Liberty Health bets on turnaround

Johannesburg - Consolidation of the healthcare industry and growth in Africa would place Liberty Health into a profit-making position in time, said Bruce Hemphill, CEO of Liberty Holdings.

He was speaking at Liberty Holdings' interim results presentation on Wednesday, in which it posted a R1.2bn loss.

Liberty Health, barely a year old as a standalone unit, reported an improvement in its bottom line loss to R9m in the six months to June from R17m in the previous period. Liberty Healthcare's total loss was R18m, including partners in Africa.

"Yes, we're behind budget in terms of profitability," said Hemphill in an interview. "It's a question of scale and the number of lives we're getting on the system, and also a question of how we set up the risk and profit arrangements in the rest of Africa," he said.

How this would be achieved would be answered "in the next couple of months", Hemphill said.

Of the 461 000 lives under management, South Africa makes up 242 000 lives and the rest of Africa 219 000.

However, a market commentator said the healthcare business was "such a new business" that the group is still probably trying to bed it down properly.

Within the last year, the group acquired a 35% interest in Total Health Trust Limited, a Nigeria health management organisation, for R31m.

It also launched Liberty Blue and Optimum Global medical insurance benefit products, aimed at multinationals operating in African countries outside South Africa.

At the presentation, Hemphill also pointed to delays in targeted business acquisitions and administrative mandates which contributed to the loss.

- Fin24.com