KUALA LUMPUR: Strong momentum from Malaysian hospital operations has lifted KPJ Healthcare Bhd’s earnings, cementing positive year-on-year (YoY) organic growth for the hospital operator.
KPJ's revenue rose 7.7 per cent for the fourth quarter (Q4) ended December 31 2019 to RM944.0 million compared to RM876.5 million in the same quarter in 2018.
Net profit for the quarter reached RM90.8 million compared to RM55.0 million in 4Q 2018, an increase of 65.0 per cent.
For the full year, KPJ's revenue increased 7.1 per cent to RM3.6 billion, compared to RM3.4 billion in 2018, while net profit increased 21.8 per cent to RM226.7 million from RM186.2 million in 2018.
KPJ president and managing director Datuk Amiruddin Abdul Satar said year-on-year organic growth acceleration was supported by strong momentum of its Malaysian hospital operations, resulting in positive financial performance.
"KPJ Perdana in Kota Bahru, Kelantan and KPJ Pasir Gudang in Johor both achieved more than RM100 million revenue for the first time.
"KPJ was also able to meet its goal of opening three new hospitals in 2019, namely KPJ Bandar Dato’ Onn, KPJ Batu Pahat and KPJ Miri," he said in a statement.
This year, KPJ will relocate several hospitals namely KPJ Kuching Specialist Hospital, and KPJ Kluang Specialist Hospital. from their original premises upon reaching maximum capacity to new hospital buildings with larger capacity.
Apart from its strong Malaysian operations, the group said its Indonesian Rumah Sakit Media Bumi Serpong Damai in Jakarta was able to expand its business, primarily through aggressive marketing offering innovative packages, as well as the addition of more inpatient beds.
The group will be exploring possible expansion of new markets like Vietnam, China and the Middle East, as part of its big push on medical tourism into Malaysia.
With the added capacity of its network hospitals arising from recent greenfield and brownfield development, KPJ is bullish about its prospect of expanding its foreign patient segment.
For quarter-on-quarter statistically, KPJ's outpatients in Malaysia rose 3.1 per cent in Q4 2019 to 673,569 patients compared to 653,179 patients in the same quarter last year.
Outpatients in Indonesia rose 8.8 per cent to 33,033 from 30,353 last year, while Bangladesh operations lead the race 34.2 per cent to 38,775 patients from 28,890 patients previously.
For the inpatient segment, KPJ posted 81,818 patients in Malaysian operations for Q4 2019, up 4.0 per cent from 78,703 a year ago.
Inpatient for Indonesia operations rose 7.0 per cent to 2,257 from 2,110 patients posted in Q4 2018 while Bangladesh was higher at 64.7 per cent to 1,845 inpatients compared to 1,120 posted in Q4 2018.