IHH Healthcare Q1 profit falls 33% to RM514 million on exceptional items

Integrated healthcare operator IHH Healthcare on Thursday (May 29) posted a 33 per cent fall in net profit to RM514 million (S$156.3 million) for its first quarter ended Mar 31, from RM768 million the year before.

The drop came mainly from a lower net monetary gain from the application of MFRS 129, and the recognition of a deferred tax credit in 2024 arising from the revaluation of certain assets in Turkey, which was granted by the Turkish government, the mainboard-listed group said in a bourse filing.

MFRS 129 requires financial statements of an entity, the functional currency of which is the currency of a hyperinflationary country, to be restated as the measuring unit current at the end of the reporting period.

Excluding exceptional items, IHH’s net profit rose 5 per cent to RM425 million on core operational growth, from RM403 million the year before.

Revenue for the quarter rose 6 per cent to RM6.3 billion, from RM6 billion the year before.

This was mainly attributable to increased contributions from Malaysia, Turkey and Europe, despite the Ramadan holiday period affecting many markets in Q1 2025, the group said.

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Earnings per share stood at 5.83 sen for the quarter, down from 8.72 cents in the year-ago period.

No dividend was declared for the quarter, unchanged from a year ago.

The group noted rising demand for healthcare domestically and across its key markets – which include Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India and Greater China – and “continued revenue growth” driven by healthcare megatrends.

It added that it will focus on driving profitability and sustaining a healthy return on equity, while maintaining prudent capital management and mitigating inflationary and interest-rate pressures.

To future-proof its business, the group has initiated a multi-year transformation plan with seven focus areas: clinical excellence; patient experience; new care models; operational excellence; payor and regulator engagement; employee and doctor value proposition; and the advancement of technology, data and artificial intelligence.

Dr Prem Kumar Nair, group chief executive officer of IHH Healthcare, attributed the group’s “resilient operational performance” in Q1 2025 to an improvement in in-patient volumes and higher revenue intensity across some markets.

The group remains on track to achieve its goal of expanding capacity by 4,000 beds, with 1,000 beds already added in 2024, he added.

Shares of IHH Healthcare closed flat at S$2.09 on Thursday, before the results were announced.