UPDATE 1-Fortis Healthcare expects to buy hospital by Sept
(Adds details, background, shares)
NEW DELHI, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Hospital-chain operator Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FOHE.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) expects to buy a 100-200 bed hospital by September, its chief executive said on Monday.
Fortis, which has 14 hospitals and 8 satellite centres, aims to have 40 hospitals by 2011. Traditionally a north-India based chain, Fortis is now looking at south and western India to expand.
Last September, it took over Chennai-based Malar Hospital Ltd (MLRH.BO: Quote, Profile, Research).
"Fortis will probably close one deal in September," Shivinder Mohan Singh told reporters at a press conference.
He declined to provide more details, but said the hospital would be in the west or south.
Fortis, which posted its first-ever quarterly profit in the April-June quarter, would have full-year EBITDA margins of "at least" 16 percent, Singh said.
EBITDA margins were at that level in April-June, Fortis' first fiscal-quarter, compared with about 12 percent in 2007/08, he added.
"By the year end, we will not have any hospital that will be bleeding," Singh said. Continued...
One Year Later
A year after militants laid siege to Mumbai, the country still remains very vulnerable. Full Article | Full Coverage
Liberhan Commission Report
The government published a long awaited report, recently leaked, accusing BJP leaders of a role in the 1992 destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Full Article
