Published February 27, 2009

Parkway posts $21m Q4 loss

By CHEN HUIFEN

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DRAGGED down by falling foreign patient numbers and a one-off provision for impairment loss on receivables, Parkway Holdings has posted a fourth quarter loss of $21.1 million, from a net profit of $26.7 million for the year-ago period.

The provision, to the tune of $34.4 million, is a result of unsettled payment of fees from patients who were admitted based on letters of guarantee from their employers.

'We can't provide further details because that will compromise our legal provisions as we are in the recovery process of this balance,' said group CFO Tan See Haw at a media briefing last evening.

For the three months ended December 2008, topline revenue edged up 4 per cent to $241.2 million. This was despite a 3 per cent dip in revenue at its Singapore hospitals, which accounted for the lion's share of its business.

Managing director and CEO Lim Cheok Peng said the group suffered a 7-8 per cent decline in foreign patients, mainly from the Indonesia market.

'But there is some increase in traffic coming from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Russia, so that sort of mitigates some of the downturn,' he added.

For the full year, revenue edged up 9 per cent to $945.4 million, despite a 3.8 per cent drop in inpatient admissions. This was buffered by a 10.6 per cent rise in day surgeries.

Within its international operations, revenue rose 15 per cent to $312.2 million, driven largely by the Pantai group of hospitals in Malaysia. Parkway is planning to open another five new hospitals under the Pantai brand over the next five years.

'The east coast of Malaysia is at this point of time looking very attractive,' said Dr Lim. 'So is East Malaysia in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.'

Net profit slumped to $34.8 million for 2008, from $298 million for 2007. The huge difference is due to a $226.7 million gain in 2007 from disposal of property to Parkway Life Reit.

Excluding the exceptional items and effect of the Reit transaction, earnings would have climbed 19 per cent to $104.2 million.

Basic earnings per share for the year went down to 3.45 cents, from 34.21 cents in 2007.