India`s Apollo Hospitals reports rise in Q4 profit before tax on lower costs
Indian healthcare services provider Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd reported a 7.6% rise in its fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by a fall in input costs.
Consolidated profit before tax rose to 2.54 billion rupees ($30.7 million) for the three months ended March 31, from 2.36 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
Revenue from operations for one of the country's largest hospital chains rose nearly 21% to 43.02 billion rupees, while cost of materials consumed slid 14.3% from last year.
Revenue from healthcare services, which accounted for 51% of the total revenue in the quarter, climbed 18.5%, while revenue for the digital health and pharmacy distribution segment grew by 30.9%.
The Chennai-based company runs over 73 private hospitals, pharmacies, diagnostic clinics across the country.
Shares of the company fell 2% after the results before settling 0.9% lower to snap three straight sessions of gains.
Last week, peer Fortis Healthcare Ltd posted a nearly 59% rise in its fourth-quarter profit.
($1 = 82.7047 Indian rupees)
