TMC Life Sciences Behad’s expansion plan of its Thomson Hospital in Kota Damansara, is on track for completion in 2020 despite the covid-19 pandemic.
TMC Life group CEO Nadiah Wan said that the group, backed by major shareholder Thomson Medical Group Ltd, was on a sustainable growth path, notwithstanding the pandemic, the edge weekly reported in April this year.
She was quoted as saying that TMC still targeted a double-digit growth in revenue every year and there was room for more growth on the back of increased capacity for its fertility centre and hospital in this year.
“We will continue to try to achieve our annual revenue growth target,” she said.
Nadiah added that with the fertility clinics being a major contributor to revenue, things balanced out when other healthcare services that the company provides slowed down.
On the development of the Thomson Iskandar Medical Hub, Nadiah said piling works for the 600-bed Hospital Iskandariah had been completed and the group was confident of obtaining all the relevant regulatory approvals for the integrated hub.
According to the edge, the group was still awaiting approval from the local council, however, a more important factor for them was the Johor Baru-Singapore rail transit system (RTS) project.
The group was hopeful that with the completion of RTS project, more Singaporeans would use their Central Provident Fund Medisave to get healthcare services in Malaysia. Currently this was the case for its Johor Baru fertility clinic, where almost half of its patients were from Singapore.
“The RTS connection is very important to us because there are already a number of private hospitals in Johor. We are confident of regulatory approvals for the medical hub but, for the RTS, we will have to wait and see. If the rail project is confirmed, we are committed to completing the hospital within two to three years after the RTS is fully operational,” Nadiah said.
In January 2017, Focus Malaysia reported the subsequent years would be critical for TMC Life as it would have to show shareholders and investing public that it was capable of delivering the first phase of the RM5 bil Thomson Iskandar integrated medical hub in Johor Baru, while having to contend with its flagship Tropicana Medical Centre in Kota Damansara expansion.
Assuming both projects get authorities’ approval and start ground works concurrently, TMC would have to fork out RM1.6 bil by 2020. Of this, RM1.3 bil would be for the first phase of Thomson Iskandar medical hub and the balance for the Kota Damansara hospital expansion.
If the the projects, which were slated for completion by 2020, went smoothly, together it would boost total bed capacity to 1,100 from 200.
According to the chairman, Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir’s statement in TMC Life Sciences’ annual report, the group’s growth continued in 2019 while the Thomson Hospital Kota Damansara operated at full capacity.
Group revenue rose by 15% to RM195 mil for the financial year ended 31 August 2019, on the back of higher patient load and higher intensity of cases handled. With the higher revenue achieved, the group recorded a corresponding strong profit before tax for the financial year ended 31 August 2019 of RM38 million, at a growth rate of 15% compared to FY2018.
Net profit for the financial year was RM21 mil, 25% lower than the previous year due to the one-off effect of brought forward capital allowances, higher investment tax allowance utilisation and overprovision of deferred tax in previous years and also the effect of changes in tax rate on real property gains tax during the financial year.
The group continued to prudently manage spending and the operating cash flows. The cash and bank balances was maintained at RM179.7 mil, after having paid in total RM61.2 mil on capital expenditure, including RM55.6 million on expansion projects.
As at Bursa closing yesterday TMC Life Sciences traded at 48 sen with a market capital of 836.1 mil. – Sept 10, 2020
