Broker’s call: Vijaya Diagnostics (Reduce)

Target: ₹610

CMP: ₹618.55

We visited PH Diagnostics (Vijaya Diagnostics Centre’s subsidiary) facilities in Pune and share the key highlights in this note. Purpose of the visit was to observe the qualitative nature of the business, radiology equipment and assess the positioning vis-à-vis reference labs of the some of the competitors.

We also had a conversation with PH founder Dr Hemant Dhoka to gather insights about Pune market, key growth drivers and expansion plans. PH houses high quality 3T and 1.5T MRI machines though 32 slice CTs are relatively basic in nature. Operating 1 spoke and 2 hubs, PH handles about 18k footfalls in a month, or about 6 per cent of Vijaya’s annual 3.4 million patients.

In the near term, Dr Dhoka would run the company as long as Vijaya intends to although the roadmap beyond PH would not be clear at this juncture. Competitively, PH is one of the largest integrated players in Pune with a high market share; nearest competition is from Star Imaging which is largely a radiology play.

Post visit we continue with assessment of a growth trajectory that is unlikely to accelerate at Vijaya with margin in a narrow range. Lower rating to Reduce from Neutral earlier in lieu of modest downside.