EBITDA declined by 25.1% to Rs 145.6 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against Rs 194.3 crore in Q2 September 2019. Profit before tax in Q2 FY21 stood at Rs 38.05 crore, down by 70.7% from Rs 129.75 crore in Q2 FY20. Current tax outgo in the second quarter surged to Rs 22.58 crore from Rs 5.71 crore in the same period last year.

On the segmental front, the Hospital Business revenues were at Rs 746.36 crore (down 23.3% YoY) while the revenue from the Diagnostics Business was at Rs 282.38 crore (up 2.1% YoY) in the second quarter.

Hospital occupancy for the quarter was at 57% versus 72% in Q2 FY20. (Q1 FY21: 37%). SRL Diagnostics conducted 5.9 million tests in the quarter versus 8.4 million in the corresponding previous period and versus 3.4 million in Q1 FY21.

The company in the quarter witnessed gradual signs of recovery and uptick in performance as the number of COVID cases in India reflected a declining trend. With economic restrictions being significantly relaxed and need for overdue elective surgeries beginning to emerge, the company saw an improvement in its non-covid occupancy which increased from 32% in Q1 to 38% in Q2 FY21. While overseas travel restrictions and regulatory uncertainties still persist, the results in the quarter have exhibited a relatively better performance versus the trailing quarter. The company continues to closely watch the pandemic trend and is well placed to adapt to the situation as required.

For the hospital business, Fortis Healthcare said that both OPD (out-patient department) and IPD (inpatient department) volumes have shown a month on month improvement with the occupancy in the hospital business increasing from 47% in the month of July to 65% in September. For the month of October, occupancy stood at 66%.

The diagnostics business achieved pre-COVID revenues in the month of August 2020 and surpassed this in September 2020. The company's non-COVID business in September 2020 has reached 92% of the pre-COVID levels. While non-COVID test volumes are witnessing traction, COVID related tests present an added opportunity to the company for further growth in the business over the medium term. COVID test volumes i.e. largely RT-PCR tests saw a substantial increase in the quarter as compared to the trailing quarter and contributed 28% to overall diagnostic revenues.

Commenting on the quarter results, Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD and CEO, Fortis Healthcare, stated, "Given the improvement in business we have re-initiated our growth and expansion plans. We have also prioritized our efforts towards leveraging information technology and digital initiatives to enhance operational efficiencies and ensure a seamless and superlative patient experience.

We have expanded our presence in Chennai with the launch of the 250 bed Arcot road facility in the month of October, our second facility in the city. I'm hopeful that as we move forward the pandemic will continue to recede and allow business to return to complete normalization by the start of the next fiscal."

Fortis Healthcare, an IHH Healthcare Group company, is an integrated healthcare services provider. It has 36 healthcare facilities (including projects under development), 4,000 operational beds and over 400 diagnostics centres (including JVs). Fortis is present in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) & Sri Lanka.