Chennai: Chennai-based healthcare chain Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd posted a 41% increase in net profit in the quarter ended December, helped by the addition of new hospitals. The profit beat analyst expectations.

Apollo had a net profit of Rs 64.65 crore in the fiscal third quarter, compared with Rs 45.81 crore in the year-ago period, the company said on Friday. Revenue rose 19% to Rs 714.75 crore from Rs 600.87 crore in the same period a year ago.

The profit bettered expectations of Rs 57.23 crore, based on a Bloomberg poll of analysts. Revenue fell short of the expected Rs 729.93 crore.

“The numbers are broadly in line with our estimates,” said Nitin Agarwal, a research analyst at IDFC Securities Ltd. “They keep adding capacity and have been able to raise rates consistently, and that has improved their profitability.”

Apollo is preparing to launch 100 diabetic clinics across India over the next three months, most of which will be in-house establishments.

In addition, the clinics will also treat child obesity and strokes, and provide liver- and heart-related therapies that will also increase the number of patients visiting the 51 hospitals in Apollo’s network. The company will also roll out 100 high-end and affordable dental care centres in a joint effort with medical technology company Trivitron Healthcare in the next 18 months.

“Though this is a seasonally low quarter, as consumers usually push back elective surgeries because of the festive season, we have still done better on a year-on-year basis,” said Krishnan Akhileswaran, chief operating officer of Apollo Hospitals. “The hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad have performed better than expected.”

India’s healthcare market is expected to touch $79 billion (Rs 3.9 trillion today) by the end of this year, according to a report by audit and consulting firm KPMG, and is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 21% over the next decade.

“(This business) has a constant demand, so macroeconomic factors will not (adversely) affect the industry,” said Agarwal.

Net sales from the stand-alone pharmacy segment rose 30% to Rs 224.63 crore. Apollo added 40 stores to the pharmacy network and shut down seven underperforming stores this quarter. Ebit (earnings before interest and tax) for this segment stood at Rs 2.18 crore, against a loss of Rs 86 lakh in the year-ago period.

“This segment has been the primary driver of growth as our focus was on profitability,” said Akhileswaran. “We have closed down 91 non-performing stores” between April and December, “mostly in the previous two quarters”.

Income from hospital services, which contributed 68% of revenue this quarter, rose 14% year-on-year to Rs 490.28 crore.

The healthcare company plans to set up 12 new hospitals in the next two-three years, the first of which will be in Tiruchirappalli and Chennai.

“It will be funded by internal accruals and borrowings. We may look (to borrow) around Rs 900-1,000 crore, when the interest rate situation turns favourable,” Akhileswaran said.

Shares of Apollo rose 0.77% to Rs 623.40 on BSE on Friday as the benchmark Sensex fell 0.46% to 17,748.69 points.

Chennai: Healthcare service provider Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd’s net profit jumped 41% in the quarter ended December 2011 from the same period a year earlier.

Apollo posted a net profit of Rs64.65 crore in the three months, an increase from Rs45.81 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue grew 19% to Rs714.75 crore from Rs600.87 crore in the same period.

amritha.v@livemint.com