South African private hospital giant set to soar

Netcare expects to report earnings growth as high as 23% for the first half of its 2026 financial year, as the private hospital giant continues to go from strength to strength.

This follows strong momentum built up in the 2025 financial year, with the group having invested R1.63 billion in capex and implemented cost-saving measures to make its operations more efficient.

Now, this growth looks set to continue into the 2026 financial year, with Netcare having released a trading statement for the first six months through March 2026 on Thursday, 21 May.

In this statement, the company informed shareholders that it expects its earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) to rise by between 18% and 23%.

Netcare’s adjusted HEPS, which exclude non-trading and non-recurring items, are expected to rise within the same percentage range.

This indicates that Netcare’s strong performance in the 2025 financial year has continued into 2026.

For FY25, Netcare’s revenue rose by 4.5% to R26.34 billion, while its EBITDA was up 8.4% to R4.91 billion.

The company’s operating profit shot up by 11.3% to R3.56 billion, and its profit for the year increased 17% to R1.81 billion.

Netcare’s HEPS rose by 18.3% to 133.7 cents per share, while its adjusted HEPS was up 20.7% to 137.2 cents.

The company attributed this strong growth to its improved operational performance, but also noted that its per-share metrics benefited from a lower weighted-average number of shares.

This is because Netcare invested R1.9 billion in the 2025 financial year to buy back 149 million shares.

The company’s 2025 results also benefited from lower strategic and diesel costs in the 2025 financial year.

Netcare plans to release its interim results for the first half of its 2026 financial year on Monday, 25 May 2026.