Abhay Soi on Max Healthcare's expansion plans and future outlook

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

«I think first and foremost you are seeing a year on year increase of about 17% on revenue as well as 18% on EBITDA. You have to keep in mind that the first quarter is usually the weakest quarter in the year,» says Abhay Soi, CMD, Max Healthcare.In Q1 FY24, while revenue growth was 20%, PAT was down quarter on quarter, mainly due to increase in employee cost and tax expenses. So since the company's expansion spree, should we expect higher cost going ahead as well? I think first and foremost you are seeing a year on year increase of about 17% on revenue as well as 18% on EBITDA.

You have to keep in mind that the first quarter is usually the weakest quarter in the year. So you have to compare it quarter by quarter. And the fourth quarter is actually the highest quarter in the year because seasonality is in the medical business.

And that has been the case for many-many years now. So the right way to look at it is year on year. So I think year on year, you had an increase as far as EBITDA is concerned, and you had a flat EBITDA as far as sequential quarters are concerned.

So also, you have to keep in mind that 1st of April is when we have salary increases. And therefore, your cost structure increases on the 1st of April. And therefore, you see a stress on your margins compared to the previous quarter which is quarter four, and which is the case which has played out here as well.

Now, over the last one year usually we have about a 7% increase in employee cost, in employee benefit cost, but I think it's about 8.5% this time year on year. And that is largely because we have undertaken significant amount of projects, we have taken up the new digital app that we have launched over the last one year. It has done very-very well but