HEALTHCARE SERVICES, MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES & DISTRIBUTION + PHARMACEUTICALS + BIOTECHNOLOGY & MEDICAL RESEARCH

Raffles Medical Group, a leading healthcare provider, emerged as the top performer in this sector. The company, founded by executive chairman Dr Loo Choon Yong in 1976, has grown into the region’s leading integrated private healthcare provider. It provides primary and tertiary care, health insurance and related services for patients and customers in 14 cities in five Asian countries. It also runs three tertiary hospitals and over 100 multidisciplinary clinics, offering health screening, specialist care, diagnostic radiology, dental and traditional Chinese medicine services.

Raffles Medical enjoyed a surge in its business over the last few years for providing pandemic-related medical services such as vaccinations. On top of its hospitals in Singapore and China, Raffles Medical recently announced it is taking a majority stake in a Vietnam hospital and operating it.

Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group is one of the earliest China-based companies to list on the Singapore Exchange S68 (SGX) in 1997 before a Shangai listing in 2001. The company, formerly known as Tianjin Zhong Xin Pharmaceutical T14 Group Corporation before a name change in March 2022, describes itself as the core pharmaceutical manufacturing arm of a state-owned enterprise, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Holdings.

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Over the years, it has developed a portfolio of hundreds of medicinal products, including some that have been given top-level classification by China. Tianjin Pharmaceutical’s share price has increased steadily. Its share price has grown from 57 US cents on March 31, 2020 and 89 US cents on March 31, 2021 to US$1.07 on March 31, 2022 and US$1.53 ($2.09) on March 31. This performance translates into a CAGR of 39.4%. The higher share price is backed by higher earnings. In FY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, the company reported earnings of RMB861.8 million ($163 million), up 12% y-o-y, on the back of revenue of RMB8.25 billion.

IHH Healthcare, dual-listed on both the Singapore and Malaysia exchanges, is the winner of the growth in the profit after tax (PAT) category. As one of the largest healthcare groups in the region, IHH Healthcare Q0f operates 83 hospitals in 10 countries spanning from Central Europe to Singapore, where it runs four of the leading private hospitals in Singapore. It is also a sponsor of Parkway Life REIT. For the three years under consideration in this year’s BDC, IHH Healthcare’s earnings managed a CAGR of 41.1%, which makes it among the top few companies in the BDC in this metric.

Besides steady growth, IHH Healthcare managed to score this partly from circumstances brought about by the pandemic, when many patients held back elective procedures during the lockdown, which resumed in a big way when measures were lifted.

Top Glove Corp, the world’s largest glove-makers, wrapped up this sector with its weighted return on equity (ROE) win. The company’s business benefitted significantly during the pandemic years, when demand for its products shot through the roof, lifting margins and earnings along the way. Like IHH Healthcare, Top Glove is listed in Singapore and Malaysia. Established in 1991, the company started with a single factory and one glove production line.

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Today, it is the world’s largest company in this industry, holding over a quarter of the market share. Its products are exported globally. For the three years under consideration for this year’s BDC, Top Glove managed a weighted ROE of 54.5%, making it the only winner in this metric for this industry sector but also the best-performing company among all BDC companies.