Apollo Hospitals, the country’s biggest healthcare chain, recorded a 48.7 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. The increase was in the absence of any loss in foreign currency transactions, which had dragged profits down during the corresponding quarter in the previous financial year.
Net profit for the reporting quarter was Rs 43.9 crore, against Rs 29.5 crore during the October-December quarter of 2008-09, which had seen Apollo’s profits affected by a one-time expenditure of Rs 4.02 crore.
“It has been a very good performance. Our revenues from the hospital business has gone up and pharmacy business is maturing. Higher occupancies and a better case mix helped us,” Director (Finance) Suneeta Reddy said.
Consolidated revenues grew 29.9 per cent during the period to Rs 480.87 crore from Rs 373 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Healthcare services, the major revenue earner for Apollo, grew 21 per cent to Rs 348.15 crore from Rs 287.5 crore in the previous year.
However, the pharmacy business reported a net loss of Rs 4.49 crore. But, this was lower than the Rs 7.45-crore loss during the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
The company’s stock price rose by Rs 13.85, or 2.14 per cent, to Rs 660.6 by close of Thursday’s trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).