TRIS Raises BCH’s Rating to A with Stable Outlook, Reflecting Its Solid Financial Profile

TRIS Rating raises Bangkok Chain Hospital Public Company Limited (BCH)‘s company rating to “A” from A- and revises the outlook to “stable,” highlighting the company’s strengthened financial profile, bolstered by a solid operating performance with an enlarged revenue base and strong profitability.

The ratings reflect BCH’s continued strength in two crucial segments: middle-income cash patients and patients covered by the government social security coverage (SC) scheme, its moderate leverage, and ample liquidity. These strengths, however, are partially offset by intense competition from domestic and international healthcare providers.

BCH has a strong competitive position in both cash patient and SC patient segments. Normally, revenues from the cash patient segment account for around 65% of its total patient revenues, while revenues from the SC segment constitute around 35%.  

Additionally, BCH’s performance outperformed the market during the fallout of COVID-19 in 2020-2021. For 2020, while the combined revenues of private hospitals listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) declined by 12%, BCH proved resilient amid the COVID-19 pandemic with revenue up by 0.3% for the same period. During the second wave and third wave of the outbreaks in April-September 2021, most private hospitals benefitted from increasing COVID-19 patients with the industry-wide revenue rising by 9% y-o-y in the first half of 2021. BCHs revenue jumped by 56% y-o-y to THB6.7 billion during the same period.