Fortis Healthcare Q1 PAT falls 8.6% to Rs 122.5 crore

Fortis Healthcare Ltd on Friday reported an 8.6 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 122.5 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

The company, which posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 134.3 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal, said its diagnostics business has been renamed as Agilus Diagnostics Ltd, and the boards of the two firms have granted approval for the latter to initiate an initial public offer (IPO) process.

Its consolidated revenues in the first quarter stood at Rs 1,657 crore against Rs 1,488 crore in the year-ago period, a growth of 11.4 per cent.

"We have witnessed a steady start in Q1 FY24 for both the hospitals and diagnostics business. Our hospital business revenues grew 13.6 per cent to Rs 1,354 crore while operating EBITDA was at Rs 206.4 crore, reflecting a margin of 15.2 per cent versus 16.2 per cent in Q1 FY23.

"This was in part due to a lower occupancy and a comparatively less favourable payor mix, both of which we expect should improve going forward," Fortis Healthcare MD and CEO Ashutosh Raghuvanshi said in a statement.

Fortis Healthcare Chairman Ravi Rajagopal said on the hospital side, the company's portfolio rationalisation strategy gained momentum with the divestment of its loss-making Arcot Road facility in Chennai in July 2023.

"With an impetus on inorganic growth, we acquired a 350 bedded hospital in Manesar, Gurugram, enabling us to further augment our presence in Delhi-NCR. This we expect to close shortly," he added.

Rajagopal further said the boards of Fortis and Agilus have granted approval for Agilus to initiate an initial public offer process by way of an offer for the sale of its equity shares, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations.