The network of laboratories and health services, Fleury (FLRY3) released its balance sheet for the first quarter of 2024 on Thursday night. The company made a net profit of R$168 million, an increase of 79% compared to the same period in 2023.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was R$517 million, an increase of 49.6% year-on-year. The Ebitda margin fell slightly, going from 28% in 1Q23 to 27.2% in the first quarter of 2024, a drop of 84 basis points.
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Revenue was R$1.9 billion, an increase of 54% compared to the same period in 2023.
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“In addition to revenue growth, we highlight mainly our brands here in São Paulo, the non-Fleury brands, which we call other brands in São Paulo, and a very significant growth also in Minas Gerais, in addition to important growth in what we call B2B, mainly due to the good performance of Lab2Lab”, comments Jeane Tsutsui, CEO of the group in an interview with InfoMoney. The aforementioned growth of “other brands” reached 45% in the balance of the quarter.
Among the fronts that show the most progress, Novos Elos continues to stand out. The initiative aims to offer orthopedic and ophthalmological care and the application of infusions, among other services, and grew by 26.7%, reaching R$ 171.2 million.
The namesake brand, the group’s main brand, had lower growth compared to the other fronts. More consolidated and mature, the front receives investments in excellent customer service, relationships with the academic and scientific community and the search for innovation through bets and integration with startups. Currently, there are 57 startups working with the group, according to the CEO. “Now, the Fleury brand is a more mature brand, which already has a high market share, and we maintain this market share”, he comments.
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The company is concerned about cost discipline and, thanks to the strategy, has leverage “under control” in management’s view. The metric was 1.2 times net debt over EBITDA and remains stable in relation to the previous quarter.
“Our leverage has remained below the 3x limit established by debt instruments. This level of leverage allows the company to face the high interest rate environment with resilience”, reports Fleury in the statement presenting the quarter’s results. Net debt on March 31, 2024 was R$2.2 billion, an increase of 2.6% compared to the previous quarter.
Pressure from payers and focus on prevention
In times of pressure experienced by paying sources, the group’s CEO considers that, more than ever, the need for prevention arises. In her view, it is necessary to prevent the indiscriminate use of health services, but little use can also become a problem if resources linked to disease prevention are not well used. For Dr. Jeane, the stimulus for adequate use involves the absence of unnecessary exams and an increase in necessary exams.
“The Fleury Group has been working with diagnostic algorithms for a long time, with medical advice, discussing cases, all the time we look at the diagnostic process, that is, we don’t simply make the diagnosis and deliver a result, we look at the process, how this result reaches the doctor, how this result impacts the doctor’s conduct, and that is why we say that diagnostic medicine supports all phases of care so that we can effectively use this diagnosis for care suitable for the patient”, he considers. “Because what prevention means is doing it for the right patient at the right time”, understands the CEO.
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Regarding new acquisitions, José Fillipo, the company’s CFO, comments that there are some parameters that the group focuses on when doing business. The last of them, the acquisition of the São Lucas Group, represented a geographical advance, although analysts consider it to be not very significant in numerical terms compared to the figures presented by the company. “We have an M&A area that is structured, it has always remained active, obviously, we analyze a prospecting pipeline, which is natural, and it has been some time since we had been able to close an acquisition, as the market is very fragmented, so acquisitions are small”, says the executive.
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