Integrated Diagnostics Holdings plc (IDHC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Audio Gap] [Operator Instructions] I now give the floor to Aly Adel, health care analyst at Beltone Financial.

Thank you, Ang. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. This is Aly Adel from Beltone Financial. I would like to welcome you all to IDH 2Q '21 results conference call. From IDH, we have with us CEO, Dr. Hend El Sherbini; CFO, Omar Bedewy, IR Director, Nancy Fahmy. As usual, the conference call will begin with the presentation for the quarter highlights and will be followed by a Q&A session. I will now hand the call to Dr. Hend El Sherbini. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Aly. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining our analyst call for the second quarter of 2021. I'm Dr. Hend El Sherbini, Chief Executive Officer of IDH. With me today are Omar Bedewy, our CFO; and Nancy Fahmy, our Director of Investor Relations. I will begin today's call with a quick summary of the key financial and strategic highlights for the first 6 months of the year before touching on the group's performance and key operational developments for the period. After this, Omar will run you through our regional and consolidated financials in more detail, and we'll then open the floor to your questions. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted with the groups operational and financial performance in the first 6 months of 2021, which has seen us continue to build on an impressive start of the year to deliver another set of record-breaking results. Our revenues more than doubled year-on-year to reach a new record high of EGP 2.3 billion for the first 6 months of the year. The impressive growth comes as patients served and test performed expanded 62% and 45% year-on-year, respectively, and was further supported by improved pricing and increase in the optimized service mix. In H1 2021, we conducted 16.3 million tests while serving 4.7 million patients. While top line growth continues to be bolstered by our COVID-19-related tests, I'm happy to report that we witnessed robust growth in our core conventional test offering for the second quarter in a row. This signals a sustained recovery, which we expect to continue even as COVID-19-related volumes begin to taper off. It's important to highlight that the group's core conventional test volumes ex COVID tests not only surpassed 2012 levels by around 29% year-on-year, but have also now surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels coming in 4% higher than test volumes reported in the same 6 months of 2019. This is after adjusting for the impact of the 100 Million Healthy Lives campaign. These results not only highlight the frontline goal we continue to play in helping local authorities combat the pandemic, but also display our continued ability to meet the strong demand for high-quality diagnostic service in our markets of operation. Meanwhile, our home call service are now playing an increasingly important role in driving consolidated growth as the service becomes increasingly popular in both Egypt and Jordan. In the first 6 months of 2021, we were able to serve more than 646,000 house call patients, a nearly twofold increase versus last year as we ramp up our capacity to handle up to 5,000 house visits per day. In addition to driving growth today, our house call service is enabling us to penetrate new segments of the population, laying the groundwork for further goals well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, we are also continuing to expand our COVID-19 service for travelers, securing multiple new partnerships to offer PCR testing to incoming and outgoing passengers in both Egypt and Jordan. In particular, we recently announced a partnership with Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, which will see us operate testing booths in the airport arrival and departure terminals. On the regional front, both our Egyptian and Jordanian operations continued to report strong revenue growth up 140% and 176% year-on-year, respectively. In parallel, we are also seeing growing contributions coming from Al-Borg Scan, and we are currently aiming to launch at least 3 new Al-Borg Scan branches over the coming 12 months to capitalize on the segment's growth opportunities. At our Nigerian operations, we witnessed sustained top line growth of 68% for the first half of the year. This comes as our investments to revamp Echo-Lab operation and strategic marketing efforts continue to bear fruit. Finally, in Sudan, results continue to be impacted by the Sudanese pound devaluation. However, management's effective pricing strategy saw us report an impressive 217% year-on-year revenue expansion in local currency. Looking ahead, we remain committed to the country in the long term and aim to achieve sustainable long-term growth beyond the current difficult operating environment. Further down the income statement, we reported impressive margin expansions at all levels of profitability, supported by strong line -- strong top line and the subsequent dilution of IDH fixed costs. More specifically, in the first half of the year, we reported an EBITDA in excess of EGP 1.2 billion. This represents a 227% increase from last year with a new record high margin of 52% for the period. Strong EBITDA level profitability translated into a nearly fourfold increase in net profit for the 6 months period, which reached an all-time high of EGP 668 million with an associated margin of 29%. Heading into the second half of the year, our strategic priorities remain unchanged as we aim to capitalize on the positive momentum witnessed across both our operations and the wider macroeconomic context. In the short term, we will continue to assist governments in Egypt and Jordan in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing our full roster of COVID-19-related services across both our branches and house call service. In parallel, we will leverage our strong regional and international reputation to further expand our offering to international problems. In particular, we are looking to secure new deals similar to the ones already in place with the National Air Services and Pure Health UAE to perform PCR tests for passengers. Meanwhile, we are working tirelessly to deliver on our post-COVID-19 growth strategy. which will leverage our expanded patient base, branch network and service offering to drive new sustainable growth. In just the first 6 months of the year, we have inaugurated 14 new branches in Egypt, keeping us on track to meet our goal of 30 to 35 new labs for 2021. This is a key aspect to ensure we continue leading the country's private sector diagnostic markets. We are also continuing to assess potential to growth opportunities across new African, Middle Eastern and Asian markets. In that regard, we have secured a $45 million loan from IFC to finance our growth plans in the coming period. Finally, in light of our half year results and the encouraging recovery witnessed across our markets, I'm confident that the group is on track to deliver a record-breaking performance in 2021. We expect our full year performance to be supported by both our conventional test offering, which in H1 2021 continued to witness a robust rebound, coupled with continued strong demand for our COVID-19-related portfolio. In that regard, with Egypt expected to witness a new wave of infection later this year, we could see higher demand for our COVID-19-related offering in the second half of 2021. This could push consolidated top line growth into the 80% range with an EBITDA margin of around 50%. With that, I will conclude my remarks for today, and pass the call over to Omar. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Hend. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for dialing in. First, let me start by shedding light on Q2 results, and I will then switch to the full second half performance in details before finally opening the floor to your questions. In the second quarter of 2021, IDH continued its strong momentum by delivering a 3% increase in revenues over an already outstanding first quarter of the year to reach a new record high of almost EGP 1.2 billion. That came despite the holy month of Ramadan in 8 locations during the month of April and May. And it's worth highlighting that on a year-on-year basis, Q2 top line figure more than doubled, increasing from the already recorded EGP 500 million in Q2 2020. And in the second quarter, our aggregate volume surged by more than 60% year-on-year to reach 8.3 million tests, which is slightly higher than Q1 record volume. It is worth to note that our conventional volume grew by a stellar 52% year-on-year in Q2 2021, which signals a sustainable recovery even if COVID-19-related volumes subside. Out of our aggregate 8.3 million tests, around 386,000 are PCR antigen antibody with Egypt contributing approximately 69%, while Jordan made up the remaining 31%. And this compares to some 407,000 tests during Q1. In terms of profitability, the strong growth in consolidated top line supported a 4% Q-on-Q increase in gross profits. As such, the group managed to maintain a gross profit margin of 57%. Our normalized EBITDA registered a faster growth than revenues on the back of the dilution of our fixed cost to reach an all-time high of EGP 603 million, which allowed us to sustain our EBITDA margin above the 50% mark. And please note that the normalized EBITDA excludes the one-off expenses related to the EGX listing. Our solid revenue and EBITDA growth has trickled down to our bottom line, and the consolidated net profit reached EGP 327 million with an increase of 353% year-on-year and with a margin of 28%. This comes in slightly lower than Q1, mainly due to the recognition of EGP 12.5 million related to the IFC loan fees and expenses, along with the EGX listing fees. If we now switch to a year-on-year comparison, our consolidated revenues for H1 2021 grew by an impressive 141% versus last year reaching almost EGP 2.3 billion, and this was driven by a 45% increase in volume along with improved pricing on account of the higher value of COVID-19 tests. The first half performance was also supported by a consistent recovery in our conventional business with revenue from non-COVID-19 testing growing 38% year-on-year on the back of a 29% growth in conventional test volume compared to the same period last year. And as Dr. Hend mentioned, even if we compare our conventional business results with the first half of 2019, the growth will be 17% in value and 4% in volume. So in a nutshell, even and at this endemic, our core business is growing and gaining momentum. Our performance was also supported by a growing contribution of our house call service, which continues the promising trajectory witnessed in the first half of 2020, and the revenue from this service contributed around 23% to our top line figure during the first half of this year, up from 18% in the same period last year. And the number of patients served under this service almost doubled to 646,000 patients. If we move to the regional level, as always, Egypt contributed the lion's share of revenues at around 84%, followed by Jordan 14%, Nigeria contributed around 1% and Sudan made up 0.4% of the revenue during the first half. Our home market, Egypt, revenues recorded a spectacular 140% year-on-year increase, of which conventional revenue growth accounted for 38% and 29% growth in the core volume. Moving to Jordan. Biolab delivered an impressive 176% year-on-year growth, supported by the substantial number of PCR tests, which the company has been offering since the start of the pandemic. COVID-19 testing in Jordan contributed around 58% of the Jordanian subsidiaries revenues in the first half of the year, noting that Biolab revenue from conventional tests grew by 41%. And we expect Jordan to continue its strong performance following the selection of Biolab as preferred bidder to conduct COVID-19 PCR testing in Amman's Queen Alia International Airport. This contract was signed last July, and it started on the 1st of August, and we expected to generate a net revenue of around JOD 7 million between August and December this year. In Nigeria, the growth momentum continued and its top line figure increased by 76% in local currency terms and 68% in Egyptian pound versus last year. Moving to Sudan. Revenue grew by an impressive 217% in local currency terms. However, as we all know, when translated to Egyptian pounds, revenue declined to 25% due to the devaluation of the Sudanese pound that happened last February. For Al-Borg Scan, our radiology venture, the successful ramp-up in operations and the inauguration of a second branch midway through Q1 last year, drove an impressive 124% year-on-year growth in revenues and more than doubled the number of tests conducted during the first half of 2020. Besides the current 2 branches, we're planning to open an additional 3 branches during 2021 and Q1 2022 to bring the total number of branches or radiology branches to 5. Finally, for Wayak, I'm delighted to say that this venture started to post a positive EBITDA, driven by the increase in orders delivered, along with cost optimization, and in addition to that, they capitalized on IDH loyalty program. Moving to profitability. IDH posted a consolidated gross profit growth of 193% in H1 2021 with a 57% gross profit margin compared to 47% in the same period last year. The margin expansion was driven by economies of scale on the back of the dilution of the fixed cost, mainly salaries and wages. And as you saw in our earnings release, that salaries and wages as a percentage of revenues decreased from 17% in 2020 to only 15% in the first half of this year. Similarly, our normalized EBITDA expanded by an impressive 227% year-on-year with a margin of 52% compared to only 31% in the same period last year. The growth was duly driven by Egypt and Jordan, while for Nigeria EBITDA was flat on a year-on-year recording a loss of EGP 4.3 million, which was mainly due to a one-off adjustment related to previous year amounting to EGP 3.2 million. Our consolidated net profit was up 283% year-on-year to EGP 668 million for the first half and a net profit margin of 29%. As at June 30, 2021, our accounts receivable days on hand stood at 97 days compared to 144 days at year-end 2020, which indicates a significant improvement in collection during the first half of 2021. And as such, provision for doubtful accounts established during the first half of this year amounted to EGP 10 million compared to EGP 28 million booked in the same period last year. We really do enjoy a very liquid balance sheet with the group total cash balance standing at EGP 1.6 billion at the end of June 2021, and this is an 81% increase compared to our closing balance in 2020. And bear in mind that this cash balance is pre the $29.1 million distribution that occurred last July. Finally, based on July and August results, we believe that the strong momentum will continue until year-end and in light with the expectation of a fourth wave hitting Egypt, we anticipate our consolidated top line growth to land in the 080% -- within the 80% range with an EBITDA margin of around 50% and with an ending cash balance hovering around EGP 1.6 billion, EGP 1.7 billion. With that, I will conclude my remarks and open the floor to your questions.

Thank you to the IDH management team. We will now open the floor to questions. [Operator Instructions] We have 2 questions in the QA box already. The first question is from Omar. Omar is asking how large is the Egyptian radiology market? And what is IDH's estimated share?

There is no official data on the size of the market of the radiology. However, what we know from our internal studies that the market is fragmented. So there's no sole player that controls the market as a whole. However, it remains fragmented among many, many players, which is more or less similar to the pathology market nature.

Okay. I see that Belal has his hand raised, so I'm going to allow him to talk. Belal go ahead, please.

Just a couple of questions, please. First of all, could you comment on whether you've increased prices for your conventional tests this year?

Yes, we did increase prices. We actually increased prices at the beginning of every year in line with inflation. So this year, we increased prices in the range of 10% for walk-in and in the range of 5% to 7% for corporate patients.

Perfect. And could you comment on any -- you mentioned you took a loan in anticipation of any inorganic growth plans that you have. Can we expect something to materialize before end of this year?

In terms of expansion for the loan?

Yes, I mean in terms of potential acquisitions.

Well, it's difficult to give a time line, but we are always on the lookout for good opportunities in neighboring countries and in Egypt. We are already looking at a few things. However, it's difficult to comment whether something will materialize this year or next year, difficult to give a time line. However, it's worthy to note that the IFC loan has an availability period of 2 years. So we don't need to withdraw it immediately. It's actually withdrawn based on the opportunity that we find complementing our business. So we're not in a rush to withdraw it immediately.

Right. And finally, could you just repeat the second half guidance on the margin? I wasn't it able to catch that.

Sure. We actually gave a guidance for the full year of 2021 in light of what we have been seeing. So we have been already seeing strong momentum continuing even our first half results in the month of July and August and the first week of September as we speak. So that's why we upgraded our full year guidance growth for revenue to be in the range of 80% and EBITDA margin to hover between 48% and 50%.

Okay. We have quite a few in the QA box now. Ramy is asking how do you foresee the growth in IDH's radiology business in the next 5 years? We understand that the company is planning to open 3 new branches of Al-Borg Scan in 2021, how many branches are expected to open during the coming 2 to 3 years?

Our original plan was to open 6 branches in Cairo. We are currently as -- we currently operates -- we currently operate 2 branches. We're planning to open an additional 3 within the next 6 to 12 months. This would be in Cairo in addition to another 1 in Cairo as well, and we're currently exploring opening additional branches in the other government regions.

Okay. I know you brushed on the loan, but Tarek is asking if you could provide more details around the loan and the rationale for it given the large cash balance.

So -- it's a good question. So let me give you first -- or shed some color on the loan itself. So the loan amount is $45 million. It has a tenure of 8 years. Its interest rate is around 3.6 plus 6-month LIBOR and with an availability period of 24 months. It is used to -- it will be used for our expansion whether in Egypt or potential acquisitions in neighboring countries. And again, as we all know, our balance sheet is almost debt free. So it will be beneficial for us to if we will do any potential acquisition to leverage it out. In addition to that, let me tell you again that this loan has very lucrative terms in addition to what I mentioned in terms of interest rate. It will be repaid over 8 years with a grace period of 4 years.

Okay. Ali is asking, are the margins on the Jordan airport contract different from the one -- the first half 2021 country margin? And can you confirm the JOD 7 million revenue is for the period August to December 2021?

Yes, correct. The 7 -- the expected revenue generated from this contract is around JOD 7 million and the margin will be a bit lower because there is a cut for the government from this contract. So the -- but the JOD 7 million is a net revenue after giving the government its cut from the revenue.

Okay. We have another question in the QA box asking how will you make newly acquired patients who experienced IDH for the first time during COVID, lifelong loyal IDH patients?

So we're having a lot of loyalty programs regarding our patients, not only the COVID patients, but all of our patients, and we'll definitely have the -- have patients who have come to us during the COVID or during the COVID pandemic be part of these loyalty programs.

Okay. Brilliant. We have a question from Kostas asking if you can share some thoughts on 2022.

So we've been seeing an increase in our core tests ex COVID. We've seen -- as I've mentioned and Omar also mentioned in his talk, so we've seen an increase above the 2020 figures and above 2019 figures. So I -- we expect this to continue -- to see this continued growth in 2022 as well. As for the COVID testing, I think we'll continue to see also the PCR for the travelers. And also the COVID tests for the Egyptians as the vaccination of the Egyptian population hasn't reached 10%. So I think we still have COVID tests in 2022 as well.

Great. Tarek is asking if you can provide color on the non-COVID testing market in Egypt. What is the market growing at? And what types of tests are driving this higher growth? Are these drivers of higher growth likely to extend into 2022? And how does EBITDA margin of the segment, Egypt non-COVID tests, compared to 2019 levels? And is this level sustainable? So quite a few questions there. I'm happy to repeat if you need me to.

So if we're talking about the market in Egypt, the health care market in Egypt ex COVID, Egypt is a country of around 100 million population size, and it has a growing population as well as a lot of -- prevalence of a lot of chronic diseases, hypertension, diabetes, hepatic diseases and so on. And unfortunately, because of -- I mean because of all these chronic diseases, people have to monitor their blood tests in order to get tested. They have to be tested in order to get diagnosed and treated and followed up. So we are seeing -- these are the drivers of the growth in the conventional tests, which are non-COVID tests. And EBITDA margin, as we've seen in -- I mean if you compare it to 2019, 2019 was mainly conventional tests. So the EBITDA margin was in the 40% range. And the COVID this year is actually the EBITDA margin is higher due to the COVID tests, which pushed the EBITDA margin higher than usual.

And I would like to add as well that the EBITDA in Egypt in comparison to the other regions in which IDH operates, it's higher. So even within -- during 2018, 2019, we enjoyed higher EBITDA margin ranging around 46% in Egypt in comparison to the other regions.

Okay. Does COVID-19 increased the long-term awareness around health care, diagnostics and testing?

Yes, I believe so. I believe that COVID-19 as a pandemic has increased the awareness of -- and the importance of testing and being proactive towards health and also increased awareness to the importance of testing and diagnosis.

Okay. What is the current price for PCR testing? And do you think you might opt to lower it further because of the tough competition?

The current average revenue in Egypt, average revenue per test for PCR is around EGP 1,500. And in Jordan, it's really less, it's around EGP 600. When we started providing the PCR, we started for walk-in patients at around EGP 3,000. And then we started lowering our prices given competition. And now the PCR is provided for walk-in patients at around EGP 2,000.

Okay. Belal is asking, do you see a risk from the Egyptian government regulating the price of the PCR test? Are there any plans for IDH to get involved in administering the vaccines that are available?

So regarding the PCR price, I don't think the government will interfere with that because they are not regulating the prices of the diagnostic service as a whole. In Jordan, the government is regulating the prices of all diagnostics, including the PCR. And we are not really involved in administration of vaccines because till now, it's the Ministry of Health who is responsible -- fully responsible for vaccine administration -- COVID vaccine administration. However, other vaccines, we've participated in giving them to patients, but not the COVID vaccine.

Okay. Brook is asking if you could please provide more color on how Nigeria is doing against expectations. Are you effectively at breakeven cash flow? How do you feel about your long-term objectives there? Are there other countries you are looking at in sub-Saharan Africa?

Those are plenty of questions. So the first one, in terms of cash flow, yes, it's -- currently, as we speak, it's cost of cash flow generative. We've been a bit delayed in comparison to our original plan. It took us some time to understand the culture and to implement our rollout plan. We're currently on the right track. We hired a CEO. We currently do have a COO as well. We're witnessing a consistent increase in our monthly top line figure there. We're planning to, once we have a positive EBITDA, which is expected to be soon, to continue our rollout plan and open new branches and to add and to inject more capital in this business.

Okay.

What was the next -- the other questions?

Are there other countries you are looking at in sub-Saharan Africa?

Yes, we're continuously looking for opportunities whether in Sub-Saharan Africa or other neighboring countries. And once we have something that materializes, we will inform the market, of course.

Okay. Ali is asking how much of the house call visits/volumes in the first half of 2021 have been driven by COVID tests versus conventional tests? Do you expect this channel to continue to be a large contributor to revenue? And will it change your branch and lab expansion strategy?

So the house call visits and the revenue from house call used to be around 10% of the total revenue pre COVID. And then it increased to around 20%, 23% of the total revenue of the lab -- of the company. And this is actually driven by the COVID pandemic because people did not want to go to labs or to hospitals or to see doctors. So they prefer to have someone come to their houses and collect the samples. And I think this will continue to be the trend because it's convenient, it's cheap, it's easy and the results come out very fast and they can get it on their mobile. However, this will not change our strategy in opening branches, especially in Egypt because it's a growing country with a growing population of more than 2% per annum. So we still have house call service complementing our branch network opening.

Okay. Tarek is asking, have we started to evaluate acquisitions in Southeast Asia? What is the likely ticket size for an M&A transaction? And which country in Southeast Asia has the most attractive regulatory and growth outlook?

So the ticket size really depends on the size of the company. We don't have a precise ticket for acquisition. Having said that, what we have -- we do have investment criteria, one of which is that the company pushed its profit-making on the EBITDA level and has an EBITDA of at least $3.5 million to $5 million. There are several countries that we're looking into. In South Asia, there are many countries as well that has -- that have regulatory beneficial for us, one of which may be like Pakistan as well. So at the end of the day, again, the ticket -- there is no ticket -- precise ticket size for acquisitions. We're currently having lots of cash. We do have the IFC loan. So we can go up to $100 million ticket size and with a minimum of $25 million to $30 million.

Okay. I see Neil has his hand up, so I will allow Neil to speak. Neil, go ahead, please.

Sorry, first of all, congratulations on a fantastic set of results. Well done. My question -- 2 questions. The first one is similar to the previous question actually. It is about the capital allocation going forward. So I understand that you cannot say about acquisitions because they are in process. But can you give us some -- and potentially a ticket price of $100 million, I just heard a, I must say. But can you give us some insight into how you might allocate capital ex acquisitions? So would you consider share buybacks, for example, or perhaps special dividends? So some color on that. And then I have a follow-up question, but perhaps do that one first.

So capital allocation. So let's take an example of the highest ticket size, which is $100 million. So as you know, we do currently have a loan for $45 million. So in any potential acquisition, it will be 50-50, 50% equity, 50% debt, even we can uptick the debt to 60% and 40% from our own cash. This is number one. Number two, regarding the dividends, as we all know that the amount of dividends that we do distribute is generated from our subsidiaries, whether in Egypt or in Jordan and the big quantum of the -- the large quantum comes from Egypt. And for us to distribute dividends, we need to have audited financial statements. We cannot just distribute interim dividends based on management accounts or even reviewed financial statements. So that's why we do distribute dividend after the year-end results and having all these financial statements for the subsidiaries [ audited ].

Yes. And I think you -- I also suggested about share buybacks at the current price?

It is -- we didn't take it to the Board and we -- but again, it might be -- it is on the table, but we did not decide yet about it.

Okay. And then the kind of follow-up question, which somebody earlier has also alluded to is, with the home testing service, where you're going for COVID, are people also having ex COVID tests, non-COVID tests at the same time? So is there some cost savings for the customer because they're having more than COVID tests on at the same time on our home visit?

Yes. They are having both COVID and non-COVID tests.

Right. Okay. Do you have a kind of breakdown of that then, please? And -- is it like 50% of people take a non-COVID test at the same time or 100%? Some kind of color on that.

No, you have the pure COVID test, which are the PCR antigen or the antibody. And then you have some of the tests that are -- that could be considered as normal tests because they are routine tests like the CBC, the full blood picture and the CRP and so on. But they're also done for the COVID patients because they tend to follow up with these tests. So it's a bit difficult if you want to -- you cannot really say COVID or non-COVID or you can just say COVID for the PCR antigen and antibody. And then the rest of the tests are the non-COVID tests. So you want a breakdown of how many patients have asked for COVID and how many patients have asked for non-COVID in the house call service. Is this your question?

Not quite, Hend. My question is more, if you would normally do a visit and maybe for hepatitis C, for example, now when you're going to visit a new customer for a COVID test, do they also then take hepatitis C test? So they are replacing what you would otherwise have done separately?

No, I don't think if somebody is suffering from symptoms of COVID and or suspected to have COVID, they wouldn't really look at their other chronic disease because they are usually concerned with the COVID as an acute infection. And they need to know if they're positive or not, isolate themselves and take the appropriate treatment. So I think this is the case.

Okay. All right. And I guess it takes more time to take a COVID test than -- on a home visit than a hepatitis test, for example.

Not really. No, it's very easy to take the COVID. It's just -- I'm sure you've done that before. It doesn't take a long time. However, people are usually occupied with the symptoms if they have any symptoms related to COVID.

Okay. So I know that Neil had asked some questions about dividends, but I see a question in the QA box asking if you can comment further maybe on a special dividends during the second half of 2020.

Again, as I mentioned, for us to pay dividends to the holding company from Egypt, we need to have audited financial statements. So for example, is if we opt to pay dividends during November, we will have to have audited financial statement for September 2021. And given that we're currently approaching year-end, so we will distribute dividends as always during the same period, which would be May next year.

Okay. And Passant, again, going back to questions that may have been asked previously, what's the percentage of pure COVID-19 tests from total tests or COVID-19-related tests?

Okay. So again, let's take the breakdown of revenue and so we do segregate the COVID-19 tests into 2 buckets. First -- the first bucket is PCR antigen and antibody. And this is -- this one generated EGP 830 million and the other COVID-related test generated EGP 275 million. All the COVID tests together, they -- we conducted 2.6 million tests of the PCR antigen and antibody and the other COVID-related tests as well.

Okay. It doesn't seem like we have any unanswered -- I'm sorry, we just received a question, just this moment. To clarify the question on special dividends, is IDH considering a special dividend, in essence, a higher payout ratio than usual for the FY 2021 year given its extraordinary cash generation and high cash balance?

So there are 2 buckets in this question. The first bucket, I think I did answer it regarding distributing dividends from subsidiaries through the holding company that it necessitates audited financial statements, which we do not do in our subsidiaries during the quarters. We only do it at year-end. And this is according to the law, again, the Egyptian law, we cannot distribute dividends unless we do have audited financial statements. This is number one. Of course, the quantum of dividends next year will be higher given the high net profit, and even we can uptick the payout ratio more than 100%. The point is that as we already explained several times, we distribute any extra cash as long as there is no -- any extra cash above the required end of operation and above the required for any potential acquisitions.

Okay. I see we have 2 questions. Belinda is asking how many medical personnel on average do you add for each new branch?

Sorry, come again. You're asking about each branch, how many people we need to hire? Is that the question right?

Yes. The question is asking how many medical personnel on average you add per each new branch?

Sure. So usually, the branch has 4 pathology. They're usually like mostly collection points for the sample withdrawn. That's the role of the branch. So usually, the branch would have typically 2 receptionists and 2 medical or on-site phlebotomist who can withdraw the sample in...

Nancy, usually, we have 2 per shift. So it's around 4 phlebotomist. And also, we have a manager. So the medical personnels are around 5.

Okay. Brilliant. And Max is asking, would you consider like many of the Indian diagnostics players, franchising test collection centers to shift the new C lab CapEx burden to franchise partners while driving volume growth?

We have never looked at this model, Max. And I think you've asked me this question before. So we haven't really looked at this model because we always -- we take care of training our phlebotomist that they have to really be aware of our -- of all the rules in the lab and to know all our test menu and so on. So this is really an important part for us and ensures the quality of the samples that come to our labs.

And I would love to add as well that the average CapEx per branch for the C lab is not high. It ranges between EGP 700,000 to EGP 1.2 million. So it's not capital intensive so -- because the question was to subside the CapEx itself. So again, the capital expenditure for 1 branch is not high at all.

And our final question, Belal would like to confirm that guidance for revenue growth for the full year 2021 is 80%.

Correct.

Okay. And just before we make our final remarks, the number -- Passant would like to confirm the number of employees at a radiology branch?

So this really depends, Passant, on the radiology center. If you're -- so it depends on the modalities that you are going to put in a radiology branch. So for example, a full-fledged radiology branch would have a PET-CT, would have an MRI, CT, mammography and so on. So it really depends on the size of the branch and the modalities you're putting in the branch.

Okay. Brilliant. Would you like to make any final remarks before we conclude the call?

No, thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you all for attending the IDH 2Q '21 Results Conference Call hosted by Beltone Financial. Please get in touch with your contact person at either Beltone Financial or IDH for any further questions or inquiries. Have a nice day, and please stay safe. Goodbye.

Bye-bye. Thank you.

Bye.