Photo: Saudi German Health
A Saudi hospital operator returned to profit in the third quarter, sending its shares up by the daily limit, even as its auditor said it couldn't fully check corrections to two years of past accounts.
Saudi German Health made a net profit of nearly 37 million Riyal ($9.8 million) in the three months to September, against a loss of nearly $24 million a year earlier, the company said in a filing on Sunday.
Revenue rose 14% to $234 million, as the group added specialized care and surgery and admitted more patients.
The shares jumped 10%, the most allowed in a day, to SR25.24. They are still down more than a fifth this year, after touching a 52-week low of SR22 last month.
Why it matters
The quarter breaks a run of weak results. Profit fell nearly 64% in the first half, as the group hired hundreds of new doctors and lost the boost of a one-off land sale from last year.
Margins are now moving the right way. Gross margin improved to 32.3% from 31.5% in the second quarter, helped by more specialist procedures.
Saudi Arabia is opening up health care to private operators under Vision 2030, and listed hospital groups have been adding beds and doctors to win patients.
The catch
The year-earlier loss is a restated figure. The company corrected errors in its past books worth $65 million for 2024 and $49 million for 2025, tied to equipment, depreciation and unpaid patient bills.
That correction added a $36 million charge for unpaid bills to last year's third quarter, which is what turned it into a loss.
Its auditor said it couldn't get enough evidence to check parts of the restatement, and gave a qualified review. The previous auditor had signed off on the 2025 accounts without reservations.
Nine months
Profit for the first nine months rose 8% to $28 million, on revenue up 8.5% to $663 million.
Higher finance costs from non-cash losses on bank hedging contracts weighed on results, along with a $5 million share of losses at Al Sobh, an associate that started operating late last year.
