Egyptian businesswoman Hend El-Sherbini to pocket $17.9 million in dividends from IDH

Yusuf Abdulfatai -

Egyptian businesswoman Hend El-Sherbini and other related entities are set to receive a dividend of EGP331.97 million ($17.9million) from shareholdings in Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) after the Egyptian healthcare services provider posted its highest-ever net profit at the end of 2021.

This represents nearly a quarter of the $70-million dividend approved by the board of IDH at the end of the group’s 2021 financial year.

IDH is one of the leading consumer healthcare groups in the Middle East and Africa, with operations in Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and Nigeria.

Under the leadership of El-Sherbini, its CEO, IDH operates through a branch network of 483 labs across four countries, making it Egypt’s largest diagnostics service provider, offering more than 1,400 international-standard diagnostics tests.

The leading businesswoman owns a significant 25.5-percent stake in the group, which translates to 152,982,356 ordinary shares.

The $17.9-million dividend that El-Sherbini is set to receive will be paid from the EGP1.49 billion ($80.2 million) profit that the leading consumer healthcare group reported at the end of its fiscal period in 2021.

According to the company’s 2021 earnings report, its consolidated net profit increased by 145 percent from EGP609 million ($32.8 million) at the end of 2020 to EGP1.49 billion ($80.2 million), while revenue nearly doubled from EGP2.66 billion ($143.2 million) to EGP5.1 billion ($274.5 million).

The surge in revenue was driven by a combination of factors, with total tests performed increasing by 24 percent year-on-year and the average price per test increasing by 53 percent compared to 2020.

During the year, the group’s net sales were bolstered by strong demand for IDH’s Covid-19-related and conventional tests portfolios, with the segments accounting for 51 percent and 49 percent of consolidated net sales, respectively.

As a result of this, IDH’s board of directors proposed a dividend distribution to shareholders of EGP2.17 ($0.1168) per share or EGP1.3 billion ($70 million) in total. This represents a significant increase over the previous fiscal year’s final dividend of $29.1 million distributed.