- Consent to dividend proposal and appropriation of net distributable profit
- Formal approval of actions of Stephan Holzinger, Prof. Dr. Bernd Griewing and Dr. Martin Siebert
- Formal approval of actions of Supervisory Board members
As specified in the agenda the 30th ordinary Annual General Meeting of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG which took place for the first time in Bad Neustadt/Saale where the Company is registered has made the following decisions:
The sum of approx. Euro 14.7 million from the 2017 net distributable profit will be used for the distribution of a dividend of Euro 0.22 per non-par share; this corresponds to a dividend payout ratio of approx. 40 percent. With this ratio RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG safeguards its medium-term ability to make investments yet also allows its shareholders to participate in the future success of the Company. The actions of the members of the Board of Management, Stephan Holzinger (98.31 percent), Prof. Dr. Bernd Griewing (98.31 percent), Martin Menger (99.99 percent) and Dr. Martin Siebert (99.99 percent) who were in office in financial year 2017, and the members of the Supervisory Board who were in office in 2017 have been formally approved. The executive board member Jens-Peter Neumann who was in office in financial year 2016 and 2017, on the other hand, has not been formally approved.
CEO Stephan Holzinger confirmed the outlook for the current financial year as well as the operative and strategic challenges. For 2018 the Company expects revenues in the amount of Euro 1.24 billion plus/minus 5 percent. “A continuing burden on us as a facility offering maximum medical care remains regulatory legislation such as lower remuneration for services with high material costs (especially cardiological services) or the discount for lower overheads on additional services,” Holzinger stated.
For 2018 the hospital group expects a much higher amount for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between Euro 117.5 million and Euro 127.5 million in comparison with 2017 - positively influenced by the agreement with the university hospital in Giessen and Marburg (UKGM) regarding separate accounting as well as other effects.
Corporate Strength and Strategic Direction
Holzinger stated that the strategic focus is being placed on the further development and implementation of the RHÖN campus concept, the comprehensive digital transformation of the Company in the areas of medical care, nursing and administration as well as continuous attention to operative improvements.
With a view to improving economic efficiency Holzinger explained: „The package of measures which was initiated last year throughout the corporate group in order to optimise the financial figures continues to take effect. One positive example is the project to safeguard revenues by reducing avoidable losses arising from objections by the Medical Review Board of the Statutory Health Insurance Funds (Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenversicherungen – MDK). To this end we have continued to improve our existing control and reporting system and implemented a group‑wide (further) education programme as well as made the decision to use intelligent software for testing purposes.”
Further potential was also discovered in our project for managing materials: maintenance agreements were analysed, purchasing synergies were set up between different hospitals and the use of material was further improved while preserving the highest quality standards. “This shows that it is possible to achieve both excellent medical care and economic efficiency when all the parties involved work well together. In view of the pressure of costs it is no longer self-evident that we can encourage and invest extensively in innovations throughout the corporate group,” Holzinger stated.
The CEO emphasized the strategic direction of the Company in his speech. It is possible to detect definite potential for improvement in the healthcare system by managing medical care more efficiently for the benefit of the patient. This is at the heart of the RHÖN campus strategy. “Our campus stands for forward-looking excellent medical care particularly in rural areas, breaking down the previous boundaries in both out-patient and in-patient care. 2018 will be a special year for our Company: we shall complete our flagship project, the new campus in Bad Neustadt, at the end of the year, confirming yet again that we are not afraid to be the first to tread new paths,” Holzinger stated.
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG is putting its new campus concept into practice in an ideal manner for the first time at its headquarters. By the end of 2018 there will be new buildings constructed on the hospital campus designed as centres for in-patient and out‑patient medical care setting innovative and revolutionary standards not only in hospital architecture but also in both out-patient and in‑patient medical care with state‑of‑the-art medical equipment. Most of the clinics will then be under one roof allowing ever closer links between the different therapeutic approaches in healthcare. The new integrated building complex will shorten distances between medical specialists reflecting the overall process of patient care in a modular system – encompassing both prevention and out-patient and in‑patient acute and rehab care as well as broader healthcare services.
The Company is also pushing on with its digitalization strategy in order to be able to offer faster diagnoses and treatments along with improved medical history records, by using state‑of-the-art clinical information systems, electronic patient records and new digital instruments. “This gives our physicians and nurses a first-class system to analyse patient data thoroughly yet quickly. We are also using innovative telemedicine to link our group hospitals with other hospitals, local GPs and specialist physicians, rescue services and other out-patient facilities, both locally and further afield. This makes our healthcare even safer and faster and it also offers our physicians and nurses noticeable alleviation in their workload with the use of our medical cockpit, for example,” Holzinger emphasized.
Financial Figures for 2017 and 1st Quarter 2018
A total of 836,387 patients were treated at the five sites of the Company in 2017 (2016: 813,747). Revenues stood at Euro 1.21 billion and rose by approx. 3 percent when compared with the previous year (2016: Euro 1.18 billion). The figure for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Euro 97.8 million is lower when compared with the previous year (2016: Euro 156.9 million): the drop amounts to 14.9 percent following adjustments for subsequent transaction effects of Euro 42 million from dissolving provisions in 2016 in connection with the Helios transaction. The net consolidated profit amounted to Euro 36.7 million (2016: Euro 58.6 million): this results from the transaction effects and an adjustment in the opposite direction in the amount of Euro 35.5 million in connection with the Marburg particle therapy centre from financial year 2016.
In the first quarter of financial year 2018 RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG was able to increase its net distributable profit by almost one quarter in comparison with the same period in the previous year; EBITDA and revenues also rose significantly: 216,602 patients (+ 2.1 percent) were treated in the group hospitals, revenues stood at Euro 311.7 million (+3.9 percent), earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were at Euro 27.6 million (+8.2 percent) and the resulting net distributable profit reached Euro 10.4 million (+23.8 percent). This rise in the net distributable profit for the quarter does not yet include the positive effects from the successful agreement on separate accounting with the Federal State of Hesse and the two university hospitals in Giessen and Marburg: the final precondition for the agreement which was concluded in 2017 to come into force, validation of the agreement by an auditor, will probably take place in the third quarter of 2018.
Contact Person:
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG
Head of Investor Relations | Mr. Julian Schmitt
Telephone: +49 9771 65-1536 | E-Mail: ir(at)rhoen-klinikum-ag.com