With global markets in a lull, the ASX closed slightly higher this week with some optimism. On the other hand, healthcare company Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) has sunk more than 28% since the start of the calendar year. 

Today’s 8% sell off can be directly attributed to the trading update that the Company released, where it revealed that it has continued to trade in line with its preceding update last month. The Company also stated that it is continuing to trade slightly ahead of Medicare in its core operations, with COVID testing numbers remaining around 15,000 per day for May.

Ongoing market unpredictability and the effects of high COVID infections amongst its workforce, patients, and clinician cohorts has meant the Company’s underlying earnings have been affected. 

The Company reported that its underlying unaudited earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the year-to-date was $473 million, which can be accredited to a strong 1H22 of trading, but challenging market unpredictability in the second half of FY22 saw that figure stagnate. 

For second half FY22, Healius added less than $100 million to their EBIT. With only one month remaining for the year this is a considerable drop compared to their EBIT of $376.1 million during the first half. Earnings, however, are still growing overall, with the Company having gained over 100% from $234 million for the same period in FY21.

Healius has announced that it has continued to offload portions of its portfolio as a diagnostics operator while remaining on track to grow its core businesses in pathology and imaging. 

Earlier this week, Healius was pleased to reveal that it completed the sale of Adora Fertility and three co-located Healius day hospitals to private equity firm Liverpool Partners.

The private equity firm was first interested in Adora when it was posted up for sale last year but retracted its interest when they found out that the Company opted to sell to its rival Virtus Health (ASX: VRT) for $45 million. The sale to Virtus was knocked back because the ACCC raised competition concerns and imposed an interlocutory injunction to block the completion of the sale. Liverpool pounced on this opportunity and snagged up the business for a fraction of its original price tag, worth $30.5 million on a cash and debt-free basis.

“The sale of Adora is in line with Healius’ strategy to simplify and realign its portfolio, enabling management to focus on development and growth in our core business. We thank Adora’s dedicated team for their commitment and patience during the sale process and wish them every success,” said Healius CEO, Dr Malcolm Parmenter.

While Healius has faced inflationary pressures and COVID issues in the second half of FY22, the Company expects an acceleration in demand for routine healthcare service to be the main driver of growth in the near-term, in particular their imaging and day hospital businesses. 

As mentioned earlier, HLS shares have dropped nearly 28% this year, but this was followed by a two year rally that saw the stock increase nearly 100% from $2.76 to $5.54. Hopefully shares stabilise and recover from today’s damage where you can expect the stock to trade in a range between $3.50 and $4.50 in the near-future.