Aster DM posts 93% fall in Q1 profit on new hospital losses, taxes

Aster DM's new hospitals, including Aster Royal Hospital Muscat and Aster Narayanadri Tirupati, reported losses of Rs 2900 cr for the June quarter, the company said

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Aster DM Healthcare reported a nearly 93% fall in its first-quarter profit on Monday, its fourth straight quarterly profit fall, dragged by losses from its new hospitals and a one-time tax expense.

The company's consolidated net profit fell to 49 million rupees (nearly $590,000) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 685.4 million rupees a year earlier.

Aster DM's new hospitals, including Aster Royal Hospital Muscat and Aster Narayanadri Tirupati, reported losses of 290 million rupees for the June quarter, the company said.

Additionally, it had a deferred tax expense of 440 million rupees during the quarter.

The company's profit before tax fell 14% to 732.5 million rupees as a nearly 20% rise in its expenses weighed.

Revenue from the hospital segment rose 23.5% to 18.78 billion rupees during the quarter. This is Aster's biggest segment, accounting for more than 58% of its total revenue.

Revenue from operations rose 21% to 32.15 billion rupees.

Peer Apollo Hospitals Enterprise also reported a bigger-than-expected fall in first-quarter profit on Friday, dragged by operating costs related to its digital healthcare platform.

Shares of Aster DM closed 0.4% lower ahead of the results.

($1 = 83.0600 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)