Raffles Medical's profits down 45.4% to $7.5m in Q1

Profits were dragged down by the pandemic’s impact on its China units.

Raffles Medical Group’s profits for the first quarter of the decade fell 45.4% YoY to $7.5m from $13.5m in the previous year, dragged down by its China Healthcare Division that was “severely impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group revealed in a company update.

The group also reported a revenue of $128m for Q1 2020, down 3% YoY from $128.3m in Q1 2019. Earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization (EBITDA) slipped 12.7% to $20.6m for Q1 2020 as compared with an EBITDA of $23.6m for Q1 2019.

Excluding the results of the China Healthcare Division comprising Raffles Hospital Chongqing, Raffles China Clinics and Raffles Medical Hong Kong, the group’s profit after tax saw a 5.1% YoY decrease at $15.1m compared to $15.9m in Q1 2019.

Looking ahead, Raffles Medical Group noted the return of walk-in patients at select units of its China business as well as Singapore’s circuit breaker measures.

“As China begins its recovery, we are happy to see walk-in patients returning to our
Raffles Hospital Chongqing and clinics in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai. In Singapore, we look forward to the reduction of Covid-19 cases amongst the foreign workers and the end of the lockdown on 1 June 2020, when we can serve our patients face to face again,” said Kimmy Goh, company secretary at Raffles Medical Group.