Foo also notes that the group – having turned its once-unprofitable Mahkota Medical Centre (MMC) hospital in Malacca and grown Regency Specialist Hospital (RSH) from “an empty building in Johor into an established, profitable hospital” – went on to display consistent growth in estimated core earnings over FY11-16.
“Being the first to address a lack of certain treatment methods has also been one of HMI’s strengths, in our view,” he adds.
Looking ahead, the analyst believes HMI’s multi-pronged strategy to broaden its scope of specialties as well as expand its facilities, capacity building and efficiency initiatives, will provide a further boost to the group’s sustainability profitability outcomes ahead.
This is in addition to a new medical block extension which RSH will soon start works on, and is slated to double its existing capacity when completed in 2020.
“HMI’s growth story is further supported by a backdrop of favourable secular trends, greater private insurance coverage, and encouraging government initiatives for the local healthcare and medical tourism sector… We believe the group is on a healthy growth momentum, backed by a multi-strategy approach and strong management team,” says Foo.
Shares of HMI closed 2 cents lower at 63 cents on Monday.
