GPT Healthcare Limited (GPTHEALTH.NS) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to GPT Healthcare Limited Q3 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call hosted by MUFG. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Sejal Mehtal from MUFG Intime. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.

Thank you. Welcome to Q3 and 9 Months FY '26 Earnings Call of GPT Healthcare Limited. Today, on this call, we have with us Mr. Atul Tantia, Group CFO; Mr. Anurag Tantia, Executive Director; and Mrs. KT. Tantia, CFO. Before we proceed the call, I would like to give a small disclaimer that this conference may contain certain forward-looking statements, which are based on beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as on date. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. A detailed disclaimer has been given in the company's investor presentation, which is uploaded on stock exchange. Now I would like to hand over the conference to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

[Audio Gap] has gone down from 4.5 to 4.3% in this hospital. So which is an indication that the strategy which we are planning is working out in the hospital.

So this average in tandem, where you would like to see in another next 2, 3 quarters?

Ideally this should be stable at around figure considering the complex treatments which go on in this hospital and average length of stay would be -- or 4 would be very, very good in this hospital.

Okay. And then when we can start getting double-digit growth maybe next year?

Next year, we expect this hospital to start giving double-digit growth again. We are already on track and we are seeing the traction happen [indiscernible].

The next question comes from the line of Abhishek Maheshwari from Skyridge Fund Managers.

Congratulations on the revenue growth. First question is regarding the other expenses. I'm assuming this is increased because of the apple commissioning -- but when can we expect the expenses as a percentage of sales to go back to 40% from this 45% that we have right now?

So yes, you're right. The other expenses slightly increased on account of the commissioning of the Raipur hospital where a lot of it has gone into promotional expenses for the hospital. We expect that in the next 6 months to 8 months, it will come -- the ratio should significantly come down.

All right. And any issues you're facing in Agartala because of the Bangladesh issue?

So we have been able to get past that. We have increased our footprint in Tripura itself. Bangladesh, we have -- the number of patients is still not back to what it used to be. So we've redirected our marketing and productivity efforts in Tripura and North Tripura, which is giving us results. And with the addition of comprehensive oncology care in our Agartala hospital, we are seeing significant traction where productivity has gone up almost 10% there.

Okay. And with respect to lap, I think you've already commented on the breakeven part. But just since it's a new hospital, 6 months into it, what kind of environment are we seeing there with respect to inpatient and outpatient footfalls and tie up with doctors and certain consultants?

So we are doing very well in the Raipur Hospital. We've already -- we are on target with regards to our financial year estimates, our impact in that hospital. And just under 6 months, you've already started doing renal transplants. We are about to start doing liver transplant in the hospital. We have a very good and dedicated team of clinicians, which is well supported by the technology that we have there. and we are seeing good productivity and traction in the hospital

. Got it. And lastly, how is Q4 shaping up, if you can comment on that?

Q4 is as per our estimates at this point.

The next question comes from the line of [ Sidhan Kanodia from Tusk Investment ].

Yes. Sir, my first question is regarding the riper. You mentioned that the EBITDA loss for this quarter was 2.5%. So what will be the 9 months EBITDA loss? And are we expecting any EBITDA loss in Q4 as well?

So 9 months EBITDA loss is around INR 10 crores for Raipur. Yes, we do expect another INR 1.5 crores to INR 2 crores of EBITDA loss in Q4.

Okay. So full year, we are expecting INR 12 crores. And sir, this number next year, this will be a breakeven? Or can we expect some EBITDA positive?

We hope to breakeven on a monthly basis in the next 6 months. So hopefully, in the entire full financial year, we should be just about EBITDA positive.

Okay. And sir, my last question is regarding Jamshedpur, next year, what sort of EBITDA loss are you expecting from that unit? And if we remove the Raipur facility, the 9-month sales growth for the old centers have been close to 7%. So going forward, should we take this as a base case? Or are we looking to improve it?

So the ship facility is expected to be commissioned around Q4 of FY '27 we expect losses of around INR 3 crores to INR 4 crores for that during the period. In terms of the growth in the current 9 months, quarter-on-quarter, we've seen almost a 10% or 11% growth from the existing 4 hospitals and a 7.5% growth from the riper hospital. We expect this traction to continue going forward as well.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of [indiscernible] Electrum PMS.

I just had a couple of questions. So one on the ILS Salt Lake Hospital. So we have previously seen that the occupancy was roughly around 70% plus, but it has currently dropped to roughly around 60%. So how do we see that increasing back to 70 plus and similarly for the Dum-Dum Hospital also? And the second question is that right now, we are up around 700 beds, and we are adding 150 beds jump shape good by Q4 FY '27. But in the presentation, you have mentioned that we will reach 1,000 beds hospital by FY '27. So how do we see that happening?

So with regards to Salt Lake, a key reason for the decrease in overall occupancy levels is the throughput having increased. If you look at it on a patient number perspective, operation numbers are same, if not growing. The reason that occupancy has fallen is because the average length of stay has come down significantly from almost 3.3 to 2.7, 2.8. This is making more debts available, which we are moving towards filling up and increasing productivity, which has already started happening in this financial year itself. The same applies to Dum Dum as well. Dum Dum, there has been a significant reduction in the length of stay from almost 5% to 4.4% in the current quarter. There is a strong focus on that hospital to restructure the number of departments and the type of departments we have there to focus on high ARPOB, low-stage departments. This has already commenced with the starting of cardiac surgeries in Dum Dum, and there are more departments to be added in the floor. I'm sorry, what was the next question?

Sir, we are correctly at around 700 beds right now and we are adding Jamshedpur. that gap of 100 by 2027, how do we see that?

We are actively pursuing and evaluating opportunities which come to us. It is about a matter of time as to what ends up being the right fit for the expansion process.

The next question comes from the line of Vidhi Shah from PR Kotari.

On the Dum Dum hospital...

0 Sorry, you're not audible, you are not audible. We are unable to hear you.

Yes. So the only reason for Dum Dum hospital occupancy going down is due to decrease in [indiscernible] of a -- or is there any other issue?

So it is a combination of reduction in average length of stay and as well as our focus on restructuring the number of departments and type of departments we have there. we are working strategically to reduce the dependence on a couple of departments because of which we have been activating newer high ARPOB, low length of state departments, which is causing this change to happen, we are well into the strategic change for almost 9 months and we're seeing results of that starting to come in now.

Okay. And any guidance on the revenue or the average revenue?

So the average revenue per operating bed at Dum Dum is at around the 42,000 mark, which has increased 40,000 from the previous quarter.

Yes. Sir, I mean on the overall...

0 [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of [ Arpit Kapadia from IG ].

My question is regarding the occupancy rate how do the company see the occupancy rate in next, let's say, medium term, let's say, 2 years?

So we see the ideal occupancy rate should be at around 70% to 75% mark depending on the size of the hospital. Most of our mature assets of Dum Dum and Salt Lake are around that mark. We expect the assets of Agartala and Howrah to move around that mark in the next 1 year. Raipur being a new asset, we expect that it will be moving towards a 70% occupancy in close to the next 3 years.

Okay. And what is the company's strategy to increase the occupancy rate?

We have been working across all hospitals on different departments. As I said, we've started oncology in the Agartala Hospital, which is a comprehensive oncology care. That itself has started giving us a lot of traction. In the Salt lake hospital, we have been focusing a lot on gastroenterology. And now with that, we'll be starting GI surgeries as well. At Dum Dum, we've added short steel, high ARPOB departments like Cardiac surgeries, urology, interventional cardiology. So like this across all hospitals, there is a lot of department focus, which is starting to pay out dividends to us now.

And since having said that, we are going towards 1,000 bed capacity, so the next 300 odd bed would be a greenfield? Or are you looking for some mandates?

So we are towards the next 300 beds, we've already announced the Jamshedpur Hospital, which should be starting within 1 year. That will be around 150 beds. Apart from that, we are looking out for options in the eastern part of the country, there may be brownfield or greenfield in nature.

The next question comes from the line of [ Avinash Vala from Sami India Private Limited ].

Sir, a couple of questions. The first question is on the existing hospital where you had mentioned earlier that both Agartala and Howrah will move to the 70% occupancy in 1 year?

Yes, we are seeing significant traction for it to culminate in the next 1 to 1.5 years. We have started quite a few departments, as we said. We've started the oncology services in Agartala. We started the cardiac surgery in Agartala and Howrah, we started robotic orthopedic surgeries and we've recently commeced neuro surgeries as well. So there are quite a few departments, which have been added in these hospitals for us to transition to that area.

Because Howrah has been at 40% of doubling the occupancy, just want to kind of get a sense.

So Howrah, as I said, there has been a lot of work going on in that region, we've changed the clinical mix. We have changed the department to mix, and that is starting to give us the results now.

And the second question is, has the CapEx for the Jamshedpur been completely spent?

No. The Jamshedpur CapEx is about to start. Right now, the scope of work is through the developer post which our CapEx is going to start.

Okay. So the INR 75 crores, which the company earmarked has not been spent?

No, it has not been spent now.

The next question comes from the line of Ruchita from CWI investments.

My question was mainly regarding the occupancy rate only. So if you could just reiterate again, in Agartala, what is our -- in each of the hospitals, basically, what is the target occupancy that we are looking on?

See the ideal occupancy is around the 70% mark across assets, plus/minus 5%, depending on the size of assets. For Agartala, we ideally expect the hospital to move to the 70% occupancy mark soon. For that, we've started quite a few departments and are focusing on curating those departments across the entire state of Trupla as well as Eastern Bangladesh.

Okay. Because it's been at around 40%, 45% since the last 5 years. So by when do we expect...

It was at around the 40%. It was at around the 40% mark. It has already moved to the 51%, 52% mark, and we are seeing significant traction for it go further up.

Okay. And are the ARPOP there, what is the expectation?

The ARPOP in Agartala is at around the 37,000 mark while our network ARPOP is around 39,000. We expect it to move towards the network ARPOB or be around at a slight discount to the network ARPOB. Considering its locational,

Business delivering by FY '20? Or is this very near term that we're talking about.

Sorry, it was not audible. The question was not audible.

Yes. I'm saying that are you expecting with the FY '30 like in the next 4, 5 years, are you expecting this immediately in the medium term, let's say, by FY '28 or something?

We are already at the 37,000 mark at an ARPOB level and our network is at the INR 3,600 crores, we expect regular inflationary growth to happen to this.

Okay. And what about Dum DUm, what is the kind of occupancy we expect there?

Dum Dum is at almost 65%, 66% mark. And as I said, there have been significant changes in the departments there also. We are seeing -- we are hopeful that it should be moving towards the optimal occupancy sooner.

Of the 70% market.

Correct.

And Howrah is, because Howrah is also at around 40%, 45%.

As I said previously also, we have already activated quite a few new departments in Howrah including interventional cardiology, robotic surgery in orthopedics, and it has started giving us traction. The occupancy has moved up by almost 5 percentage points in the past 6 months, and we expect it to go up further as we are further strengthening these departments.

With this 70%...

[Operator Instructions]

Just a follow-up.

We should be reaching the 70% in the next 1.5 years.

In all the mature hospitals, right?

Yes, that is the target.

0 The next question comes from the line of Vidhi Shah from PR Kothari. As there is no response from the current participant, we'll move forward to the next question. The next question comes from the line of [indiscernible] from A3 Capital.

So just I wanted to know, is there any group strategy to attract the central government employees as the central government has revised its remuneration for the insurance at insurance for its employees?

So we do take HS patients in some of our hospitals depending on the occupancy levels. At this point, we are taking CGH patients in Agartala hospital, and we are looking at extending that facility with the newly commissioned Raipur Hospital.

And sir, will that be margin accretive for us?

Definitely, with the welcome move of increase in tariff industry rates, it should contribute to the overall profitability of the hospital. At this point, with the volume being very low for us, it is difficult to quantify how much margin accretive it will be, but it should definitely be an improvement.

And sir, the last one, sir. Sir, like in presentation, you have mentioned the to region like strategically, like Bihar, UP or in Orissa, you want to target the tire 2, 3 cities. So will that be organic or inorganic?

So we have already announced the hospital in Jamshedpur, which will be commissioned in the next 1 year. Apart from that, we are looking at inorganic opportunities in these locations. However, if there was organic opportunity and the city was very attractive, would be open to that as well.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management of closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Thank you, everyone, for your questions, which I hope we suitably addressed -- in case you have any further queries, please do get in touch with us. Thank you for your continued support and trust in our company's vision and capabilities. Together, we look forward to achieving new milestones and creating lasting value. Thank you, and have a good day ahead.

Thank you. On behalf of GPT Healthcare Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.