Fortis Healthcare posts Q4 net loss of Rs 41 crore

New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare on Wednesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 41.24 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 151.19 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Fortis Healthcare said in a BSE filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,112.92 crore for the quarter under consideration. It was Rs 1,184.15 crore for the same period a year ago, it added.

Net profit for the fourth quarter of FY19 includes a share in associates of Rs 333 crore which was on account of profit recognised by an associate company for selling its hospital assets, Fortis Healthcare said.

For the full fiscal 2019-20, the net profit of the company stood at Rs 91.49 crore, compared to a loss of Rs 223.71 crore in the previous financial year, Fortis Healthcare said.

Consolidated revenue from operations increased to Rs 4,632.32 crore from Rs 4,469.36 crore in 2018-19.

"FY20 has been an inflexion year for the Company with a healthy operating and financial performance especially with respect to the hospitals business and we are working diligently on improving the diagnostics operations with clear cut objectives," Fortis Healthcare Board of Directors Chairman Ravi Rajagopal said.

Net debt to equity ratio stood at 0.14 times as of March 31, 2020, similar to the ratio as of March 31, 2019. Net debt (excluding lease liabilities) stood at Rs 1,013 crore versus Rs 974 crore in the previous year, the company said.

"Our business performance has seen a healthy turnaround in the year gone by led by a consistent quarter on quarter improvement. We have witnessed a robust margin expansion in the hospital business with a number of facilities seeing a strong operational performance," Fortis Healthcare MD and CEO Ashutosh Raghuvanshi said.

The company's diagnostics business potential is yet to be unlocked and it is taking the required measures to ensure that the business comes back on the growth trajectory in the near future, he added.

On the COVID-19 impact, Fortis Healthcare said its business was significantly impacted from February 2020 as a result of the increasing spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

This became more pronounced in the last week of March and the entire month of April due to the nationwide lockdown and it witnessed a drop in hospital occupancy to 29 per cent in April, it added.

Diagnostic business volumes declined 75 per cent in the same time period. The company also continued to face cost pressures as a result of the additional expenses incurred to cater to COVID-19 patients and the regulations put forth with respect to treatment in some geographies, Fortis Healthcare said.

"With the lockdown restrictions easing beginning May, the business has shown signs of gradual improvement with hospital occupancy for the month of May improving to 35 per cent and the decline in SRL volumes in May improving to a negative approx. 60 per cent," it added.

However, the business is expected to continue to face earnings pressure through the April - June quarter and beyond till the pandemic recedes and business momentum returns to normal, Fortis Healthcare said.

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