7th Jun 2007 07:02
Southern Cross Healthcare Grp PLC07 June 2007 Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC Acquisition of Avery Healthcare Limited -- Portfolio expanded by a further 15 homes and 845 beds -- Thursday, 7 June 2007 - Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC (LSE: SCHE)('Southern Cross' or the 'Company'), the UK's largest care home provider,announces today that it has acquired Avery Healthcare Limited ("Avery") for anenterprise value of £96.5 million. Avery has 845 beds in 15 high quality, purpose built homes located primarily inthe North East of England. The management accounts of the acquired homes forthe 12 months ended 31 March 2007 show EBITDAR* of £5.1million with an averageoccupancy of 81.6%. A number of these homes were newly built and were thereforebeing filled during the period, resulting in a lower level of average occupancy.The 635 beds that were mature during this period had occupancy of 93.5% and aHome EBITDAR margin of 36%. Current occupancy across the mature group of homesis 97.3% and across the whole portfolio is 93.6%. In line with Southern Cross' growth strategy, it is the Company's intention todivest the freehold interest of the Avery homes in due course and retain theleasehold operating business. In addition to the 15 homes being acquired, Southern Cross has also agreed toacquire a turnkey development currently being developed on behalf of Avery by athird party. The acquisition of this development is expected to be completedwithin the next four months and will add a further 46 beds to the Group'sportfolio. Southern Cross also announces today the acquisition of a single home located inEssex with 34 beds to be integrated within the Active Care brand. Followingtoday's acquisitions the Group now operates 667 homes and 33,816 beds. Commenting on today's announcement, Philip Scott, Chief Executive of SouthernCross, said: "The acquisition of Avery continues a busy period for SouthernCross as we progress our strategy to lead the consolidation of the elderly caremarket in the UK. This acquisition brings us an excellent portfolio of homes inthe North East and strengthens our position in that part of the country." *Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and rent - ends - Enquiries: Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC Tel: +44 (0)1325 351100Philip Scott, Chief ExecutiveGraham Sizer, Finance Director Financial Dynamics Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113David YatesDeborah Scott Notes to Editors About Southern Cross Southern Cross is, in terms of number of beds, the largest UK provider of carehome services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services forpeople with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes forthe elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare andAshbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personalcare services and nursing care services for elderly people with physicalfrailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist servicesoperate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term careservices for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for youngerpeople with complex forms of challenging behaviour. Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well investedfacilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which itoperates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authoritiesin the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of theCompany's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with ahigh percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms.Occupancy levels in its core elderly segment are consistently in excess of 90%. This announcement includes statements that are, or may deemed to be, "forwardlooking statements". These forward looking statements can be identified by theuse of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates","plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparableterminology. These forward looking statements include matters that are nothistorical facts and include statements regarding the Company's intentions,beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Company'sresults of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth,strategies and the outlook on the care home industry. By their nature, forwardlooking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to futureevents and circumstances. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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