Apollo Q2 net up 4.7%

HYDERABAD: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL) informed the bourses that it had reported a 4.6% rise in the net profit for second quarter of FY14 at Rs 87 crore as against Rs 83.24 crore reported in the year ago period. This was on a 16.5% rise in the income of Rs 975.07 crore in the period under review as against Rs 836.32 crore in the year ago period.
Revenues of the hospital division of AHEL increased by 14% to Rs 636 crore in second quarter of FY14 as compared to Rs 559 crore in the corresponding period of FY13.
“The company witnessed good traction in most of its large hospitals. Larger units like Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkatta have improved their performance over the first quarter. While the existing hospitals have demonstrated sustained improvements in operational performance through strategies to enrich the case mix at major clusters in Chennai and Hyderabad. This has been supported by robust volume growth at hospitals in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar and Mysore,” the company release said.
During the second quarter, Apollo Pharmacies added 51 stores and closed 17 stores for a net addition of 34 stores taking the total store network as of September 30 to 1,560 operational stores. Apollo Pharmacies’ revenues expanded by 22% to Rs 338.6 crore in the second quarter of FY14 from Rs 277 crore in the year ago period.
On its future plans, the company said, “In addition to an enhanced focus on retail healthcare centres, AHEL will leverage its existing network of over 1,500 retail pharmacies across India to optimize touch points for patients. Following the stabilization of operations and improved performance of the retail pharmacy network, there are plans to increase the pace of expansion of the pharmacy network to around 250 stores a year to drive the next stage of growth for this segment.”
The company also pointed out that it will be launching the next version of its telemedicine platform which will enable users to consult with the hospital's panel of doctors anytime and anywhere in the world over video conferencing. “The latest version of the telemedicine platform will be a cloud-based system eliminating the need for physical infrastructure,” it added.