IHH Healthcare in the red for Q4

IHH Healthcare Berhad is in the red for the fourth quarter with a net loss of RM42.5 million (S$13.5 million) owing to the recognition of one-off exceptional items, a bulk of which was due to forex losses on translation of non-Turkish lira borrowings.

The headline losses were due to unrealised forex loss of RM244.6 million, charges on its investment in Gleneagles Khubchandani Hospital in India and settlement for value-added tax claims in Turkey.

"The decline was due to non-operational and non-cash items which was all recognised in fourth quarter and are a one-off," said IHH managing director and chief executive Tan See Leng at a results briefing via a teleconference call.

Stripping out exceptional items, profit after tax and minority interests improved 4 per cent to RM222.4 million over the quarter due to lower net financing costs with partial settlement of borrowings, higher foreign exchange gains, and lower non-controlling interests' share of the profit over the period.

Revenue rose 15 per cent to RM2.6 billion while Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) declined 8 per cent to RM565.4 million largely due to higher provisions of doubtful debts for receivables from Libyan patients, startup losses from new hospitals and higher operating and staff costs.

Loss per share came in at 0.52 sen from earnings per share of 5.06 sen previously.

The board has recommended a first and final single tier cash dividend of three sen per share, the same as the previous period.

The counter fell one Singapore cent or 0.5 per cent at S$1.96 on Thursday.