This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 24, 2025 - March 2, 2025

METRO Healthcare Bhd (KL:METRO), which runs a chain of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) centres in the country, is focusing on its expansion in the maternity healthcare business, as it looks to cement its position as a leading women’s healthcare provider.

“Since our listing on the LEAP Market of Bursa Malaysia in 2018, we have grown our fertility treatment [business] to form the biggest network of IVF centres in the country. Now, our next growth will be in maternity centre as we are seeing increasing demand for it,” says Metro founder and executive vice-chairman Dr Tee Swi Peng in an interview with The Edge.

“Eventually, we are looking to expand these maternity centres into multidisciplinary hospitals, but that will be in the long run,” he adds.

The provider of fertility, obstetrics and gynaecology (OB-GYN) services had humble beginnings, starting with the opening of a maternity centre known as Tee Maternity and Gynae Specialist Centre in Klang, Selangor, in 1989.

Tee ventured into fertility care treatment, namely intrauterine insemination (IUI) and IVF, in 1998 under Metro IVF.

Today, the group operates 16 OB-GYN facilities, comprising three maternity hospitals, six fertility centres, six clinics for women and one diagnostic imaging centre.

With almost 36 years’ experience operating maternity centres, Metro is now eyeing further expansion in the OB-GYN area, which would include acquisitions to support its long-term growth.

Tee points out that Metro could also expand the services at its 16 existing facilities.

Metro transferred its listing to the ACE Market last November. Through the exercise, the group raised RM39.2 million, of which RM25 million or 64% was for expansion.

Earlier this month, Metro acquired a four-storey shopoffice in Subang Jaya, Selangor, for RM9.5 million. The property is currently tenanted by Quality Health Care Sdn Bhd, which operates a 10-bed maternity hospital.

With this acquisition, Tee says Metro will open its fourth maternity centre, expanding its capacity to 40 beds from 30 presently.

“We are on the lookout for similar opportunities to expand our network. When it comes to maternity centres, the most important elements are that they must be safe and within reach of the community.

“That’s because pregnant women have to make at least 10 visits during pregnancy. In other words, we try to cover as much area as we can, targeting the middle 40% (M40) income segment,” he explains.

Currently, the group’s maternity centres are located in Klang, Banting and Kuala Selangor. Its private clinics under Klinik Pakar Wanita Metro, which focuses on women’s health, are located in Cheras and Old Klang Road, Klang, Seremban and Puchong.

Metro posted a net profit of RM6.25 million on revenue of RM44.69 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023). Its net profit margin stood at 14%. A total of 55.15% of its revenue came from its maternity centres and clinics, 43.36% from its fertility centres and the remaining 1.49% from paediatric services and fertility services.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2024, the group recorded a net profit of RM5.04 million on revenue of RM36.78 million.

For its fertility segment, Tee says the group is looking at both local and overseas expansion as there has been growing demand from overseas patients seeking fertility treatment in Malaysia.

“In Malaysia, we have good doctors and our IVF treatment is one of the best in the region and is affordable. Some of our patients are from the UK, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and China.”

Presently, the group operates six fertility centres in Selangor, Johor, Melaka, and Penang.

Tee says Metro has the widest network of IVF centres in the country, which gives it a good base from which to grow its capacity in the mid to long term. Overall, the group has the capacity to handle 3,000 IVF cycles per year. Depending on the procedure and fertility requirement, one full IVF cycle takes an average of four weeks.

“We are one of the pioneers in home-grown IVF treatment in the country. [It’s been] almost 27 years since the first IVF centre was set up in 1998,” he says.

Metro is also looking to expand its network of IVF centres to eight with a new location in Ipoh, Perak, scheduled to open last week, and another in Kelantan by the third quarter of this year.

On its overseas expansion, Tee says the group is looking to open satellite centres in China and Indonesia by the end of this year. He adds that the group has to do so quickly to capture the overseas market as fertility technology develops very fast.

“We have to be selective in our investment because technology is not static. For instance, China could have better IVF treatment in the next five to 10 years. Now, it’s a good time to capture these markets,” he says.

Currently, about 90% of the group’s IVF clients are locals, with foreign patients making up the rest.

With the satellite centres, Tee’s target is to have foreign patients making up 50% of its clients in the coming years.

He says Metro’s IVF treatment has a success rate of 70%, which can be raised to 90% should patients opt for more advanced treatment.

“We also offer a preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) service that allows for a genetic screening test to be performed on the embryo to identify genetic abnormalities prior to transferring the embryo into the uterus.

“In the past, we had a PGT option for our patients [but] we sent them to Japan. Now, we have installed this technology at our facilities,” he says.

Shares in Metro closed 4.88% higher at 21.5 sen each last Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM176.8 million. At the current share price, it is trading 14% lower than its initial public offering (IPO) price of 25 sen per share.

A peer comparison shows that Metro is trading higher than other new healthcare listings at 27.6 times price-earnings ratio (PER) based on its FY2023 earnings.

Other healthcare players that listed over the last one year include TopVision Eye Specialist Bhd (KL:TOPVISN) and Alpha IVF Group Bhd (KL:ALPHA).

TopVision was trading at 30% below its IPO price at 23 sen last Friday, giving it a market cap of RM71.3 million, while Alpha IVF was trading 3.13% lower at 31 sen, valuing it at RM1.51 billion. TopVision was valued at 21.15 times PER at the time of listing and Alpha IVF at 29.2 times. 

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.