Optimax harbours vision for bigger footprint locally and abroad

OPTIMAX Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s largest private pure-play provider of eye specialist services, is run by the Tan family, led by a policeman-turned-businessman father and his law graduate daughter.

Despite not having formal qualifications in ophthalmology, the father – Tan Sri Tan Boon Hock – has built Optimax from just one clinic in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in 1995 to 21 clinics nationwide and one hospital in Penang currently.

The group’s first overseas clinic in Cambodia also opened its doors to the public in May this year. It is, in fact, Cambodia’s first full-range eye specialist centre.

Boon Hock is currently the executive deputy chairman of Optimax. He is also the controlling shareholder of ITMAX System Bhd, another Bursa Malaysia-listed company that is run by his son, Tan Wei Lun.

Back to Optimax, Boon Hock’s daughter – Sandy Tan Sing Yee – became the chief executive officer in 2017. Under her watch, the company went for an initial public offering on the ACE Market in August 2020 and eventually transferred its listing to the Main Market in November 2022.

It was also under her watch that Optimax expanded abroad into Cambodia. Sandy, an aesthetics customer herself, also oversaw the group’s venture into plastic surgery in 2023 – currently offered at its Optimax Ipoh Specialist Centre.

In May this year, Optimax opened its first full-fledged aesthetic clinic in Damansara called the Neumax Clinic.

The group is not planning to stop expanding just yet, both locally and abroad, and has guided for a RM20mil capital expenditure in 2024 and 2025.

In an interview with StarBizWeek, Sandy says Optimax is looking to grow the number of its eye care clinics in Malaysia, particularly in locations like the Klang Valley, Penang and the southern region of the peninsula.

At the moment, more than half of its clinics are in the Klang Valley.

The group also looks to grow its foreign footprint. In Vietnam, the clinic will be operational in 2025.

Optimax is also exploring markets like Manila in the Philippines, Medan in Indonesia and other regions of Cambodia.

“For me, results come first. I have to deliver my results before I set up any clinic.

“That’s why I fly my doctors from Malaysia to the Cambodian clinic. If I’m not convinced that I can deliver quality results, I will not set up the clinics,” says Sandy.

Of the 21 clinics under Optimax, a total of 14 are ambulatory care centres (ACCs) and seven are satellite clinics or optometry centres.

In order to alleviate patient congestion, the satellite clinics will offer comprehensive eye examination and consultation services.

Patients will be redirected to the nearest available ACC only for cases necessitating surgical intervention.

According to Sandy, all Optimax clinics are profitable.

Typically, an average ACC with one or two operation theatres can break even in less than six months thanks to Optimax’s brand value, she says.

“As for the satellite clinics, it’s even faster. We can achieve breakeven in one or two months.

“In fact, our Cambodian venture is already self-sustaining despite only commencing in May.”

She further adds that the aesthetics clinic, Neumax, is expected to break even by the end of this year.

“We will see how this centre (Neumax Damansara) goes. If everything goes well, we will venture into Cambodia, as well as the northern and southern regions of Peninsular Malaysia.

“That said, eye care services will always be our core focus,” she says.

At the moment, the Neumax Damansara is located at the Atria Shopping Gallery, where Optimax’s ACC for eye care is also located.

This allows synergistic benefits, where patients at Optimax are also referred to the Neumax clinic, with the option of bundled pricing packages.

While operational expansions are often positive for a business, the downside risk is the start-up cost that hits the bottomline.

In the case of Optimax, despite achieving a record-high revenue of RM113.95mil in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY23), its net profit fell by over 12% year-on-year to RM12.89mil.

The net profit margin in FY23 also fell to 11.3% from 13.6% a year earlier.

“We have to start hiring and pay salaries even before we can commence operations of our clinics as we await for the licence.

“For example, in Cambodia, we have to ensure the doctors, nurses, optometrists and the machines will be in six months before we get the licence.

“Hence, the start-up cost is high and that resulted in the drop (in net profit).

“For this year (FY24), we are not expecting a high start-up expense like last year and we want everything to stabilise first before we move into the next round of expansion,” says Sandy.

Optimax expects an improvement in bottomline in FY24-25.

Expansions aside, Sandy says another key growth driver for Optimax is medical tourism.

In fact, the momentum in foreign patients seeking treatment at Optimax Malaysia has been increasing.

Before Covid-19, less than 5% of Optimax’s patients were foreigners.

Today, however, non-Malaysians represent 10% to 15% of the patient volume. The percentage will continue to increase, says Sandy.

Optimax has served clients from many regional countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

Sandy says the expansion of Optimax’s operations, along with the various international roadshows by the group, has helped to increase foreign patient volume.

On its upcoming eye care facility in Setia Alam, Sandy says that it will open to the public in the second half of 2025.

Optimax will operate a full-service eye specialist centre at the multi-disciplinary Selgate Hospital in Setia Alam, Shah Alam.

The hospital is owned by Selgate Healthcare Sdn Bhd, an indirect unit of the Selangor State Development Corp.