This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 5, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: UEM Edgenta Bhd is banking on its healthcare support business to drive growth going forward, as it eyes new tenders in Singapore amid the government’s move to recluster healthcare facilities.

UEM Edgenta managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Azmir Merican said the Singapore ministry of health exercise will open up opportunities for the group, adding on to the RM540.06 million worth of contracts it has secured in the island state so far.

“The restructuring of healthcare clusters will bring in new tenders to be issued by the Singapore health ministry. When reclustering happens, it usually involves larger value and longer tenure contracts,” he told a press briefing on the group’s results for the first half of its financial year 2019 (1HFY19) yesterday.

When pressed for more information on the jobs the group is bidding for, he said the details are yet to be announced, but added that he hopes UEM Edgenta would be able to secure more contract wins.

Besides Singapore, the group said its healthcare support operations in Malaysia, Taiwan and India will also contribute to grow going forward.

It is also eyeing Indonesia as a potential market to expand its healthcare services. The group already has a presence in the country in the form of its infrastructure solutions arm, as it is managing the maintenance of the Cikampek-Palimanan highway there.

“We are already in Indonesia in terms of infrastructure services and our presence there is part of our long-term strategy. We are looking to work with the locals to see how we can further build our business there, including for healthcare, as it is a populous country.

“However, we will need a bit of local help in Indonesia and we will only proceed when we can figure that out. But directionally, we do feel that it is a market that we can enter,” said Azmir.

Overall, he said the long-term prospects for the healthcare segment are positive given the growing and ageing population and the increasing life expectancy in the countries it is operating in.

UEM Edgenta posted a net profit of RM68.1 million for 1HFY19, up 5% from RM65.1 million in 1HFY18, as revenue grew 10% to RM1.11 billion from RM1.01 billion.

The healthcare services division contributed 51% of its revenue for the period, followed by the infrastructure services segment (35%), property and facility solutions division (8%) and consultancy division (6%).