Materia Medica Malaysiana

Pantai to expand overseas support services ops

PANTAI Holdings Bhd plans to further expand its healthcare and clinical support services, especially in the Indonesian and Middle East markets.

Chairman Datuk Dr Ridzwan Abu Bakar said: “We see great potential in these markets and hope to enhance our profits based on the increasing number of foreign patients under our health tourism business.”

Last month, Pantai Holdings opened a marketing office in Jakarta to attract more Indonesian patients and to provide clinical support services such as waste management and equipment maintenance to Indonesian hospitals via its subsidiary, Pantai Medivest Sdn Bhd.

The group had also set up a joint venture company with Jeddah-based Al Sharif group in July last year to provide healthcare services and to set up two hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Dr Ridzwan said after Pantai Holdings' EGM in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

On the local front, he said group subsidiary Fomema Sdn Bhd, an agency involved in medical examination for foreign workers in Malaysia, had also been contributing positively to group revenue, owing to the increasing number of foreign workers, especially Indonesians, in Malaysia.

“Fomema's business fits in well with our core businesses, and is an important revenue contributor to the Pantai group.”

Earlier, Dr Ridzwan said the group expected to complete the acquisition of the remaining 49% stake in Cheras Medical Centre Sdn Bhd, in which it already owns a 51% interest, by next month.

“This acquisition will save us about RM2.2mil in rental per year and will help to enhance the margins of this medical centre, which returned to the black four years ago,” he said.

Cheras Medical Centre is one of the seven hospitals owned by Pantai Holdings nationwide.

For the financial year ended June, the group reported a net loss of RM112.1mil compared with a net profit of RM8mil a year earlier as a result of its share of losses in an associate company, Avenue Capital Resources Bhd.

However, Dr Ridzwan said the group was optimistic that its core businesses of hospitals and healthcare support would contribute positively to group revenue in the current financial year.