Domestic business lifts UAE’s NMC Health H1 profit 14.7%

United Arab Emirates-based healthcare provider NMC Health reported a 14.7 per cent jump in adjusted net profit on Wednesday, boosted by higher revenue from its local business.

NMC, one of the largest private-sector healthcare providers in the UAE, made an adjusted net profit of $46.9m in the first six months of this year up from $40.9m a year earlier, it said a statement.

The adjusted profit excluded one-off acquisition costs and fees related to the early repayment of a loan, and included only the earnings impact of one of the four purchases it completed in the first half of 2015, that of Spanish fertility centre Clinica Eugin.

The remaining three buys – ProVita International Medical Centre, Americare Group and Dr. Sunny Healthcare Group – will be consolidated in the second-half results statement, NMC Deputy Chief Executive Prasanth Manghat told Reuters.

“The real growth in profit for the first half came from our local assets,” Manghat said.

Abu Dhabi-based NMC’s revenue rose 25.3 per cent in the first half to $393.8m compared with 314.3m in the same period last year. Healthcare revenue accounted for $223.6m in the first half, up 39 per cent year on year.

The latter was helped by an increase in occupancy of its hospitals to 73.9 per cent in the first six months of 2015 versus 70.1 per cent in the first half of 2014. NMC operates general and specialised hospitals, pharmacies and medical centres.

London-listed NMC’s shares were roughly steady at 720 pence, outperforming a 1 per cent fall in the mid-cap FTSE250 Index

The company secured an $825m loan from banks in February to pay off existing debt and fund acquisitions. So far, $350m has been used to refinance debt and $150m for acquisitions.

NMC, founded by Indian billionaire B.R. Shetty, plans to invest in Saudi Arabia and Qatar part of its acquisitions pot, its chief executive told Reuters last month.