Kenanga: 3 countries to drive IHH Healthcare's growth

KUALA LUMPUR: Kenanga Research expects IHH Healthcare Bhd's growth for
the next five years to be driven by its operations in Singapore,
Malaysia and Turkey.

In a research note today, it said in
Singapore, the first phase of Mount Elizabeth Novena hospital,
comprising of 150 beds of the 333-bed capacity and 13 operation theatres
had commenced operations in July last year.

In Malaysia, it said
the company was currently undertaking expansion projects in four
hospitals -- Gleneagles Medical Centre Penang, Pantai Hospital Kuala
Lumpur, Pantai Hospital Klang and Gleneagles, Kuala Lumpur -- and
greenfield projects namely Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu, Pantai Hospital
Manjung and Gleneagles Medini.

"The three greenfield projects will add an estimated 500 beds to its network by 2014," it said.

Meanwhile,
in Turkey, the company through its subsidiary, Acibadem, is currently
undertaking expansion projects in two hospitals, Acibadem Sistina Skopje
Clinical Hospital and Acibadem Maslak Hospital, while undertaking two
greenfield projects, Acibadem Ankara and Bodrum Hospitals.

AmResearch,
in a separate note, said a growth frontier for the group would be Hong
Kong, making its foray via winning a site for a greenfield project in
the former British colony, which is scheduled for commencement in
financial year 2016.

"This acts as a platform to penetrate deeper into the large and underserved market of Hong Kong," it said.

Nevertheless,
it said IHH Healthcare was expected to continue its efforts to
intensify revenue and exposure in its three key markets, Malaysia,
Singapore and Turkey, to propel growth further underpinned by strong
franchise value.

Kenanga has maintained its "market perform" call on the stock and raised the target price to RM4.04 from RM3.51 previously.

AmResearch re-affirmed a "hold" recommendation with an unchanged fair value of RM3.25. -- BERNAMA