Raffles Med’s net profit rises by 2.4% to $69.3m

Driven by its surging healthcare and hospital services.

The city-state’s largest private healthcare provider banked on the growth of its healthcare and hospital services to post a higher revenue for 2015, growing by 9.6% to $410.5m.

According to a report by OCBC, its healthcare services and hospital services grew by 14.6% and 7%, respectively.

Meanwhile, its continuous expansion of its clinic network led to higher operating lease expenses, while the tihgt labor market for healthcare workers led to surging staff costs.

“As a result, PATMI rose 2.4% to S$69.3m. Excluding fair value gains on investment properties, PATMI was up 4.9% to S$67.8m, meeting 102% of our full year estimate,” OCBC said.

Additionally, the group declared a higher DPS of 4.5 cents, bringing total dividends to 6.0 cents, vs. 5.5 cents last year, OCBC said.