Sonic Healthcare (SHL) will go ex dividend on 4/3/2011. The current dividend payment is 24 cents and it is 28% franked. The record date is 10/3/2011 and the dividend will be paid on 24/3/2011. Based on the full year payment the dividend yield is 5.2%.
*Current Yield: 2.1% Franking: 28% DRP Discount: Not Available
*Yield has been calculated on the closing price on the 27/2/2011. Current yield is based on the current dividend payment only.
Sonic Healthcare (SHL) is pleased to announce that it has completed two separate acquisitions in Belgium, KBL-BML-Unilabo Laboratory (KBL), based in Antwerp and the Woestyn Laboratory, based in Mouscron, and one in the USA, Physicians’ Automated Laboratory (PAL), based in Bakersfield, California.
KBL was founded in 1970 and is one of the leading laboratory groups in the Greater Antwerp region of Flanders, with revenues of ~EUR 9 million per annum. It is intended that, through the course of 2011, KBL’s operations will become fully integrated with those of Sonic’s Medhold Group, which has recently relocated to a new state-of-the-art laboratory in Antwerp. The merger will result in substantial operational and financial synergies and lead to the creation of the largest laboratory in Belgium. The Woestyn laboratory, located in Western Belgium approximately 100 kilometres from Antwerp, was founded by Mr Jacques Woestyn in 1971 and has annual revenues of ~EUR 3 million.
PAL was established in 1967 as a high quality, physician-owned laboratory and has developed a leading market share in Bakersfield (180km north of Los Angeles) and surrounding areas. The company has experienced significant growth and has current revenues of over US$20 million per annum. PAL will be the base for a new Sonic Healthcare USA “California” Division and is Sonic’s initial step towards building a growing laboratory infrastructure in the most populous State of the USA (over 32 million residents). The senior management and pathologists of PAL have extensive industry experience, with a deep knowledge of the Californian market, and will assist Sonic’s further expansion in California, both via organic growth and through further synergistic acquisitions. PAL will work with Sonic’s other USA operations to achieve cost (mainly relating to purchasing) and revenue synergies.
The combined purchase price for the three laboratories is expected to equate to an enterprise value of ~6 times EBITDA once synergies are realised.
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Sonic Healthcare Limited (“Sonic”) (SHL) is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to acquire CBLPath, based in Rye Brook, Westchester County, within the New York City metropolitan area, USA.
CBLPath has grown consistently to become one of the largest independent anatomical pathology laboratories in the USA, with current annual revenues exceeding US$80 million. Using its leading geographical presence in the Northeast as a base, CBLPath has expanded over recent years to offer its services more broadly across the USA.
CBLPath will work closely with Sonic’s clinical laboratory divisions to cross sell services to their respective referrer bases. Sonic currently has clinical laboratory operations in eight of the ten States from which the majority of CBLPath’s revenue is sourced. Significant revenue synergies are expected to be realised from the cross sell opportunities in FY2012 and following years. In addition, there are a number of cost synergies which Sonic can offer CBLPath, particularly in the areas of logistics, purchasing and billing.
The CBLPath management team and structure will remain unchanged following the transaction. CBLPath’s senior management and pathologists have extensive industry experience and have demonstrated an exceptional ability to grow the business. The purchase price of US$123.5 million (cash & debt free) will be funded in USD from Sonic’s existing debt facilities, and represents a prospective (FY2012) EBITDA multiple of ~8 times pre synergies. The acquisition will be immediately EPS accretive. Completion of the transaction is expected in December 2010 and is conditional upon CBLPath shareholder approval and anti trust clearance. Galen Partners, a leading healthcare private equity firm, owns over 40% of CBLPath, with the balance owned by management, staff and other private investors.
Sonic is pleased to welcome the management, pathologists and staff of CBLPath into its USA team. As a high quality, service focused, medically led organisation, CBLPath is a natural fit within Sonic’s global laboratory operations. The similarity in cultures was a significant factor in the two groups reaching agreement to come together.
Sonic Healthcare (SHL) will go ex dividend on 8/9/2010. The current dividend payment is 35 cents and it is 35% franked. The record date is 14/9/2010 and the dividend will be paid on 28/9/2010. Based on the full year payment the dividend yield is 5.4%.
*Current Yield: 3.2% Franking: 35% DRP Discount: Not Available
*Yield has been calculated on the closing price on the 26/8/2010. Current yield is based on the current dividend payment only.
Sonic Healthcare (SHL) will go ex dividend on 3/3/2010. The current dividend payment is 24 cents and it is 35% franked. The record date is 10/3/2010 and the dividend will be paid on 25/3/2010. Based on the full year payment the dividend yield is 4.4%.
*Current Yield: 1.8% Franking: 35% DRP Discount: Not Available
*Yield has been calculated on the closing price on the 26/2/2010. Current yield is based on the current dividend payment only.
Sonic Healthcare (SHL) is pleased to announce that it will acquire 100% of the Medhold Group, based in Antwerp, Belgium. Medhold is a leading laboratory group in Belgium, having participated in the early consolidation of the Belgian laboratory market in recent years. Founded in 1980, the group has established an outstanding reputation for medical quality and service excellence in all areas of routine and esoteric testing, including anatomical pathology.
Sonic will acquire Medhold from its founders and joint CEOs, Annie Vereecken and Geert Salembier, as well as from Waterland Private Equity who have been co- shareholders since 2007. The Medhold Group employs over 300 staff and operates from a new, purpose-built, state-of-the-art reference laboratory in Antwerp. Four additional smaller laboratories service regional areas in northern Belgium, as well as the Brussels metropolitan area. Medhold also services hospitals and other referral sources in the Netherlands out of the nearby Antwerp laboratory facility.
With a combined population of approximately 27 million, Belgium and the Netherlands ideally suit Sonic’s criteria for growth in stable and reliable laboratory markets within Sonic’s core regions of Western Europe, Australia and North America. The purchase price for Medhold is based on an enterprise value of EUR 232 million and represents an EBITDA multiple of approximately 8.4 times before synergies. The acquisition will be immediately earnings per share accretive and will be funded from existing cash and debt facilities.
Sonic Healthcare’s CEO and Managing Director Dr Colin Goldschmidt said: “Sonic’s entry into the Belgian and Dutch markets represents an important extension of our European laboratory strategy and further strengthens Sonic’s position as the clear leader in European laboratory medicine. This acquisition presents us with new opportunities for additional growth and synergy capture in markets that suit our operations. We are proud and honoured to partner with an outstanding group such as Medhold, which is led by such an experienced and highly regarded management team, and which has such remarkably similar culture and values to Sonic. We are particularly pleased that joint CEOs Annie Vereecken and Geert Salembier will continue to lead Medhold, together with their talented management team.
According to UBS analysts, Sonic Healthcare may be about to buy three more European laboratories. This would be the latest in a string of acquisitions in the past 4 years which has cost more than $1.4 billion.
Chief Executive Colin Goldschmidt indicated in August the company had as much as $775 million ready for new purchases.
According to a report on Bloomberg.com, the three labs in Germany generate revenue of 12-18 million euros, and would enable Sonic to reduce costs and increase profitability.
Sydney-based Sonic Healthcare is now the largest pathology services provider in Europe and Australia, and is growing strongly in the U.S.
Sonic Healthcare
ASX Code – SHL
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Sonic Healthcare Limited advises that following the 6 September 2009 transfer of the Auckland, New Zealand, community laboratory contract from Sonic’s Diagnostic Medlab (“DML”) to Healthscope’s Labtests, DML has been invited to return to provide specific services under a new 4 year contract. The new contract value is NZ$10.6 million per annum, representing 15.8% of the annual NZ$67 million contract originally awarded to Labtests. The DML contract covers approximately 10% of the total community laboratory volume and represents the more complex range of services such as specialist referrals and histopathology. Whilst the contract is expected to break even initially, DML’s contracted value is to be renegotiated prior to 30 June 2010 such that a suitable price is agreed between the parties for the remainder of the term. Sonic is hopeful of retaining services beyond the 4 year term. The newly announced shared arrangement has been triggered by the need to relieve pressure on the new laboratory provider, Labtests.
The Chairman of the Auckland District Health Board, Mr Pat Snedden, said today that “Labtests found themselves under stress with regard to managing volumes, getting results to clinicians at the right time and place, managing the very customised service aspects of service such as home visits, having the right ratio of fully trained to trainee phlebotomists and turnaround times on urgent results. As a result, concerns arose about their ability to consistently operate within the expected contract expectations”. Commenting on the Auckland developments, Sonic’s CEO Dr Colin Goldschmidt said: “We have agreed to return to service provision in Auckland under defined conditions. DML will be restructured in order to provide the limited, yet more complex services to the doctors and patients of Auckland. The past 3 years have been traumatic for DML and costly for all parties involved. The majority of DML staff have remained loyal to DML and Sonic over this period and despite the positive aspects of DML’s return to service, the reduced scale of the laboratory operation will represent a pyrrhic victory for most of our people. Nevertheless, Sonic and DML look forward to working positively with Auckland’s doctors and patients to deliver outstanding laboratory services into the future”.
Sonic Healthcare (SHL) will go ex dividend on 8/9/2009. The current dividend payment is 35 cents and it is 35% franked. The record date is 14/9/2009 and the dividend will be paid on 28/9/2009. Based on the full year payment the dividend yield is 4.0%.
Current Yield: 2.5% Franking: 35% DRP Discount: Not Available
*Yield has been calculated on the closing price on the 4/9/2009. Current yield is based on the current dividend payment only.
Sonic Healthcare Limited (SHL) is pleased to announce that it has acquired Piedmont Medical Laboratory (PML), based in Winchester, Virginia, and Axiom Laboratories, based in Tampa, Florida. PML was established in 1991 and is a regional laboratory servicing an integrated network of community-based hospitals, physicians and health care providers, in the states of Virginia and West Virginia. The business has experienced steady revenue growth and has current annual revenue of ~US$11 million. PML will become part of Sonic’s existing Mid-Atlantic division, which is based in Chantilly, Virginia, close to Washington, D.C. The operations of PML are contiguous with those of Sonic’s Mid-Atlantic division and the merger of the two operations will add critical mass to Sonic’s operations in this region and will also provide the opportunity for significant synergy capture.
The purchase price for both businesses comprises upfront cash payments totalling US$20 million and a performance based earn-out of up to US$2.5 million payable over 2 years. The structure of the Axiom acquisition will provide tax deductions for goodwill amortisation over 15 years, with a total net present value to Sonic of ~US$1 million.
Sonic Healthcare’s CEO and Managing Director, Dr Colin Goldschmidt said: “Both Piedmont Medical Laboratory and Axiom Laboratories represent valuable synergistic acquisitions for Sonic. PML will serve to extend our service in the Mid-Atlantic area and will also offer operating synergies due to the close proximity to our current operation. Axiom adds further critical mass and growth potential for Sonic in the important Florida market.”
