Revenue from hospital business increased 12% YoY to Rs 1,452.6 crore in Q2 FY24 as compared with Rs 1297 crore in Q2 FY23. Diagnostics business rose 2.59% YoY to Rs 360.25 crore in Q2 FY24.

Profit before exceptional items and tax stood at Rs 229.02 crore in Q2 FY24, up 5.91% from Rs 216.24 crore posted in Q2 FY23. Exceptional gains stood at Rs36.9 crore during the quarter, related to the divestment of the Vadapalani, Chennai facility in July 2023.

EBITDA stood at Rs 330 crore in Q2 FY24, registering a growth of 8.9% as compared with Rs 303 crore posted in corresponding quarter last year. EBITDA margin was 18.6% in Q2 FY24 as against 18.8% in Q2 FY23.

The company's hospital business occupancy stood at 68.7% in Q2FY24, marginally lower than 69.6% in Q2 FY23. Average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) grew 11.8% to Rs 2.21 crore for Q2 FY24 from Rs 1.97 crore in Q2 FY23 and Average length of stay (ALOS) was lower at 4.20 days in the quarter ended September 2023 from 4.39 days in quarter ended September 2022.

Net debt to EBITDA was at 0.29 versus 0.44 (basis annualized EBITDA of Q2FY24 and Q2FY23, respectively). Net debt was at Rs 393 crore as on 30 September 2023 versus Rs 340 crore as on 31 March 2023.

Ravi Rajagopal, chairman, board of directors, Fortis Healthcare stated, “We remain on track to add approx. 250 beds to our network in the current fiscal across facilities such as Mulund, Anandpur and Ludhiana with a total planned addition of close to 1,400 beds in the next few years. Further augmenting our bed expansion plans in the Delhi – NCR and the Punjab clusters, we are also evaluating new expansion opportunities including optimizing the current available space to add additional beds in Mohali and Shalimar Bagh.

Following from the divestment of our Arcot Road, Chennai facility in July 2023, our focus on evaluating further portfolio rationalization opportunity continues. Efforts to implement the EMR technology are ongoing and offer a platform to integrate this with our HIS, myFortis app and other applications. This could enable us to digitize the patient journey and provide a ‘Personalized Experience’ to our patients. I’m pleased to highlight that in September 2023 we have filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) for a proposed IPO of Agilus Diagnostics, our diagnostics business vertical.”

Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD and CEO, Fortis Healthcare stated, “This is attributable in part to a stronger case mix and growth in medical tourism revenues. Our focus on improving our specialty mix has led to a 13.4% growth cumulatively in our top 6 specialties with surgical contribution improving to 61.2% versus 60.5% in Q2 of the previous year. This is also reflected in the 11.8% growth witnessed in ARPOB which stood at Rs 2.21 crore.

We have commissioned new medical equipment such as LINAC and Ortho Robots at select facilities such as Noida, Shalimar Bagh and FMRI and have further bolstered our clinical talent; onboarding clinicians in a number of specialties including amongst others Oncology, Neurology and Renal Sciences. These along with our brownfield bed expansion plans and a continuing focus on inorganic opportunities are expected to drive further growth in the business.”

Fortis Healthcare is a leading integrated healthcare delivery service provider in India. The healthcare verticals of the company primarily comprise hospitals, diagnostics and day care specialty facilities. Currently, the company operates 27 healthcare facilities (including JVs and O&M facilities). The company's network comprises approximately 4,500 operational beds.