Georgia Healthcare sees first half revenues more than double

Georgia Healthcare saw profits rocket over the first half of the year, boosted by its acquisition of pharmacy chains Pharmadepot and GPC.

The firm posted a 44.9% jump in profits before tax to 24.3m Georgian Lari at the half-year stage as its top line bulged by 112.9% to GEL371m.

Yet earnings per share were 3.6% lower versus the comparable year-ago period to GEL0.12 (4p) due to the impact of extraordinary charges.

Sales were driven by a 624.5% surge at its pharma unit to reach GEL222.3m, which also benefitted from a five and a half percentage point increase in its gross profit margins to 23.9%.

Focus at that unit during the first half was on ensuring the full integration of the Pharmadepot and GPC chains of pharmacies, which brought the total number of establishments country-wide to 247.

To take note of, results for the pharma unit in the second half of 2016 only included two months of trading for GPC.

Revenues at its healthcare services business meanwhile were 11.5% ahead to GEL132.9m, although at its medical insurance arm net insurance premiums earned declined by 6.0% to GEL27.4m.

Nevertheless, the latter had achieved some stabilisation after its loss-making contract with the Minsitry of Defence expired in January 2017, the company said in a statement.