KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — KPJ Healthcare Bhd recorded a 48 per cent drop in net profit to RM110.44 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20) as its patient volumes fell following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

The healthcare service provider said revenue declined to RM2.40 billion from RM2.74 billion in the preceding year.

The group’s FY20 revenue was largely affected by the MCO during the second quarter of 2020 and the Conditional MCO in the fourth quarter of 2020, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

"The Covid-19 global pandemic has impacted KPJ’s business activities with lower patient episodes and lower bed occupancy rate (BOR) at all of its hospitals.

"During the lockdown, many elective procedures were postponed or delayed and hospitals were focusing on the critical and life-threatening cases,” it added.

Thus BOR in the year under review shrank to 48 per cent compared to 66 per cent in 2019.

Meanwhile, the group’s patient visits declined by nine per cent to 2.9 million in 2020 from 3.2 million in the preceding year.

"During the period, despite the reduction in hospital revenue, laboratory revenue from (51 per cent-owned) Lablink recorded an increase by more than 100 per cent or RM13.3 million, which softened the impact on the total revenue drop for the group,” it said.

For the fourth quarter of FY20, KPJ’s net profit dipped to RM25.29 million from RM84.0 million a year earlier, as revenue fell to RM586.83 million from RM717.93 million previously. — Bernama