Apollo Hospitals shares jump 4% post Q4; here’s why

Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise rallied over 4% in intraday trade on Thursday, in an otherwise muted broader market, as investors cheered strong FY24 guidance across segments. Going ahead, the company aims to add 2,000 beds with over ₹3,000 crore in the next 4 years in key metros, whereas hospital occupancy is projected to be close to 70% by the end of FY24 versus 65% currently.

Early today, Apollo Hospitals shares opened at ₹4,657.75, up 0.7% against the previous closing price of ₹4,622.80 on the BSE. During the session so far, the healthcare stock gained 4.5% to hit an intraday high of ₹4,830, while the market capitalisation rose to ₹69,103 crore. The counter witnessed a surge in buying with 39,000 shares changing hands over the counter so far against a two-week average volume of 15,000 stocks.

At the current price level, the largecap stock trades 1.5% lower than its 52-week high of ₹4,900 touched on December 5, 2022. The stock has surged 37% from its 52-week low of ₹3,528.20 hit on June 7, 2022.

In the last one year, Apollo Hospitals share price has given a 25% return to its shareholders, while it has seen flat growth of 0.5% in the past six months. The healthcare heavyweight has risen 7% in a month and 5% in a week.

The stock has been rising for two sessions after the multi-specialty hospital chain reported over 50% growth in net profit at ₹146 crore for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared with ₹97 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Revenue from operations rose 21% to ₹4,302 crore in Q4FY23, as against ₹3,546 crore in the same period last year.

 During the quarter under review, the EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) stood at ₹488 crore, up 5% from ₹463 crore in Q4FY22. The margin, however, dropped 11% from 12% in the year-ago period.

For the full financial year 2023, the net profit stood at ₹819.1 crore versus ₹1,055.6 crore in FY22, while revenue grew 13% to ₹16,612.5 crore from ₹14,662.6 crore in the previous fiscal.

The board of the company announced a final dividend of ₹9 per equity share (180%) of the face value of ₹5 per share for financial year 2023. The company has fixed August 19 as the record date to determine the eligibility of shareholders, while dividend will be paid on and from September 9. In the past 12 months, the company has declared an equity dividend amounting to ₹17.75 per share, while it paid 27 dividends since its listing in 2000.

As on March 31, 2023, Apollo Hospitals had a total of 70 hospitals with 9,957 operating beds across the network (including 562 beds in AHLL ), out of which 14 hospitals were new with 2,384 operating beds.

Consolidated revenues of the healthcare services division increased by 18% YoY to ₹2,194.6 crore, with existing hospitals and new hospitals generating growth of 18% and 16%, respectively. The occupancy in mature hospitals was 65%, while 62% in new hospitals.

Diagnostics and retail healthcare division generated revenue of ₹308.5 crore, while EBITDA was at ₹25.5 crore. The company incurred a loss of ₹23.4 crore in Q4FY23.

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