Downgrades

We met with Ameera Shah, Promoter and Executive Chairperson of Metropolis Healthcare (MHL), to gain insights into management strategy of growing organically (via network expansion) and inorganically (revenue synergies following the integration of recent acquisitions).

Quarterly Update Q4FY25

Dr Lal PathLabs’ (Dr Lal) Q4FY25 results were slightly better than our expectation. Outperformance was driven by higher sample volumes (up 9.5% YoY) and realisation improvement.

MHL’s Q3FY25 EBITDA missed street/our estimates by 9%/4%, with revenue growing 11% YoY driven by B2C revenue improving 15% YoY.

Company Update

Dr Lal PathLabs’ (Dr Lal) Q2FY25 revenue growth of 9.8% YoY was lower than our expectation, though its better EBITDA margin of 30.7% was a surprise.

Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited’s (KDL’s) business growth remained healthy on a y-o-y basis. That said, the growth was lower than expectations.

Quarterly Update Q4FY24

Quarterly Update Q3FY24

Vijaya Diagnostic Centre’s (Vijaya) Q2FY24 result was a beat vs our estimates driven by 18.3% YoY growth in non-covid business. Test volume growth remained healthy at 18.7% YoY. In Q2, it commercialised a new hub in Kolkata; the company is witnessing good traction and expects the hub to breakeven in next three quarters.

Thyrocare’s Q2FY24 performance was in line with our expectations. Its revenue grew 9.7% YoY while the franchisee business grew faster at 20%. It reported an improvement in gross margins (+100bps YoY) due to a decline in the lowmargin Partnership business.

Vijaya’s Q1FY24 performance beat our estimates driven by 19.2% YoY growth in non covid business. Test volume growth remained healthy at 17.5% YoY, aided by improvement in footfalls in the company’s mature and newer centres. Centres at Panjagutta and Rajamundhry have started gaining traction while Tirupati hub is expected to scale up in the coming quarters.

Quarterly Update Q1FY24

Network expansion to drive growth

Thyrocare Technologies has reported an improvement in gross margin (+270bps YoY) in Q1FY24 led by a decline in low margin partnership business. The company has revamped incentive structure offered to franchisees and this should drive a strong 12-14% volume growth in this segment.

Dr Lal’s Pathlabs’ Q1 volume growth at 2.5% was impacted to some extent due to seasonality. Favourable test mix and traction in Swasthfit improved realisation per patient by 8.5% to INR 789 and aided gross margin expansion of 181bps YoY.

Vijaya Diagnostic Centre’s (Vijaya) Q4FY23 performance was driven by a steady 22.4% YoY growth in non-covid business, while covid business’ contribution fell to 1% (15% in Q4FY22). Overheads of new centres impacted EBITDA margin to a small extent though, at 40.6% in Q4, it continues to be better than that of most of listed peers.