JOHANNESBURG – Mediclinic International Plc said it expects full-year group core profit to fall by 3.5 percent, in line with market expectations in a challenging healthcare environment.
Financial year 2018 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were 515 million pounds ($673 million), Mediclinic said on Wednesday.
Analysts expect EBITDA to fall by 4.8 percent, Refinitiv data shows, while on a constant currency basis, Mediclinic expects group EBITDA to fall around 1.5 percent.
Shares in Johannesburg-listed Mediclinic were up 3.72 percent at 0708 GMT.
The private healthcare group said in a statement that Hirslanden, Switzerland’s largest private hospital group, had delivered on its revised full year guidance, with revenue up around 2.5 percent and an EBITDA margin at 16 percent, from 18.3 percent the previous year.
Mediclinic, which also has operations in Southern Africa and the Middle East, has faced stricter regulations in Switzerland that have hobbled growth and put pressure on margins. These include tariff reductions for outpatients and a less favourable insurance mix.
($1 = 0.7657 pounds) (Reuters)