CLINIC operator Healthway Medical Corporation (HMC) on Friday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of S$28.8 million, narrowing its loss by 35.6 per cent from a loss of S$44.8 million in the previous year.

This translated to a loss per share of 0.7 Singapore cent for the quarter, from a loss per share of 1.82 Singapore cents in the year-ago period.

Similarly, full-year net loss also narrowed by 21.1 per cent to S$34.8 million from S$44.1 million in the preceding year.

The group's net loss for the fourth quarter and full year was mainly attributable to the impairment of goodwill, as well as operating loss due to a "challenging operating environment", HMC said.

For fiscal year 2017, total operating costs decreased by 2.5 per cent to S$137.7 million, mainly due to lower allowance for doubtful loan, trade and other receivables of S$35.3 million.

However, this was offset by an increase in allowance for the impairment of goodwill by S$19 million, higher staff costs of S$9.3 million, higher lease expenses of S$1.7 million, as well as an increase in medical supplies, consumables and laboratory expenses by S$0.7 million and depreciation expenses of S$0.2 million mainly attributable to the acquisition of Healthway Medical Enterprise (HME) in the second quarter of FY17.

For the three months ended Dec 31, revenue rose 24.6 per cent to S$29 million.

Turnover was also up by 8.4 per cent to S$104.8 million for the full year. This was mainly due to an increase in revenue of S$1 million from the primary healthcare segment, and another S$7.1 million from the group's specialist and wellness healthcare segment. Both segments include revenue from clinics owned by HME.

Shares in HMC closed at S$0.051 apiece on Friday, unchanged from the previous day's close.