Medicover About to Make a Big Splash

In a decision issued earlier this month, the Hungarian National Bank gave permission Medicover Egészségközpont Zrt. to set up its own non-life insurance company under the name Medicare Biztosító Zrt., the portfolio.hu financial portal reports.

The largest private clinic in the Hungarian private healthcare market - whose insurance footprint has been the envy of competitors - has come up with an interesting move, as it is currently linked to the Hungarian branch of Swedish Medicover Försäkrings AB.

Meanwhile, the company's annual report for last year, also published in the last few days, showed that its turnover is already above HUF 22 billion, but that Medicover's profitability has also deteriorated, as has been the case with other players in the sector.

Medicover published its annual report for last year at the beginning of October, with the usual delay. If we look at the consolidated figures, we can say that the company has grown tremendously: in 2022, its group-wide turnover reached HUF 22.2 billion, which corresponds to an annual growth of 17%.

This added up to HUF 1.458 billion on the profit after tax line, which means that the company's profit halved compared to 2021. This has led to a deterioration in the company's profitability (from a stable level of over 15% to below 10%). Amid these figures, the company's general meeting decided to pay a dividend of HUF 1 billion after FY 2022 (and the amount of the unconsolidated profit after tax of HUF 2.37 billion in excess of the HUF 1 billion dividend was transferred to the capital reserve).

Asked by portolio.hu about the last financial year, Medicover said that its results for 2022, like those of most companies, were simply negatively affected by the shock energy price increase and the surge in wage costs.

As for its expected financial performance in 2023, he added: "the efficiency improvement measures implemented and the return of energy prices to a manageable range have combined to put the group back in the growth and profitability zone of previous years".

The country's largest private hospital has also continued to increase its staff numbers, from 707 in 2021 to 807 in 2022.