Asia Medic

Asia Medic: is looking to grow its market share in Singapore as well as scale up its presence in the region as it works to steer its business back to profitability. "Once we've stabilised Singapore and made sure it's on a growth track, we're going to look for more opportunities to serve the higher market segment in Singapore," said CEO Wong Weng Hong, adding that it will target services which deliver "big chunks of revenue". He did not rule out acquisitions as a means of growing its operations here. Dr Wong, who joined the group in Mar 2012, was previously MD of Healthway Medical, having founded the Healthway Medical group of companies in 1990. AsiaMedic, which specialises in advanced diagnostics and health screening, will expand its medical centre in Shaw House by 8,000 sf this year, up from 11,000 sf currently. "We're taking up another floor. We'll expand more of our current services as well as new services," he explained. This comes on the heels of recent renovations carried out at the flagship as well as an investment in new generation MRI equipment. Efforts to get the group back on its feet appear to be paying off so far. In FY11, it reported a loss of $0.81m. For 1H12, AsiaMedic made a net profit of $66,000, vs a loss of $552,000 yoy, while revenue increased 13% yoy to $5.54m. AsiaMedic is also expanding its footprint across the region. In the past, it has taken on consultancy work as a means of securing an additional revenue stream - such as a turnkey project in Abu Dhabi for Mubadala Healthcare - but such projects tend to span up to two years at most, notes Dr Wong."For long-term growth, it's important for AsiaMedic to find a niche where we can be for the long run," he added. Most recently, it has set up a post-natal confinement centre in Shanghai, having leased and converted the fifth floor of an existing four-star hotel. The centre currently has about 20 rooms but AsiaMedic has the option to convert the other floors to expand further, in which case it could add another 20-30 rooms. The centre, which was set up in Nov ‘12, cost under $300,000 to renovate. Rooms start at Rmb 38,000 (~$7,476) per month - additional services are charged separately - and its clients are expected to stay one to two months. AsiaMedic is also in partnership with a doctor in Shanghai to operate a separate medical centre, which will support the post-natal facility through its access to medical professionals. Dr Wong said that AsiaMedic's strategy for venturing overseas is to invest in businesses which are scalable and offer a quick return on investment. Ideally, it is looking to invest in projects which aren't highly capital intensive, in the region of $500,000 and below. It is keen to set up similar post-delivery rehabilitation centres in some of the bigger cities, such as Beijing and Guangzhou. Beyond China, AsiaMedic is working towards opening an advanced imaging centre in Myanmar this year via a JV. In July last year, it entered into an MOU with Ni Ni Diagnostics And Healthcare to assess the feasibility of setting up such a centre in Yangon. Separately, it entered into another MOU in October last year with Asia Merit to explore the possibility of providing mgt services of healthcare facilities in Myanmar. Shares in AsiaMedic closed at $0.125 yday, +0.8%.