This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 2, 2015.
KPJ Healthcare Bhd (+ve)
Shares of KPJ (Fundamental: 0.8/3, Valuation: 1.1/3 rose 1.2% to close at RM4.31 yesterday, on heavy volume.
The company announced its latest earnings results last Thursday. For 9M2015, revenue grew 11.6% y-y to RM2.1 billion, due mainly to increased contributions from existing and newly opened hospitals. As a result, net profit expanded 16.1% to RM108.0 million.
Concurrently, KPJ declared a third interim dividend of 1.75 sen, which will go “ex” on December 29. This brings total dividends for FY15 to 5.25 sen, so far.
KPJ is primarily a private healthcare provider, operating 25 specialist hospitals in Malaysia, 2 in Indonesia and 1 in Bangladesh.
On November 20, KPJ signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire a building to be constructed on a 6.3-acre land in Johor Bahru for RM90 million. The land and building, part of a mixed development known as ‘Coronation Square’, will be used to provide healthcare facilities, comprising outpatient centre and senior living service apartments.