Announced closure in Philippines 3 months ago
KOCHI: Hardly three months since the decision to down shutters on its clinics in Philippines, Aster DM Healthcare has decided to close down its loss-making pharmacies in Kuwait.
Aster has already informed the stock markets about its decision to pull out from Kuwait. Aster has been operating pharmacies in Kuwait through its subsidiary, Aster Kuwait Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment, which contributes just 0.42 per cent to the top line of the group.
“The company intends to exit from the Kuwait market by shutting down the loss making operations of the pharmacies,” the company statement said on Monday.
The company said in December that it would close its operations of all its clinics in Philippines by December 31, 2019. It decided to sell the clinics there as they were loss making.
While the consolidated net profit of Aster DM Healthcare, which is listed on NSE and BSE, rose 38.65 per cent to Rs139.12 crore in the quarter ended December 2019 as against Rs100.34 crore for the previous quarter ended December 2018, the standalone profit during the period was Rs81.61 crore against a net loss of Rs2.81 crore in the corresponding period in the last year.
Almost 80 per cent of the revenue of the global healthcare service provider Aster DM Healthcare that announced 100 per cent legal ownership in the UAE recently, is generated by its GCC operations, which in turn is mainly contributed by its UAE healthcare operations.
The shares of Aster DM Healthcare closed at Rs91.55 on NSE on Monday. The company’s share has lost almost 43 per cent of its market value during March alone, thanks to the COVID 19 outbreak that has drained the value of most shares in the past more than two months.
