Raffles Medical Group Ltd - Phillip Securities 2018-02-27: New Capacity To Fuel Growth

RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP LTD BSL.SI

Raffles Medical Group Ltd - New Capacity To Fuel Growth

Raffles Medical Group's FY17 Revenue/Adjusted PATMI were in line with our full year expectations.
Beneficiary of MOH’s initiatives with new capacity to meet growing demand.
Declared higher final dividend of 1.75 cents (Full year dividend of 2.25 cents, +12.5% YoY).
Maintained ACCUMULATE with unchanged Target Price of S$1.32.

Its insurance business (contributing < 10% of Healthcare services Revenue) was hit by lower renewal of international healthcare plans for expatriates, particularly from the financial sector. Strong local demand underpinned growth amidst plateaued foreign patient volume growth.
Raffles Holland V is now fully leased with around 4.7% net rental yield. Note that it only recorded one quarter of rental income in FY17 (upon the end of one-year rental free provision); we would see a higher rental income in FY18 due to a full year contribution from Raffles Holland V.

The new Raffles Specialist Centre (RafflesHospital’s extension) has commenced operation since 22 Jan-18. Various specialist centres and the radiology centre have been relocated to the new building from RafflesHospital.
Meanwhile, Raffles Hospital is undergoing construction to open up new wards to increase bed capacity, as well as to refurbish the podium for new commercial outlets. The construction is slated for completion by end May-18.

We expect staff costs to stay above 50% of Group’s revenue in coming years until patient volume picks up in Raffles Specialist Centre, MCH (MC Holdings) and the two new hospitals in China.

Outlook remains positive despite medium-term margin pressures from higher staff costs and start-up costs from the gestation of its two new China hospitals.

Following the Emergency Care Collaboration since Jun-15, the Group has recently deepened the partnership with the MOH (Ministry of Health) via
1. a 5-year term PCN Scheme (Primary Care Network), and
2. the Air Borders Screening contract.
The PCN Scheme will be supported via three partnership clusters around Singapore (43 clinics island wide); while the Air Borders Screening would provide temperature screening and infectious disease surveillance at Changi and Seletar Airports by tapping onto its existing and exclusive medical service. These initiatives could expand potential patient pool, as well as increase utilization rate of its existing facilities (i.e. higher productivity and enhanced efficiency).

Its two China hospital projects are on-track to commence operations: RafflesHospital Chongqing (4Q18) and RafflesHospital Shanghai (4Q19).
Management has earmarked three years before each hospital to break even and guided estimated start-up losses of S$2.5mn, S$11.25mn, S$12.5mn and S$3.75mn in FY18 to FY21 respectively. The Group generates c.S$100mn of EBITDA a year.

We expect the Group to partially fund the two China hospitals with RMB-denominated debt. Management guided to cap gearing ratio at 50%, which implies much headroom for loans as the end-FY17 gearing ratio was at 10.8%.

We remain upbeat on the potential growth that these new hospitals in China would bring to the Group:
1. Diversification with a higher contribution for overseas operation; and
2. Tapping into China’s growth.

Raffles Medical Group is currently trading at 28.7x forward PER, which is a 36.4% discount to its regional peers’ average of 45.1x.
Its FY18e dividend yield of 2.0% is 33.3% higher than its regional peers’ average.

Soh Lin Sin Phillip Securities | https://www.stocksbnb.com/ 2018-02-27

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