Apollo Hospitals soars 8% on heavy volumes; m-cap nears Rs 50,000 crore

Structurally, cost reduction drives, expanding of complex procedures and profitability of new hospitals and AHL remain key management focus areas, analysts said.

Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises hit a fresh record high of Rs 3,464.95, surging 8 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday, on the back of heavy volumes. The stock of the healthcare facilities company surpassed its previous high of Rs 3,432.90 touched on June 3, 2021.

At 01:51 pm, Apollo Hospitals was up 7 per cent at Rs 3,426, as compared to a 0.43 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. Trading volumes on the counter jumped over three-fold with a combined 3.04 million shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report.

Supported by today's gain, Apollo Hospitals' market capitalisation (market-cap) is now close to Rs 50,000 crore-mark. At 01:35 pm, the company’s m-cap stood at Rs 49,625 crore, BSE data shows.

Apollo Hospitals is one of the largest cardiac practices in India with over 160,000 cardiac surgeries. It is also the world’s largest private cancer care provider and runs the world’s leading solid organ transplant program.

Apollo, on Wednesday, announced reorganisation of its existing business of backend pharmacy supply, Apollo medicals, associated brands and Apollo 24/7 into Apollo HealthCo (AHL) by way of a slump sale for a consideration of Rs 1,210 crore. The company is aiming for a revenue of $2.3-2.5 billion (avout $750 million currently) and 100 million registered users (from 10 million currently) over the next five years. It plans to raise capital at AHL in the next six months while retaining a dominant majority shareholding in the entity. READ ABOUT IT HERE

Meanwhile, it also reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 169.89 crore for the March quarter as against a consolidated net profit of Rs 209.60 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Consolidated revenue from operations in the fourth quarter stood at Rs 2,867.95 crore in the quarter under review. It was Rs 2,922.43 crore in the year-ago period, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) said in a regulatory filing.

"In January-March quarter (Q4FY21), Apollo’s hospital business posted good recovery of 10 per cent year on year (YoY), led by increase in surgical/non-COVID procedures whereas the pharmacy business growth slowed to 4 per cent YoY (higher base). While April-June quarter (Q1FY22) is likely to be softer due to increase in COVID cases (lower ARPOBs), the medium-term outlook remains healthy as management expects ARPOBs (average revenue per occupied bed day) to increase with improvement at new hospitals, return of international patient business, and price increase," analysts at HDFC Securities said in a result update.

The outlook for asset light businesses, the brokerage says, such as pharmacy and Apollo Health & Lifestyle Limited (AHLL) (clinics/diagnostics) remains strong and we forecast 31 per cent Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) growth over FY21-23, led by healthy topline growth and margin expansion.

 Those at ICICI Securities added: Apollo Hospitals’ Q4FY21 results were almost in line with our estimates in all fronts. After initial Covid related hindrances, the healthcare business is more or less back to normalcy. Structurally, cost reduction drives, expanding of complex procedures and profitability of new hospitals and AHL remain key management focus areas. The pharmacy business remains a steady growth engine albeit in a changed structure.