvements to “accelerate” in FY19, with the opening of more new hospitals and healthcare facilities by the group.

However, it also pointed that the rising cost in healthcare industry will continue to be its main challenge.

“With continuous monitoring over operational excellence and focus on revenue growth along with disciplined cost management, the group is confident of leading improvements and further its vision of becoming the preferred healthcare provider,” it added.

Shares of KPJ fell one sen or 0.92% at RM1.08 with 6.24 million shares traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM4.78 billion.

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