The earlier-than-expected roll-out of mandatory health insurance in Dubai has worked in NMC Health's (NMC) favour. The United Arab Emirates-based company saw its speciality hospital in the city achieve its highest patient growth rate in five years, with occupancy reaching 72 per cent. And the group's hospital in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi - the company's most mature asset - reached a record occupancy rate of 86 per cent.
The strong growth in group-wide patient numbers - up nearly 29 per cent to 1.48m - helped push healthcare revenues up by 39 per cent to $224m. NMC said this would have reached $261m, or more than 62 per cent growth, if acquisitions it made during the period were factored into the half-year numbers.
The company has been acquisition-hungry, having bought fertility treatment business Clinica Eugin as well as two local entities, ProVita and Americare, in the first half. But management sees scope for more deals. Net debt spiked in the period due to a two-tranche loan facility of $825m agreed with Goldman Sachs. This will be used to repay higher-cost debt and provide firepower for "making accretive acquisitions", NMC said.
The group's distribution division also struck an agreement with Nestle to be the exclusive distributor of its infant product range to UAE pharmacies.
Prior to these results, Numis expected operating profits of $125m for the year, leading to EPS of 59.5¢, up from $88m and 41.2¢ in 2014.
| NMC HEALTH (NMC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 724p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.3bn | |
| TOUCH: | 719-724p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 910p | LOW: 446p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.7% | PE RATIO: | 28 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 240¢* | NET DEBT: | 91% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 314 | 40.9 | 21.7 | nil |
| 2015 | 394 | 41.5 | 21.3 | nil |
| % change | +25 | +2 | -2 | |
*Includes intangible assets of $201m, or 108¢ a share £1=$1.58 | ||||
