HealthTronics Announces Appointment Of Martin J. McGahan As President And Chief Operating Officer


MARIETTA, Ga., Jan. 6, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- HealthTronics Surgical Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:HTRN) today announced that Martin J. McGahan, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. The promotion was effective January 1, 2004. He will continue to act as CFO while the company searches for a replacement.

Mr. McGahan has been the CFO at HealthTronics since June 2001. Prior to joining HealthTronics Mr. McGahan worked for HealthMarket Inc., a privately held health insurance company located in Connecticut. He also served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Saks Direct, a division of Saks Incorporated. Mr. McGahan has also held the positions of: Executive Director of Alabama Sports Medicine Institute, Regional Vice President for HealthSouth Corporation and Assistant Treasurer for Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. McGahan received his bachelor's degree from Villanova University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

As President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. McGahan will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Company, working with Chairman and CEO Argil Wheelock and the divisional managers to develop and execute on short- and long-term strategy. The position of President and COO was previously held by Roy Brown, who left that position in December 2002.

"Martin has long been involved in the operations of HealthTronics and the overall general management of the Company," Wheelock said. "Our board of directors and I feel that his background in health care, his operational experience, and his deep knowledge of the investment community make him uniquely qualified for the position of President and Chief Operating Officer.

"Martin has done an outstanding job for us as CFO," Wheelock continued. "He has demonstrated the ability to successfully deal with multiple issues and has helped significantly improve our visibility with the investment community. Since Martin's arrival, the number of analysts covering our stock has increased to three from none, our institutional ownership has gone from zero to forty per cent, and the daily trading volume in our stock has increased tenfold.

"Martin has also strengthened the financial foundation of the Company," Wheelock said. "He was instrumental in securing the $50 million credit facility that enabled us to acquire a large lithotripsy operation in late 2001 that has doubled our revenue. He has been involved in the re-syndication of that business in 2003, a process that has helped us to reduce our debt from over $50 million to approximately $23 million during 2003.

"We expect Martin to be a long-term leader of HealthTronics," Wheelock said. "I am delighted that he has accepted the challenge and am confident that he will continue execute to the same level that he has since joining the Company."

About HealthTronics Surgical Services

HealthTronics Surgical Services, Inc. is one of the nation's leading providers of non-invasive and minimally invasive surgical services for certain urologic and orthopaedic conditions. The Company provides technical and administrative services to physicians, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers using extracorporeal shock wave devices. The two primary services offered by HealthTronics are lithotripsy extracorporeal shock wave treatment, which is a procedure for treating kidney stones in a non-invasive manner, and Orthotripsy(r) extracorporeal shock wave surgery, which is a procedure for treating orthopaedic soft tissue disorders in a non-invasive manner. The Company has operations in approximately 45 states in the United States. More information about HealthTronics Surgical Services can be found at the Company's website, www.healthtronics.com.

Safe Harbor

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of HealthTronics Surgical Services to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements express or implied by such forward-looking statements. As always, these expectations and projections are based on currently available competitive, financial, and economic data, along with operating plans, and are subject to future events and uncertainties. Among the events and uncertainties which could adversely affect future periods are: inability to establish or maintain relationships with physicians and hospitals; health care regulatory developments that prevent certain transactions with health care professionals or facilities; inability of the Company or health care providers to obtain reimbursement for use of the Company's current or future products; competition or technological change that impacts the market for the Company's products; and difficulty in managing the Company's growth. Additional factors that might cause such a difference, include, but are not limited to those discussed in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002, and in subsequent documents filed by HealthTronics Surgical Services with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Argil J. Wheelock, Chief Executive Officer


            

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