Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 14): Stressing the importance of its 32.9% stake in IHH Healthcare Bhd, Japan’s Mitsui & Co said it may create value to the hospital chain through new businesses, Nikkei Asian Review reported. 

The news portal quoted Mitsui CEO Tatsuo Yasunaga as saying that IHH could use its data from nearly six million annual outpatients, including online patients, and 600,000 inpatients to cut costs and expand its business. 

"We can create value — not only in hospitals. I would like to make new businesses with insurance and pharmaceutical companies by using our data," Yasunaga said. 

IHH, Asia's leading hospital chain by market capitalization, has 77 hospitals in 10 countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, India and China. 

Yasunaga was quoted as saying that IHH has opportunities “to find solutions for procuring medicines and other medical equipment at reasonable costs, expand its hospital network and improve the care menu for patients”. 

In a note today, Maybank IB Research said there could be incremental pressure for healthcare reforms but it thinks IHH could be largely unaffected as its patient pools are less price-sensitive. 

“We think its patient pools globally are less price-sensitive and IHH would be able to adjust its prices to pass on any cost inflation or healthcare reform costs, leaving its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization) margins largely intact,” said the research house’s analyst Lee Yen Ling. 

She maintained the "buy" call on the stock, with a target price of RM5.95. 

IHH’s share price was down three sen at RM5.03 in afternoon trading, valuing the group at RM44.41 billion. 

Edited ByS Kanagaraju
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