Shah Alam: DRS Wong and Partners Dental Surgeon’s native Smile-Link Healthcare Global BHD, expects a slight recovery through efforts to cut costs in the second half of 2025, downsizing and upgrades to digital and artificial intelligence-operated dental tools.
Managing Director Datuk Dr. Wong Ren Yuan said that this recovery also depends on the interest rates and comprehensive economic factors such as consumer disposable income.
“We do not expect to improve revenue in the first half of the year, because nothing is particularly promising.
He said, “The second half can improve, but the possibility of any increase will be modest – about 5% to 10%. It will not be a dramatic leap. It said, we are seeing some encouraging signs,” he said. Sunbiz in an interview.
Wong said the recovery of smile-link is supported by international patients in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Australia, which are ready for Malaysia’s cheap and high quality dental care.
He said, “We get a lot of patients from abroad – about 10% to 20% of our revenue comes from them. Those who migrate from Malaysia to Australia or UK, when they want to treat, return to Malaysia. Even the patients of Singapore, where the living and operating standards cost is quite high,” he said.
These patients usually seek high-value dental processes, such as implantation and cosmetic treatment rather than basic care. “They usually do not go to regular services, it is usually for more complex or special processes,” Wong said.
He revived the notion that Malaysia’s dental care lags behind developed countries.
“There is a common belief that we are behind countries like Germany or the United States, but in fact, we provide comparable quality at just 20% of the cost.”
Many foreign patients return to treatment as they rely on standards.
“There is a common belief that countries like Singapore or Thailand are regional leaders in healthcare. However, in medical or dental services, Malaysia enhances comparable standards. Even in prosthetics, we have moved towards digital integration and AI-operated technologies,” Wong said.
For example, Wong said, the group started digitizing the patient records last year.
“Earlier, we used to rely on the handwritten records stored in the lab. Now we have infected in the CLN system, which adds all our clinics. It allows us to reach a patient’s record, even though they were treated in a separate branch,” they explained.
He shared that the group has allocated RM1.5 million and RM2 million this year for internal upgradation.
Wong said, “Our focus is on upgrading our internal infrastructure, which includes aging dental devices such as more than a decade -old devices, and to ensure that all clinics are completely digital,” Wong said.
He said that the group has no plans to open new clinics this year, even prolonged break-even periods due to the duration and offering aggressive discounts from independent physicians who offer pricing pressure.
“We cannot arbitrarily reduce our fees, as doing so will compromise the quality and stability of service. However, new single physicians often enter the market with low pricing and frequent promotional proposals, which pressurize the industry. As a result, the expansion is not our immediate priority,” Wong said.
He highlighted the integration of smile-links of AI and digital tools to increase the quality of treatment, reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.
Wong said, “Given the current economic environment, patients are usually reluctant to pay more for treatment. However, taking advantage of AI technology, we can reduce the time of treatment, reduce the quality of care, increase the quality of care, and increase the lower material costs,” Wong said.
Smile-Link posted a pre-tax profit of RM715,000 for six months ended December 31, 2024-one reversed with a loss of RM3.99 million in the same period of backward years. The improvement was mainly operated by cost cut measures, including selling underperforming clinics and internal restructuring efforts to increase the quality and operational efficiency of service.
However, the revenue declined by RM18.2 million to 17.7% year-on-year-year-old year-by-year, mainly attributed to reducing its clinic network, which was reduced from 86 to 60.
The company focuses on cost efficiency and service upgradation while working towards presenting its delayed financial statements and solving trading suspensions on the Leap market.
As an end-March, the smile-link Leap remained under the trading suspension on the leap market, as the failure to announce the financial statements audit for the 18-month financial period ended on June 30, 2024, up to October 31, 2024, by time frame.
The company changed its previous outdoor auditors, HLB Lum Chew Plt in January, through extraordinary general meetings and appointed Messrs Ong and Wong on 13 March as new Auditators.
Barsa Malaysia did not give a time expansion to the delay, and the audit continues.
According to the leap market listing requirements, the company is issuing monthly updates under Rule 6.14 (3) until the case is resolved.
