KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — KPJ Healthcare Bhd’s net profit eased to RM38.53 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2020, from RM39.13 million in the same period a year earlier.
The healthcare provider attributed the weaker earnings mainly to hospitals such as KPJ Bandar Datuk Onn, KPJ Batu Pahat, KPJ Perlis and KPJ Miri, which remained as loss-making companies for the current quarter.
Revenue for the quarter was slightly higher at RM884.16 million compared with RM880.99 million year-on-year driven by higher activities at the hospitals, mainly from the Malaysia segment.
“This is consistent wth the increase in number of outpatients and inpatients procedures performed,” it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.
The revenue increase in the Malaysia segment to RM844.6 million from RM839.3 million in Q120 was mainly contributed by additional capacity in existing hospitals, particularly for KPJ Seremban and KPJ Ampang Puteri, with the opening of the new hospital buildings.
“Moreover, the opening of KPJ Batu Pahat and KPJ Miri also led to the increase in the revenue recorded,” said KPJ Healthcare.
It also attributed the additional expenses borne by the group during the Covid-19 outbreak mainly to the increase in purchases of materials, personal protection equipment for frontliners, ventilator machines, thermo scanners, surgical masks and hand sanitisers.
KPJ Healthcare said the net cash generated from operating activities was RM91.9 million, down 33 per cent from the same period last year at RM137.4 million, mainly due to the decline in profit reported for the period.
“Cash outflows from investing activities was largely used for purchase of property, plant and equipment especially for development and expansion of hospital buildings, such as KPJ Penang and KPJ Puteri.
“The significant inflows of cash within investing activities was dividend received from associates mainly from Al-’Aqar Healthcare REIT amounting to RM10.7 million,” it added.
Moving forward, KPJ Healthcare said it recognises that its performance would be adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as the movement control order had made a significant impact on the group’s operations.
For the second quarter, the group anticipates a decline due to the effects of the ongoing containment measures for the pandemic.
“However, the group will remain active in providing its core services and adding new areas of services such as tele-medicine and home visits.
“During this difficult time, the group remains cautiously optimistic and will continue to focus on disciplined management of costs and operational cash flows,” said KPJ Healthcare. — Bernama
