Boost for Mediclinics in SA, Namibia

STRONGER recovery in client activity has helped medical care company Mediclinic International to ramp up revenue from its southern Africa division to pre-pandemic levels in a full year to the end-March period under which occupancy levels and revenue per bed ratios have started to rise.

Its regional operations in South Africa and Namibia lifted revenues by 18 percent to R18.4 billion “reflecting the recovery in client activity” as the Covid-19 pandemic receded.

Compared to Mediclinic’s last pre-pandemic full year period of 2020, revenues for the period under review are about 8 percent stronger.

This has been driven by an increase in paid patient days for the southern African region, which surged by 14 percent compared to the full year 2021 period. However, this remained 3 percent lower compared to the pre-pandemic period levels.

“The average length of stay was down 2.5 percent compared with FY21, reflecting the increase in nonCovid-19 paid patient days and their shorter average length of stay compared with Covid-19 in-patients,” the company said.

The stronger revenue boosted Mediclinic Southern Africa’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation for the period by 55 percent to R3.4bn.

In April, Mediclinic appointed Koert Pretorius, previous chief executive for its southern Africa division, to the position of group chief operating officer. He has been tasked to speed up strategic initiatives within the group.

Mediclinic’s other operations are in Switzerland and the Middle East regions. Overall group financial performance across all regions was firmer, it reported.

Group revenue for the full year to end-March was 8 percent higher at £3.2bn (R63bn), a reported operating profit that was 34 percent stronger at £280 million. Reported earnings for the period raced up by 122 percent to £151m, while cash and cash equivalents increased during the year to £534m compared to £294m in the previous year.

It proposed to reinstate the dividend at 3 pence per share after withholding it the prior year.

During the full year period under review, Mediclinic administered more than one million Covid-19 vaccine doses at its vaccination centres in Switzerland.

In South Africa, Mediclinic assisted with the delivery of a further 360 000 vaccines, while five of its facilities in the Middle East provide ongoing support to government-led vaccination and testing programmes in the region.

The medicare company had allocated around £8m of capital investment per year over the next three years “towards projects that drive environmental improvements” as it pursued its strategic targets to reduce costs and diversify energy reliance by 2030.