NMC Healthcare expects gross revenue to fall 16 per cent this year mainly due to a decline in revenue as movement restrictions were imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Ravindranath K / The National
NMC Healthcare expects gross revenue to fall 16 per cent this year mainly due to a decline in revenue as movement restrictions were imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Ravindranath K / The National
NMC Healthcare expects gross revenue to fall 16 per cent this year mainly due to a decline in revenue as movement restrictions were imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Ravindranath K / The National
NMC Healthcare expects gross revenue to fall 16 per cent this year mainly due to a decline in revenue as movement restrictions were imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Ravindranath K / The Nati

NMC hopes turnaround plan will shift focus from past events to its future as a key healthcare player


Michael Fahy
  • English
  • Arabic

NMC Healthcare hopes the new turnaround plan it has presented to stakeholders will help to shift the attention away from the events of the past eight months and bring its future as a key healthcare provider in the UAE and Oman in focus, its acting chief executive said.

"For me, it's been quite frustrating because there's not been a headline since December that didn't begin with 'Embattled UAE healthcare operator' [or] 'Troubled NMC Healthcare'," Michael Davis told The National in an interview this week.

“We’re in a operational turnaround, we’re in a financial turnaround but we’re also in an reputational turnaround.”

NMC Healthcare was placed into administration in April after the company reported "suspected fraudulent activity" and more than $4 billion (Dh14.7bn) of previously unreported debts, bringing its total debt to more than $6.6bn. It is the biggest private healthcare company in the UAE, with between 13,000-15,000 employees and about 1,800 doctors.

It presented a three-year turnaround plan to lenders on Wednesday that focuses on its operations in the UAE and Oman. It involves divesting non-core businesses such as NMC Trading, two IVF companies – Luarmia and Boston IVF – UK-based Aspen Healthcare and a joint venture it has with Saudi Arabia's General Organisation for Social Insurance. The plan involves putting the group through an administration process at the ADGM Courts and raising $300 million of new funds from existing lenders.

“Seventy-four per cent of our business is here [UAE] and in Oman,” Mr Davis said.

“To focus on our core provides the best value for the stakeholders," he added, pointing out that 80 per cent of its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation comes from its UAE operations.

NMC Healthcare is forecasting gross revenue will fall 16 per cent in 2020, which is mainly due to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dealing with the pandemic at the same time as the administration process has proved difficult, but Mr Davis said administrators from Alvarez & Marsal have, for the most part, allowed him to focus on running the business.

"It’s frustrating because every minute of every day, while Maria [Simovic, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal] and I are dealing with the administration and the fraud, we have literally tens of thousands of employees that are taking care of patients at the point of care that really couldn’t care less about the fraud," Mr Davis said.

"All they [the employees] care about is having a sense of purpose, and worthwhile work and having the tools they need to their jobs.”

As the pandemic unfolded, more than 200 of NMC's staff were quarantined and others became ill while treating patients.

“It was dangerous for the frontline workers,” he said. “We’ve really had to differentiate between what was happening at the top with the fraud [investigation] and the uncovering of the debt and the administration procedures, with what our core and fundamental driving purpose is, which is caring for our patients and doing so in the middle of the worst pandemic in the last 100 years."

Once the dust settles and the narrative shifts, Mr Davis hopes to be able to "celebrate some of those frontline heroes and some of the staff" who have worked hard over the past four months.

START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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Gulf rugby

Who’s won what so far in 2018/19

Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain

What’s left

UAE Conference

March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers

March 29, final

UAE Premiership

March 22, play-offs: 
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes

March 29, final

WHAT ARE NFTs?

     

 

    

 

   

 

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.

 

An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.

 

This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.

 
ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PRO%20MAX
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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

While you're here
The Details

Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5 

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

Central%20Bank's%20push%20for%20a%20robust%20financial%20infrastructure
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ROUTE%20TO%20TITLE
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If you go:

 

Getting there:

Flying to Guyana requires first reaching New York with either Emirates or Etihad, then connecting with JetBlue or Caribbean Air at JFK airport. Prices start from around Dh7,000.

 

Getting around:

Wildlife Worldwide offers a range of Guyana itineraries, such as its small group tour, the 15-day ‘Ultimate Guyana Nature Experience’ which features Georgetown, the Iwokrama Rainforest (one of the world’s four remaining pristine tropical rainforests left in the world), the Amerindian village of Surama and the Rupununi Savannah, known for its giant anteaters and river otters; wildlifeworldwide.com

%3Cp%3EMATA%0D%3Cbr%3EArtist%3A%20M.I.A%0D%3Cbr%3ELabel%3A%20Island%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday

LA LIGA FIXTURES

Friday

Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)

Valencia v Levante (midnight)

Saturday

Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)

Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)

Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)

Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)

Sunday

Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)

Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)

Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

Cracks in the Wall

Ben White, Pluto Press 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets