Dr Lal PathLabs slips after Q4 PAT declines 31% YoY

Dr Lal PathLabs declined 1.01% to Rs 1,579.75 after consolidated net profit fell 31% to Rs 32.50 crore on a 0.19% increase in net sales to Rs 301.70 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

Consolidated profit before tax tumbled 34.39% to Rs 45.40 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 69.20 crore in Q4 March 2019. Current tax expense dropped 24.64% to Rs 15.90 crore in Q4 March 2020 as compared to Rs 21.10 in Q4 March 2019. The earnings were released during trading hours today, 18 May 2020.

Normalised EBITDA fell 11.9% to Rs 64.20 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 72.90 crore in Q4 March 2019. Normalised EBITDA margin stood at 21.3% in Q4 March 2020 as compared to Rs 24.20% in Q4 March 2019.

During the quarter, underlying patient volume growth stood at 2.1% from Q4 March 2019. Meanwhile, the board of directors have approved interim dividends of Rs 6 per equity share (of face value Rs 10 per share) at their meeting held on 8 November 2019 and 25 Februaury 2020, which was paid during the quarter ended 31 December 2019 and 31 March 2020 respectively.

Speaking on the Q4 result announcement, Dr Arvind Lal, the executive chairman of Dr Lal PathLabs, has said that: "We are in an unprecedented and difficult times. These times are not only impacting the current financial year but impacted Q4 FY20 results as well not just for Dr Lal Pathlabs, but for the entire nation and the economy. Business was impacted adversely, with volumes getting hit. However, we are confident of things returning to normal and the business performance getting back on track in some time post normalization. With the shift in trend from unorganized to organized players and our robust hub and spoke model, this will be achieved as we get back to providing accurate diagnostics services at affordable prices to our patients."

Commenting on the Q4 performance, Dr Om Manchanda, the managing director (MD) of Dr Lal PathLabs, has stated that: "With our normal business getting impacted, we are at the forefront of testing for COVID-19 cases, while also testing for non- COVID cases as much as possible. Despite such a tough environment, our performance for the quarter has been satisfactory as per the circumstances and the underlying trends until the outbreak had been encouraging."

Dr Lal PathLabs provides diagnostic healthcare services in India.

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