Burjeel Q3 profit dips but revenue jumps 9% with company in 'strongest' position to grow

Abu Dhabi healthcare provider's nine-month net income surged almost 62% on revenue boost

Burjeel Holdings chairman Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, right, during the bell-ringing ceremony of the company's listing on the ADX. Burjeel shares started trading in October this year. Victor Besa / The NatiShow more

Abu Dhabi healthcare provider Burjeel Holdings reported an almost 40 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit, but its revenue rose as the company said it was in its “strongest ever position” to boost growth after its initial public offering.

Net income for the three months to the end of September slipped to Dh46.6 million ($12.7m), down from Dh77.6m from a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

Quarterly operating profit dropped 9.6 per cent to Dh101.6m, while finance cost for the three-month period climbed more than 30 per cent to Dh67m.

However, revenue for the third quarter rose more than 9 per cent to Dh933.1m.

Burjeel said its net profit for the first nine months of the year jumped almost 62 per cent to Dh205.1m.

Revenue for the January to September period rose 17.8 per cent on an annual basis to Dh2.83 billion, driven by more than 145 per cent revenue growth at the company’s flagship Burjeel Medical City hospital.

“Burjeel Holdings is in its strongest ever position to deliver bold and innovative projects, said Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, chairman of Burjeel Holdings.

This year, the company sold more than 550.7 million shares at the lower end of its offer share price of Dh2, raising more than Dh1.1bn from an 11 per cent stake sale in the company's IPO.

The share sale drew strong demand from investors in the UAE and the region and was more than 29 times oversubscribed.

Total gross demand was more than Dh32bn. VPS Healthcare Holdings continues to own a 70 per cent stake in the company after the public offering.

Burjeel Holdings, founded in 2007 by Dr Vayalil, has a network of about 60 assets, including hospitals and medical centres, as well as pharmacies and other allied services throughout the UAE and Oman.

This year, the company said it planned to enter Saudi Arabia, with investments of up to $1bn through joint ventures and public-private partnerships.

Burjeel is well-positioned to “unlock new markets, explore mergers and acquisition opportunities and deliver exponential growth across the business”, Dr Vayalil said on Thursday.

Burjeel said its group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased by 13.2 per cent year-on-year to Dh608.4m in the first nine months of the year.

The results reflected the success of the group's "hub and spoke" model, with its 23 medical centres strategically located in communities that drive people to its network of 16 hospitals across the UAE.

Overall group patient footfall increased by 20.4 per cent as it introduced new services, including oncology, cardiology and gastroenterology across several key hospitals.

The company also reduced its net debt by more than 42.5 per cent in the nine-month period to Dh1.82bn, with interest bearing loans and borrowings decreasing by 34 per cent during the period.

“Our results demonstrate our ability to deliver on our key strategic priorities, including our focus on elevating the utilisation of our assets and growing the contribution of complex, super specialty medicine,” said John Sunil, chief executive at Burjeel Holdings.