31st Jul 2007 10:00
Synergy Healthcare PLC31 July 2007 For Immediate Release 31 July 2007 Synergy Healthcare plc AGM Statement Steve Wilson, Chairman of Synergy Healthcare plc, a leading provider ofoutsourced support services to healthcare providers and medical devicemanufacturers, made the following announcement at its Annual General Meetingtoday: Trading in the current year has started well and the company is currentlyperforming in line with management's expectations. Activity levels haveremained consistent into the new financial year in all areas of the businessacross the UK, Europe and Asia. The hospital sterilization business has started strongly with UK activity levelsreflecting the NHS' target to reduce waiting lists to an 18 week maximum.Currently just over 50% of patients have to wait longer than 18 weeks. In theNetherlands our new endoscope decontamination service is about to commenceoperations, providing a reference site for establishing similar services in theUK. Bidding remains active in both the UK and the Netherlands with a largenumber of open tenders. During the quarter much of our focus has been on thedevelopment of the Chinese market. Following our announcement to invest in amedical device sterilization facility in Suzhou, China, the local government hastaken an active interest in Synergy's hospital sterilization services.Following discussions with several hospitals in the city we are considering astrategy that may lead to the extension of the medical device sterilizationfacility at the Suzhou Industrial Park to include hospital sterilization. Isotron, which forms Synergy's medical device sterilization business, has alsostarted the year well. Integration of the business with the group is largelycompleted save for the harmonization of the IT platform and communicationsystems, which will be complete by the end of October. The new facility inVenlo, in the Netherlands is nearly complete and is on schedule to open laterthis year. Planning for our new facility in Suzhou, China is at an advancedstage and remains largely on course to open next summer. At the same time weare continuing to progress the development of a new facility in Marcoule,France. Patient Care has continued to improve its underlying profitability, with salesgrowth being achieved across the entire business. The development of the newservice led offerings has started well with sales of both AirCleanse and Exsudexbeing achieved in a number of trusts across the UK during the quarter. We arepleased to announce that the Medway NHS Trust has adopted Exsudex as thepreferred wound drainage solution awarding Synergy a five year contract.Following the successful launch of Exsudex in the UK we are aiming to launchthis service in mainland Europe later this year. We are continuing to developSynergy's Infection Control service with further investment in risk mappinghospitals. Linen management services have continued to perform well. TheNetherlands has continued to see comparable growth to last year whilst in the UKdespite the loss of the Dunstable facility, we continue to make progress. Weexpect the Dunstable facility to be fully reinstated in January 2008. As part of the development of the business the Board has given consideration tothe merits of moving from AIM to the main market. Given the increasing scale ofSynergy's business and our international ambitions, we have concluded that wewill make the transition to the main market within 12 months. In the meantime,having successfully completed the integration of Isotron, we are now fullyfocused on developing our many organic growth prospects in the UK, Europe andparticularly Asia. We look forward to reporting our progress in November. 31 July 2007 Enquiries: Synergy Healthcare plc 01332387 107Dr Richard Steeves, Chief Executive 07768 020202 Brewin DolphinMark Brady 01132 410130 Financial Dynamics 020 7269 7156David Yates This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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