NMC Healthcare first half profit jumps 39 per cent on back of new acquisitions

UAE's biggest publicly traded healthcare provider to get boost from removal of co-payment rules

UAE-based NMC Health said it agreed to buy 100 per cent of the equity of UK-based Aspen Healthcare in its first ever UK acquisition. Silvia Razgova / The National

NMC Healthcare, the biggest provider of healthcare in the UAE by market value, said first half profit rose 39 per cent, boosted by income from newly acquired operations including Al Zahra Hospital in Sharjah.

Net profit rose to $97.8 million in the first six months of the year compared to $70.5m in the year-earlier period.  Revenue increased 34 per cent to $775.2m in the first half compared to $578.3m in the first six months of 2016. Total patients served by NMC advanced 36.2 per cent in the first half to 2.88m compared to 2.11m in the same period last year.

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"The first half of 2017 has seen strong performance from our acquired businesses, newly opened facilities as well as continuing growth in our mature facilities," said Prasanth Manghat, NMC Health's chief executive officer.

"Our acquisitions in Sharjah are performing well and we are very pleased with initial performance from our new Saudi Arabian and Oman operations, as we start to diversify operations from our primary UAE market in the GCC and beyond."

The company, whose shares are traded in London, said that it expects the removal of co-payment requirements on Thiqa insurance by the Health Authority in Abu Dhabi in April to have a positive impact on its businesses in the second half and beyond.

Shares of the Abu-Dhabi based company gained as much as 5.7 per cent in London, reaching an all-time high after the company disclosed its results, according to Bloomberg.