Healthway Medical Corporation widens Q4 loss on allowance for doubtful loan receivables

HEALTHWAY Medical Corporation on Friday posted a loss of S$40.9 million for the three months as at end-December 2016, further widening from the S$904,000 loss in the same period a year ago.

This came as the fourth quarter figures were impacted by higher allowance for doubtful loan, trade and other receivables, which grew to S$44.2 million in 2016, from S$3.8 million in 2015.

Revenue for the quarter came in marginally higher at S$23.4 million.

Loss per share in Q4 FY16 was 1.66 Singapore cents, compared with 0.04 S cent in the year-ago period.

For the full year, HMC reported a loss of S$40.2 million, a reverse from the net profit of S$1.7 million in 2015. Excluding the various allowances, other operating income from Healthway Medical Enterprises and gain on disposal of available-for-sale financial assets reclassified from equity of S$0.7 million in FY15, the group's net profit would have been S$0.1 million.

Revenue in FY16 edged up 2.6 per cent year on year to S$96.8 million, mainly due to the S$3 million revenue rise from the specialist and wellness healthcare segment through greater patient load, which was offset by the decrease in primary healthcare segment of S$0.5 million.

Total operating costs including medical supplies, staff costs, other operating expenses and finance costs rose 39.4 per cent to S$138.6 million in FY16. This was largely due to higher allowance for doubtful loan, trade and other receivables of S$32.8 million, allowance for impairment of goodwill of S$3 million, higher staff costs of S$2.5 million, as well as higher finance cost of S$0.3 million due to loans undertaken in FY16 for working capital purposes at higher interest rates.

Earlier in February, HMC received a takeover offer from Gentle Care, a Lippo-linked entity, that valued the company at S$103 million.