Dr Lal PathLabs reports decline in profit for quarter ending March

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Dr. Lal PathLabs Ltd on Thursday reported a sixth consecutive fall in quarterly profit as a continued slide in income from COVID-related testing outpaced growth in its core business.

The medical diagnostics firm, India's largest by revenue, posted a consolidated net profit of 567 million rupees ($6.93 million) in the three months to March 31, down from 613 million rupees a year earlier.

Earnings margin before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation contracted to 23.6% from 24.9% a year ago.

Dr. Lal PathLabs is the first among its peers to report results and will set the tone for an intensely competitive industry that made a windfall during the pandemic but has since sharply slipped.

Shares of the company and its listed rivals Metropolis Healthcare, Thyrocare Technologies and Vijaya Diagnostic Centre have fallen between 45% and 68% from their all-time highs in 2021, as of their last close.

Analysts have since set their sights on companies' ability to widen their range of tests and geographic reach, noting that Dr. Lal PathLabs is best placed among its competitors to grow in the long term.

Over the period of more than a year, the company, which has a strong presence in northern and eastern India besides its New Delhi base, has sought to expand to smaller cities and other regions in the country through acquisitions.

Revenue grew a mere 1.1% to 4.91 billion rupees, with the non-COVID segment contributing to nearly 98% of the total.

Revenue from the COVID and allied segments was down to just 110 million rupees, from 660 million rupees a year before.

Shares of Dr. Lal PathLabs fell as much as 3.2% to 1,888.10 rupees after reporting results.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)