Fortis Healthcare board also recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per equity share (10 per cent of face value of Rs 10 each), for the financial year 2023-24, subject to approval of the members of the company.
Fortis Healthcare recorded a profit of Rs 203.14 crore during the fourth quarter of FY24, up 46.9 per cent in comparison to Rs 138.30 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous financial year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 1785.88 crore, up 8.7 per cent on-year as against Rs 1642.70 crore during the same period last year. While the company reported total income during the quarter at Rs 1795.68 crore, total expenses incurred during the quarter in review stood at Rs 1531.76 crore.
The company board also recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per equity share (10 per cent of face value of Rs 10 each), for the financial year 2023-24, subject to approval of the members of the company.
The company’s net debt as of 31st March 2024 stood at Rs 264 crore with a net debt to EBITDA of 0.17x as compared to the 0.30x as on 31st March 2023. Net debt to equity was at 0.03x versus 0.04x as on 31st March 2023. Further, at the consolidated level, cash flow from operations for FY24 stood at Rs 1,100 crore.
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Fortis Healthcare’s hospital business performance
Revenue growth in the hospital business both for the quarter and the year was led by an increase in ARPOB of 10.3 per cent and 10.8 per cent over respective previous periods. ARPOB for Q4 FY24 was at Rs 2.32 crore while for the year ARPOB stood at Rs 2.22 crore. The performance of the hospital business, Fortis Healthcare said, was also positively impacted by the combined revenue of the company’s top 6 key medical specialties viz. Oncology, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, Renal Sciences, Orthopedics and Cardiac Sciences growing by 13.8 per cent in Q4FY24 and 13 per cent in FY24 versus corresponding previous periods. These contributed 62 per cent to the overall hospital business revenues versus 61 per cent in FY23.
Revenues from medical travel for the quarter grew 8.9 per cent. Revenues from digital channels viz website, mobile application and digital campaigns witnessed a 33 per cent YoY growth in Q4FY24. During the year, revenues from key facilities such as Mohali, Noida, Shalimar Bagh, Anandpur and Amritsar grew 19 per cent, 16 per cent, 16 per cent, 15 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
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Fortis Healthcare’s Diagnostics business performance
Gross revenue for diagnostics business during Q4 was at Rs 338 crore in comparison to Rs 332 crore in Q4FY23. The performance of the business was primarily impacted by the change in brand name to Agilus Diagnostics Limited and the decline witnessed in Covid volumes versus the corresponding previous periods. Non Covid revenues witnessed a 5 per cent growth over Q4 FY23. Continuing with its network expansion strategy, Agilus added ~200 new customer touchpoints (CTPs) in Q4FY24. In Q4 FY24, Agilus conducted ~9.6 million tests versus ~9.8 million tests in Q4 FY23. The decline in the tests was primarily because of lower COVID volumes.
Ravi Rajagopal, Chairman, Board of Directors, Fortis Healthcare, said, “We have witnessed yet another year of healthy growth and profitability, reflected in the Board recommending a dividend of Re 1 per share (10 per cent of face value) to shareholders. This signifies the company’s strengthening fundamentals and continuing growth prospects. I’m pleased to share that the company has progressed well on its strategic growth levers viz. brownfield bed expansion, portfolio rationalization and investments in medical equipment and clinical programs. Plans to ramp up current bed capacity are on track and could potentially see the company reach a total of 5,948 beds over the next few years. We have added 246 beds in FY24 across our network and in line with our portfolio optimization strategy, have also successfully divested two of our underperforming assets in Chennai.
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Commenting on the results, Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD and CEO, Fortis Healthcare, said, “The year gone by has witnessed a healthy performance led by our hospitals business. Our consolidated topline grew 9.5 per cent to Rs 6,893 crore while our operating profitability. i.e. EBITDA increased 15.1 per cent to Rs 1,268 crore. The hospital business contributed more than 80 per cent to our consolidated topline while at the EBITDA level the hospital business contribution rose from 79 per cent in FY23 to 83 per cent in FY24. For the quarter, our hospital business revenues increased 10.3 per cent while margins improved to 22.4 per cent versus 16.4% in Q4FY23.
“We expect to add 700 beds in the current year out of which we plan to operationalize approx. 300 beds. This would also include the soon to be commissioned 450 bed potential Manesar, Gurugram facility which would further strengthen our presence in one of our key clusters .i.e. NCR. In order to provide advanced treatment options to our patients; we continue to upgrade our medical infrastructure, having commissioned LINACs, Cath Labs, MRI, Ortho Robots, Digital PET CT and Da Vinci Robotic Systems in a number of our facilities,” he added.
