HOUSTON, March 27, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- SurgiCare, Inc. (AMEX:SRG), a Houston-based Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) company, announced today record financial results for its year-ended December 31, 2001. The company reported revenues of $12,875,779, a 112% increase versus revenues of $6,052,434 for a comparable period last year. SurgiCare reported earnings of $1,026,893, or $0.07 per share on a basic and fully diluted basis compared to $456,115 or $0.04 per share (basic and fully diluted) for the same period last year. These results exclude a non-cash adjustment for contractual allowances of $540,201. The company would have reported earnings of $670,360, or $0.05 per share on a basic and $0.04 per share on a fully diluted basis if this fourth quarter adjustment was included.
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001, the company reported revenues of $3,334,162, an increase of 52.7% versus $2,183,420 for the same period last year and earnings of $31,014. The quarter's results were impacted by expenses incurred in connection with developing the infrastructure to support the company's anticipated nationwide expansion activities and acquisitions.
SurgiCare performed 5,010 cases for the year-ended 2001 or an increase of 39% versus 3,604 procedures for the same period in 2000. Revenues per case for the year were $2,336, an increase of 39.4% as compared with $1,675 for the same period in 2000. SurgiCare was able to increase per procedure revenues by concentrating on more profitable, less cost-intensive procedures and services. The company earned $362,424 in management fees for 2001, compared to $31,658 for 2000. These higher fees are a result of the acquisition of two ASCs in 2000 and the development of another center in 2001.
"This year was an important and highly successful one for SurgiCare," said Dr. David Blumfield, SurgiCare's Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer. "While other companies have generated losses while they expand or greatly dilute their shareholders through outside equity infusions, we have been able to hire key personnel and lay the infrastructure for rapid growth in 2002 while remaining profitable every quarter. We believe these efforts will enable us to expand revenues rapidly in 2002."
"We continue to deliver impressive results in all of our key metrics," said Charles S. Cohen, SurgiCare's Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer. "Our revenues, earnings and procedures grew substantially last year. However, we believe that the best is ahead of us as we are now positioned to commence our nationwide expansion. We expect that as we acquire and develop surgery centers that we will grow revenues, surgical procedures and earnings for our shareholders."
The company will conduct an interview with CEOcast, Inc., an on-line financial portal at 11 a.m. eastern time. Interested parties may e-mail questions in advance of the interview to mhenderson@ceocast.com. The interview will be accessible at www.ceocast.com.
About SurgiCare, Inc.
SurgiCare, Inc. offers licensed, freestanding Ambulatory Surgery Centers for use by physicians and its physician partners and their patients. Freestanding refers to the fact that the facilities are physically and organizationally independent from a hospital. Ambulatory Surgery means surgical procedures that do not require hospitalization after the surgery. The ASCs are run under the guidance of a committee of physician partners. SurgiCare's goal is to grow through mergers, acquisitions and turnkey management contracts in conjunction with physician-involved supervision and potential equity participation within a public company model. SurgiCare has assembled a team of highly qualified industry professionals that are equipped to effectively manage multiple ASCs, essentially cutting operational costs and increasing profit margins. For more information on SurgiCare, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.surgicareinc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of SurgiCare, Inc. (the Company) to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risk factors contained in the Company's Annual Reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, description of anyone's past success, either financial or strategic, is no guarantee of future success. This news release speaks as of the date first set forth above and the Company assumes no responsibility to update the information included herein for events occurring after the date hereof.