RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG / AGM/EGM/Final Results
17.06.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt/Saale
- Annual General Meeting -
2007: Revenues 2.02 billion / net consolidated profit 111.2 million /
investments 180.9 million / operating cash flow 191.0 million /
earnings 1.03 per ordinary share / shareholders equity according to IFRS
810.8 million / 1.5 million patient treatments / 32,222 employees /
dividend increase by 12% to 0.28
2008: First quarter revenues of 520.7 million / net consolidated profit
29.6 million / earnings per share 0.27 / operating cash flow 52.0
million / investments 40.3 million / 410,194 patient treatments / 32,303
employees
Outlook: Forecast for 2008 confirmed revenues of 2.08 billion and net
consolidated profit of 123 million / impact of economic and political
factors on company strategy / integrated growth strategy
Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale/Frankfurt am Main, 17 June 2008 ----- At todays
Annual General Meeting of the listed hospital group Rhön-Klinikum, the
figures of the past financial year played only a subordinate role: the most
important key figures for 2007 had already been presented and discussed at
this years Results Press Conference on 24 April 2008, and the results of
the first quarter of 2008 were published on the same day. The 2007 Annual
Report as well as the quarterly report for the first quarter of 2008 are
posted on the Internet at www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com.
2007: Revenues were lifted 4.8% to 2.02 billion (previous year: 1.933
billion); net consolidated profit rose by 1.9% to reach 111.2 million
(previous year: 109.1 million); earnings per ordinary share stood at
1.03 (previous year: 1.01); shareholders equity according to IFRS was
810.8 million (previous year: 728.7 million); operating cash flow
recorded growth of 15.8% not including the one-off cash effect (amendment
of Section 37 (5) Corporation Tax Act) to reach 191.0 million (previous
year: 165.0 million). A total of 1,544,451 patients (+10.8%; previous
year: 1,394,035) were treated in the 46 hospitals belonging to
RHÖN-KLINIKUM Group at year-end.
Q1-2008: Revenues rose by 18.7 million to 520.7 million (Q1 previous
year: 502.0 million); net consolidated profit recorded a smart rise of
17.5% to reach 29.6 million (Q1 of previous year: 25.2 million);
earnings per ordinary share stood at 0.27 (Q1 of previous year: 0.23
adjusted; + 17.4%); operating cash flow stood at 52.0 million (Q1 of
previous year: 45.9 million); in the first three months of 2008 the
Groups hospitals treated a total of 410,194 patients (+ 5.5%; Q1 of
previous year: 388,882); as at the reporting date, the Group employed a
total of 32,303 persons (31 December 2007: 32,222).
On the whole, the Board of Management was pleased with both the results for
2007 and with the first quarter of 2008. 'We have slightly exceeded our
profit forecast for 2007 and have made a strong start into financial year
2008', said Wolfgang Pföhler, chairman of the Board of Management of
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. 'We have succeeded in bucking the market trend, achieving
growth and expanding our market share in Europes largest healthcare
market. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board jointly propose
to the Annual General Meeting an increase in the dividend from 25 to 28
euro cents per share. The strong start into 2008 makes us optimistic. For
full-year 2008 we are shooting for revenues of 2.1 billion euros and net
consolidated profit of 123 million euros. Already today, we have generated
nearly half of this profit forecast. We thus expressly reaffirm our
forecast.'
Pföhler attributed the good business position to the Groups stable basis:
'The expansion in service volumes is largely accounted for by organic
growth. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has grown by its own strength', Pföhler added. The
reform impost, start-up financing for integrated care and the hike in VAT
were completely compensated by rationalisation efforts and targeted action
plans for raising service volumes as well as expanding the product
portfolio.
The companys sound basis is also seen in the fact that in particular the
Groups long-standing hospitals had made a positive contribution to the
Groups earnings. 'Also our largest subsidiary, Universitätsklinikum
Gießen/Marburg, generated a profit of 1.1 million euros in 2007', Pföhler
stated. 'For me this demonstrates that our innovative operating and
investment approach works at all levels of care.'
Besides efforts to strengthen the inpatient area, attention has also been
focused over the past year on expanding the offering in the outpatient
area. Thus, in 2007 a further six and in the first quarter of 2008 a
further three medical care centres (MVZs) were founded. The Group now has
18 MVZs with a total of 55 accredited doctor licences. 'The outpatient
market is in flux. Our growth opportunities are huge' Pföhler emphasised.
Economic and political factors
In response to the question 'What economic and political factors are having
an impact on our corporate strategy?', the chairman of the Board of
Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG named three key factors: development of
wages, privatisation trend at various levels of government (local, state
and federal) and the regulatory environment for the hospital market from
2009 on.
Wage trends were increasingly a problem for public facilities where higher
wages and rising costs of material were leading to a financing bottleneck.
'We at RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG counter rising personnel and material costs with
targeted measures for an expansion in regional offerings and additional
rationalisation measures. This is how we succeed in growing against the
trend and in strengthening our position on the market.'
The good state of the German economy temporarily slowed the privatisation
wave in 2007. For 2008, Pföhler once again expects heightened interest on
the part of the State in allowing private operators to take an interest in
or completely take over public facilities.
'In this connection I am pleased about the takeover of St. Petri-Hospital
in Warburg/North Rhine-Westphalia. The consolidation of our 47th Group
hospital will take place with effect from 1 July 2008.'
Looking ahead to the impending reform within the German healthcare system,
Pföhler takes a calm and composed stance: 'No matter what politicians
ultimately decide, we will be able to manage within the framework
conditions.' However, Pföhler does not see the desired 'major shift' out of
an administrated system of healthcare to a healthcare market as being
likely right now; that said, he does welcome the clear trends towards more
competition between healthcare providers and remains optimistic: 'We are
confident that we will be able to turn the greater manoeuvring room into
high growth of the Group.'
Integrated growth strategy
Referring to the lead question 'Where does the focus of our integrated
growth strategy lie?', the chairman of the Board of Management provided
those present with an insight into what the Management of the Company has
been looking at.
'The State alone can no longer guarantee comprehensive and full-coverage
healthcare delivery for an ageing population', Pföhler stated. The
investment backlog had already reached as much as 50 billion euros. If
everything is left the way it is, a rationalisation of medical services and
'two-tier medicine' will be the only possible outcome. 'This makes it all
the more important to have economically viable healthcare offerings if the
entitlement of the population to healthcare is to be satisfied at all and
if a high level of healthcare certainty and high-quality medical services
are to be kept available close to where people live. This is exactly where
our core competence lies, and this is exactly where we are focusing our
efforts', the chairman of the Board of Management underscored. 'We are
against fine, privileged private medicine and instead are aiming at
affordable cutting-edge medical care for all people in Germany regardless
of where they are insured.'
Pföhler then went on to outline the objective of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG for a
comprehensive offering of full-service medical care covering the entire
range of outpatient and inpatient medical services and meeting the highest
level of quality and modern standards. 'To achieve this, we want to adopt
new approaches in the integration of the outpatient and inpatient sectors.
The essential case for our integrated healthcare model is that the medical
offerings will not cost more than what is being spent overall on outpatient
and inpatient services today.'
The original business of acute inpatient medical care remained the mainstay
of the Company and was to be expanded further. 'At the same time we will
extend the foundation of our integration growth model by expanding the area
of outpatient-inpatient basic and standard care', Pföhler explained.
He added that the establishment of a two-stage integrated care model would
be able to ensure a full-coverage and affordable healthcare network. 'The
core idea is that patients receive neither an over- or underprovision of
care, but instead will be provided with adequate inpatient and outpatient
care. The degree of severity of diseases in future will be closely linked
to the level of care at which the patient is treated' explained the
chairman of the Board of Management. At the interface between the
outpatient and inpatient area, there are rationalisation reserves and
growth potential. 'Above all, we are aiming at realising quality reserves
in medical care and reaping cost and revenue synergies in an intelligent
interaction between sectors. We want to optimise processes between the
different healthcare sectors through an exchange of expertise and know-how
with outpatient doctors, since they are the ones who can build bridges
between sectors.'
With the framework agreement concluded with the Association of Physicians
Accredited under Statutory Health Insurance (Kassenärztliche
Bundesvereinigung), cooperation is to be made possible in a wide array of
fields. 'We are striving for an open alliance of providers to explore and
implement new ways for maintaining a solidarity-based system of healthcare
delivery' Pföhler emphasised.
Note: This press release only contains the core ideas and considerations;
the entire presentation will be published shortly on the homepage of
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com.
Brigitte Sallwey
Sallwey & Partner
Grüneburgweg 41
D-Frankfurt/Main
Tel.: (+49)(0)69-97 203 628
Handy: (+49)(0) 171 6942 140
DGAP 17.06.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG
Schlossplatz 1
97616 Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)9771 - 65-0
Fax: +49 (0)9771 - 97 467
E-mail: fire.ir@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
Internet: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
ISIN: DE0007042301
WKN: 704230
Indices: MDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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