Troubled UAE-based NMC Healthcare has revealed revenues of $1.536bn in financial results for 2020, down six percent on the previous year as a result of the “difficult circumstances” created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Founded by Indian entrepreneur Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, NMC had a market value of $10bn at its peak on the London Stock Exchange before allegations of fraud pushed it into administration last year.
A release from the company revealed that “despite difficult circumstances due to Covid-19”, gross revenues for NMC’s UAE and Oman business were $1.121bn, which was 11 percent ahead of the business plan.
It added that NMC Group is expected to be comprised of operations in the UAE and Oman, following the anticipated sale of non-core assets in early 2021, with forecasted gross revenue growth of six percent this year.
Michael Davis, chief executive officer, said: “It was a very challenging year for healthcare services around the world, yet NMC and our subsidiaries were able to fully demonstrate the value our facilities bring to the communities they serve in 2020.”
Alvarez & Marsal were appointed joint administrators of NMC Health PLC, the holding company of NMC Healthcare, on April 9 last year.
As part of the restructuring of the company, NMC’s financial advisers, Perella Weinberg Partners and Resonance Capital (ResCap), recently launched a sale process to explore potential interest in the core business in the UAE and Oman, which will run alongside ongoing discussions with NMC’s lenders.
The liquidity situation of the company was boosted by sale of international fertility business – Eugin – in December last year to Fresenius Helios for around $525m, while as of the end of 2020, NMC had $78.9m of available cash on hand together with undrawn credit facilities of $167.3m available under its Administration Financing Facility.
Davis said: “We entered 2021 with a stable financial position and an operating platform that will enable us to deliver full value to all our stakeholders. Given this performance and resilience, we are growing more confident about our business and competitive position.”
According to the release, the group has performed 1,226,220 Covid-19 PCR tests and administered 91,331 vaccinations across the UAE.
“While our financial performance was constrained by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud of the central role our clinicians and ancillary staff played in supporting the UAE Government’s program to battle the pandemic,” said Davis. “Our performance in the second half of the year was ahead of expectations and shows the strength and diversity of our services across multiple specialties.”
At the time, the firm revealed more than $4bn of undisclosed borrowings, giving it a total debt of $6.6bn.
Shetty has said that he is the victim of a fraud that also resulted in the administration of NMC’s sister company, foreign-exchange operator Finablr.
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