KPJ Healthcare in the pink of health

KPJ Healthcare Bhd is expected to be the first homegrown private healthcare services provider to become a RM1 billion company.
Its current and non-current assets stood at RM853.8 million last year and its managing director Datin Paduka Siti Sa’diah Sheikh Bakir is confident that KPJ’s constant expansion and equipment upgrading will eventually push the value beyond the RM1 billion mark.
“By aspiring to be a RM1 billion company, we believe we will be able to strengthen our position as a leading and established a private healthcare services provider.
“It is a testament of our commitment to and drive for excellence,” she told Business Times recently.
KPJ’s main competitor in the domestic scene is Pantai Holdings Bhd, with assets worth RM898.85 million as of end June 2004.
Siti Sa’diah said the company aims to continuously strengthen its position as one of the leading healthcare providers in Malaysia and the region.
For starters, it is acquiring the latest medical equipment and upgrading its network system which will see the company spending a few million ringgit.
“Our immediate aim is to link all our 13 hospitals in Malaysia in the next two years. After that, we aim to link all our local hospitals and those overseas,” Siti Sa’diah told Business Times.
The 13 KPJ hospitals are in the Klang Valley, Sarawak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Kedah. Outside Malaysia, KPJ has stakes in two hospitals, one in Indonesia and the other in Bangladesh. It also manages two more hospitals in Indonesia.
The company is also working strategically to improve its services and operations for healthcare tourism, targeting a 60 per cent increase in revenue from the segment.
It enjoyed growth rates of 39 per cent in 2003 and 55 per cent in 2004.
In its fiscal 2004, the group’s net earnings increased 9.62 per cent to RM31.84 million from RM29.04 million in 2003.
Its revenue for 2004 increased 14.45 per cent to RM583.17 million from RM509.52 million during the previous year.
During the first quarter ended March 31 2005, KPJ registered RM149.66 million in turnover and RM8.72 million net profit.
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