NMC.L Regulatory News (NMC)

London, 3 January 2012: NMC Health Plc ("NMC") (LSE:NMC), the leading independent healthcare provider operating across the United Arab Emirates, today announces a pre-close trading update for the full 2012 financial year.

Trading Update

NMC expects consolidated results at both revenue and profit levels, for the year ended 31 December 2012, to be in line with expectations. The Group's net debt position and cash balance as at 31 December 2012 are as projected and capital expenditure remains as budgeted.

Capital Projects

Work is progressing on the four material capital projects currently in development and the costs of each of these capital projects remain on budget. 

·; Brightpoint Women's Hospital in Abu Dhabi: Construction will be finished in the next few weeks and the building is expected to be commissioned and licensed in time to open, with 50 beds available, in the second half of Q1 2013.

·; Musaffah Day Patient Centre: Construction is nearing completion and the facility will be ready to open in Q1 2013, upon receiving final licensing approvals.

·; Dubai Investments Park Hospital: As previously reported, we have changed the construction process of this new facility. The original intention had been to open a day patient centre on this site by end 2012 with further development to a full service hospital and pharmacy by end 2013. However, development plans have now been combined and construction at the site will commence shortly with a full service hospital and pharmacy expected to be operational four months earlier than anticipated during Q3 2013.

·; Khalifa City Specialty Hospital: Ground-breaking for the construction of our largest project to date took place on 12 December 2012 and, as previously announced, the project plan anticipates that the hospital will be operational with 75 available beds by end 2014.

Umm Al Quwain

As previously reported, the Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital, which the Company is managing under a management contract awarded by the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs, opened on 2 December 2012, the National Day of the UAE. At present a number of out-patient departments are operational, with additional out-patient and inpatient services being available on a phased basis by June 2013.

Term Loans

On 13 December 2012, the Company drew down the remaining US$30m of its JP Morgan US$150m Term Debt Facility. The facility was put in place earlier in 2012, alongside the Company's IPO proceeds, in order to finance the group's capital projects. All funds raised are committed against the four new capital projects currently being progressed.

Dr B.R.Shetty, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"NMC continues to perform well and will deliver operational performance in line with expectations for the year as a whole. Each of our four capital projects continue to be within budget and the financial position of the Company remains good.

Revenue and occupancy remained strong in the Group's operational healthcare facilities during the second half of the year and our Distribution Division growth has continued as expected in the latter part of the second half of the financial year.

We are excited by the opportunities that we believe will be available to build on the Group's good reputation in the UAE, with the opening of three of our four capital projects during the 2013 financial year. "

Full-year financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2012 will be issued on 26 February 2013. NMC will host an analyst/investor webcast on that day. Further details will be announced in due course.

Contacts

Investors:

Prasanth Manghat, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +971 50 522 5648

Simon Watkins, Group Company Secretary

Tel: +44 203 205 3879

Media:

Brunswick London

Justine McIlroy/Azadeh Varzi

+44 20 7404 5959

Brunswick Gulf

Steve Martin Wajih Halawa

+971 5 6696 9232 +971 5 0100 9207

Analyst and shareholder call

A call for analysts and investors will take place today, Thursday 3 January 2013, at 12noon (UK time). Please contact Simon Watkins (email: ir@nmc.ae or Tel: +44 203 205 3879) for further details.

About NMC Healthcare

NMC Health plc is a leading integrated healthcare provider with operations in the United Arab Emirates. NMC Healthcare commenced operations in 1975 and has grown over that period to become the only private sector healthcare provider with a broad UAE presence. The Healthcare Division currently operates or manages five hospitals, two day-care medical centre and eight pharmacies. The group also operates a significant distribution business supplying over 65,000 product lines to UAE customers across the Pharmaceutical, FMCG, Food, Scientific and Medical, Educational and Veterinary sectors.

In April 2012 NMC Health plc was listed on the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange. At the time of its IPO, the group raised funds to enable it to pursue a further growth plan with a number of capital projects for new healthcare facilities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

www.nmchealthcare.com