Egypt- and London-listed Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) continued its pivot to the post-covid world in 2022, with its bottom line declining 65% y-o-y in 2022 as covid-19-related revenues sharply declined, according to the company’s earnings release (pdf). Net income fell to EGP 527 mn from almost EGP 1.5 bn in 2021 on the back of a 31% decline in revenues, the company said.

Sales of conventional tests were up 18% last year, supported by rising test volumes and per-test revenues, the company said. Sales returned to their pre-covid trend following a spike revenues driven by demand for pandemic-related tests. 2022 saw a 75% fall in covid-related revenues as infection rates fell and governments ended mandatory testing. Conventional revenues accounted for 81% of IDH’s sales last year.

A challenging year: “This year’s successes came against a difficult operating backdrop with our markets, and particularly our home market of Egypt, facing an unprecedented mix of economic challenges stemming from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and lingering impacts of the pandemic,” said CEO Hend El Sherbini. “We are confident that despite the ongoing economic challenges witnessed in our geographies, we have put in place the necessary strategies and mitigation mechanisms to continue delivering double-digit conventional revenue growth in 2023.”

Looking ahead: IDH will launch operations in Saudi Arabia “in the coming months,” the company said. It also intends to open 20-25 new branches, including three new branches in Jordan and two-new Al Borg Scan branches in Egypt. While IDH has made “multiple” price hikes to its products in the local market to account for rising inflation, it aims to continue absorbing some of the cost increases to ensure its services remain accessible and boost loyalty among patients, El Sherbini said. The FX crunch in Egypt has seen the company’s board postpone its decision on a 2022 dividend to its August meeting.

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