Life Healthcare delivered an improved performance in the second half of its financial year to 31 August, following a challenging first half that was largely attributable to funder-related pressures affecting activity at its acute hospitals, its directors said Friday.
In a voluntary trading update covering the 11 months ended 31 August 2026, issued ahead of the group’s attendance at the 2026 RMB Morgan Stanley Big Five and Off Piste Investor Conference, the directors said the group remained on track to meet its revised guidance for the 2026 financial year.
The improved second-half performance was supported by stronger facility utilisation, growth in complementary services and continued margin-enhancement initiatives. At the half year stage, the group said it expects occupancies of about 68% and revenue growth of 2.0% for the remainder of the 2026 financial year, supported by continued strategic project delivery and further progress in optimisation initiatives.
Paid patient days (PPDs) increased by 0.8% in the second half, resulting in growth of 0.2% for the 11-month period.
Acute-hospital activity remained broadly stable, while complementary services delivered PPD growth of 3.2%. Weighted-average occupancy improved to 69.5%, exceeding the group’s revised full-year guidance of 68%.
Revenue growth of 1.7% was constrained by the lingering impact of funder-related disruptions earlier in the year, as well as a negative case-mix effect.
Normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 5.7% during the review period. The directors attributed the improvement to progress on the group’s multi-year cost-saving programme and ongoing operational efficiencies.
This lifted the Southern Africa normalised EBITDA margin by 60 basis points compared with the corresponding prior-year period.
“Importantly, EBITDA growth and margin expansion have been achieved despite subdued revenue growth, reflecting an improved quality of earnings,” the directors said.
The group remained focused on implementing its Grow, Drive and Optimise strategy, with an emphasis on improving asset utilisation, advancing portfolio-optimisation initiatives and delivering sustainable earnings growth and returns for shareholders.
The directors said the group was on track to construct the 140-bed Life Paarl Valley Hospital, complete capacity-expansion projects at existing acute facilities and grow its complementary lines of business.
The strategy was supported by the net recruitment of 120 specialist doctors during the 11-month period.
Life Healthcare’s share price fell 1.33% to R11.84 at the close of trade on Friday.