JOHANNESBURG - Mediclinic International Plc, owner of a chain of private hospitals in southern Africa, the Middle East and Switzerland, reported a 43% slump in earnings for the full year that ended on March 31, the company said on Wednesday.
The owner of South Africa's third-biggest hospital network reported adjusted earnings per share of 0.14 pound ($0.1982) for the year compared with 0.24 pound reported in the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the year was down 3% to 2,995 million pounds, it said.
Hospital networks across the world saw a surge in admissions of COVID-19 infected patients which impacted their regular and elective (non-emergency) procedures, one of the most important revenue contributors.
Mediclinic Chief Executive Ronnie van der Merwe said due to persisting uncertainty over a third wave of infections in South Africa, the business outlook is still muted but it will be better than last fiscal year.
"We expect to get back to our FY20 (year ending March 31, 2020) revenues with margins approaching the margins we achieved in the second half of the FY2021," Jurgens Myburgh, Group Chief Financial Officer, Mediclinic said about its Southern African business.
The company's EBITDA margins would remain stable in Switzerland and in Middle East margins would come back to 2020 levels, Myburgh said.
EBITDA margin is an indicator of the cash profit a company makes in a year out of the total revenues.
For the year Mediclinic's Southern Africa operations, which contributes up to a quarter of the company's total revenue, saw a drop of 19% and an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin of 14.2%, a fall of over 6% from a year ago.
Its shares were up 7% at 0745 GMT while the broader market index was up 0.37%.
The company will keep its dividend suspended, it said.
($1 = 0.7064 pounds)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, editing by Louise Heavens) ((promit.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +27 64833 4448;))
