Bahrain Hospital Losses Weigh On UAE's Amanat Net Profit

Amanat Holdings, the GCC’s largest healthcare and education investment company, has recorded a 38 percent increase in nine-month net profit to AED33.4 million on total income from investments of AED52.1 million.

The 64 percent increase in income from investments was led by strong contribution at the education platform, driven by positive performance from the fully-owned Middlesex University Dubai (MDX) which accounted for AED18.3 million, Amanat said in a statement.

The company also reported positive contribution from the finance lease income related to the real estate assets of the North London Collegiate Schools Dubai (NLCS), recorded at AED20.6 million in the first nine months of 2019.

Improved performance at the education platform helped offset the negative contribution to investment income from the Royal Hospital for Women & Children (RHWC), which is currently in its ramp-up phase, it added.

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Amanat said its net profit excluding RHWC’s ramp-up losses would have been AED48.3 million, up 96 percent compared to the same period last year.

Amanat added that it successfully deployed AED1.2 billion in investments during 2018.

Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi, chairman of Amanat, said: “We are confident that Amanat’s long term capital structure will continue to support us in delivering attractive returns in our chosen sectors with opportunities for creating value and driving growth, while ensuring revenue sustainability.”

CEO Tristan de Boysson added: “We continue to drive value and success across our healthcare and education platforms by proactively driving improvements on corporate strategy, corporate governance and corporate finance to strengthen our portfolio and drive sustainable profitability. Looking forward, we will selectively build our portfolio in the region to grow our platforms by creating scale, diversity and operational value through synergies.”

The results come as the healthcare sector in the GCC is forecast to grow at 6.7 percent CAGR by 2022, underpinned by a rapidly growing and aging population and a high prevalence of lifestyle diseases.

The education sector is also poised for growth. The private sector education remains largely underpenetrated in the region and new government initiatives aimed at boosting private sector education is said to double the expected growth rate over the next five years, from $13 billion in 2018 to $26 billion by 2023.

Amanat said it has deployed a total of AED2 billion since inception, utilising 79 percent of its AED2.5 billion paid up capital.