Brazil's Rede D'Or posts 32.7% decrease in Q4 net profit as costs bite

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian hospital chain Rede D'Or Sao Luiz SA posted a 32.7% drop in its fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier, it said on Monday, hit by higher costs.

The company reported a Q4 net profit of 282.5 million reais ($54.34 million), missing the Refinitiv forecast of 309 million reais.

The company's net revenue grew 12% year-on-year to 5.75 billion reais.

Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 3.6% year-over-year to 1.22 billion reais, missing a Refinitiv forecast of 1.33 billion reais.

"In 4Q22, the effects directly related to COVID-19 still impacted the company's EBITDA, especially in the second half of the quarter," the company said in a statement.

($1 = 5.1983 reais)

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)