Our senior global advisors sometimes refer to us as the best kept secret in the international healthcare ecosystem. In a nutshell, in 30 years HMG has grown from a family business to a publicly listed international healthcare conglomerate. This success was achieved through hiring and empowering the best talent in the market, our relentless focus on technology and innovation and an act-fast mentality. All our achievements were enabled by the economically prosperous environment orchestrated by our government.

We are focused on three segments: medical facilities, pharmacies and solutions. In 2023, the company posted a net income growth of 24%. In the second quarter of 2024, the company continued to see a rise in profits of 13.9% compared to the same quarter in 2023. Since the company was listed on the Saudi Exchange in March 2020, our share price increased by more than 400%, which underlines our shareholders trust and expectations in our growth.

In three to five years, we will double our capacity, which will involve a significant growth in our workforce from 17,000 to between 25,000 and 30,000 employees. Of the six new hospital projects announced in 2023, two have already opened their doors and four are expected to be launched by the end of this year or in the first quarter of 2025, which will increase our bed capacity from 2,000 to 4,000. Considering our recent expansion and the current market dynamics, we expect to continue growing at a high pace. There is much more to come in all segments of our organization.

As the largest private healthcare provider in the Kingdom and the Middle East, we recognize our responsibility to support Vision 2030’s sustainability objectives. We are proud to have published our first standalone environmental, social and governance report in June 2024. Our strategic framework is based on three pillars that guide our efforts: protecting and preserving the environment; empowering our people and engaging with the community; and maintaining sound business practices.

Our first pillar includes managing our water and energy resources efficiently and reducing medical waste and carbon emissions. Since our people are our greatest asset, the second involves continuing to prioritize the wellbeing of our employees and fostering their professional development. One of our major social contributions is improving the education and training of new healthcare professionals by offering more than 30 diploma, residency and fellowship programs in collaboration with national and international universities. Additionally, our social responsibility initiatives focus on community engagement, research and education. Our third pillar focuses on continuing our unwavering commitment to good governance and adherence to ethical business practices, transparency and accountability. It is important that we continue to garner the trust and confidence of our shareholders.

We are proud to have high Saudization levels in our organization. However, we have an overreliance on foreign staff, specifically in the nursing segment. In our commitment to invest in local talent and maintain a sustainable healthcare workforce, we are inaugurating our Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib nursing academy, with full operations expected for next year. We firmly believe in growing our people from within the organization with the wide array of our previously mentioned healthcare training programs. In addition, our virtual academy provides thousands of courses in various disciplines and accessible upskilling opportunities for our healthcare professionals. Moreover, our partnership with the University College of London advances our managerial personnel towards higher leadership roles and enables them to meet the challenges of today’s complex and ever-changing healthcare environment. We also foster an internal culture of excellence and innovation through elevating functions and having staff work at the top of their skills level by automating and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) to remove the administrative burden placed on nurses and physicians. This holistic approach to education and training is part of our strategy for recruiting, retaining and developing highly qualified healthcare professionals within the context of the global shortage.

We believe technology enables business, especially in the services sector. To compete in the future, we must continue to invest in digitally enhancing our business processes, and our client and patient experiences. At HMG, we have grown and further invested in spin-off software and technology companies, which are wholly owned subsidiaries. These companies have produced many new disruptive solutions that we are using in our facilities, in more than 50 hospitals under the Ministry of Health and beyond. These include new products for electronic medical records and integration between software and medical devices. For example, patients have their medical records ready and available in their pocket via an app on their cellphones. We were the first hospital in the world that enabled patients to book and reschedule appointments though a mobile app. We now have almost 1,000 employees in these companies, with two research and development offices outside Saudi Arabia. Our goal is to own every upgrade and every innovation we come up with.

Healthcare is no longer only about treatment but also about hospitality. A premium healthcare product comes with the expectation of a five-star experience. We are aiming to combine these two sectors to enhance patient experience. This combination represents its own set of unique challenges that we plan to address through intelligent solutions including virtual care, integrated services and data.

AI is developing at an astounding rate. However, we must be careful to implement AI properly and assess it in detail before using it in clinical processes. For example, advancements in AI and radiology have been staggering. In that field alone we have conducted more than 150,000 studies to date. This has led to the adoption of AI in neuroimaging, mammograms or breast imaging, chest x-rays and identifying bone age and bone fractures. It has positively increased diagnostic accuracy, time of reporting, patient satisfaction and physician productivity. Where possible we are always investing in solutions to improve quality and accuracy that in all fairness can sometimes be better provided by technology. A large part of implementing AI is to empower the workforce in ways that enable its progress and cultivate its progression in a sustainable way. We have followed all AI developments closely and are continuously looking at all continents from the East to the West to continue developing AI. We have made many deals in the last few years to implement AI across the board, from diagnosis and treatment to administration and auditing. We relentlessly pursue innovation, and we will continue on this path.

HMG 100% supports the Vision 2030 program and the government’s direction; the associated economic and societal development are major enablers behind our aggressive growth strategy. Saudi Arabia spends 6% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, which is still low compared to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. With the maturation of the sector, we expect this percentage to increase, which brings significant opportunities for expansion. The population is growing fast, and more healthcare services will be required as the government opens up the country and invites in more people through the promotion of tourism. Concurrently, the implementation of Vision 2030 requires new healthcare services beyond traditional hospital care. Finally, the government’s desire for more privatization is opening many doors from a business perspective. With these changes, the quality of life of our citizens is rapidly improving; we are proud to be part of this journey.