Excluding currency effects, sales decreased 8.6 percent to 1,223 million Euro. The traditional film segment continued its market-driven decline. In the second half of the year, Agfa HealthCare's sales figures were affected by the economic slowdown as some care organizations are postponing their investments in Enterprise IT, Imaging IT and Computed Radiography (CR) equipment. In 2008, Agfa HealthCare successfully introduced its IMPAX Cardiology Suite in Europe. The major contract signed with the Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris hospital network serves as a key lever for new successes in the field of Enterprise IT.
Agfa HealthCare further reduced its SG&A expenses by 79 million Euro or 21.0 percent. On top of the weaker sales and the high raw material costs, the business group's full year results were strongly affected by the decision to book a number of one-off provisions (totalling 12 million Euro) for work that remains to be done under the terms of certain contracts signed in 2006 and 2007. In the fourth quarter, temporary production stops for imaging products and write-downs on receivables and inventories also had an adverse effect. Recurring EBITDA amounted to 117.3 million Euro (or 9.6 percent of sales). Recurring EBIT was 57.8 million Euro, or 4.7 percent of sales. Excluding the one-off elements mentioned above, the business group's profitability would be at a substantially higher level.
Agfa HealthCare - fourth quarter 2008
Agfa HealthCare's sales decreased 13.1 percent to 325 million Euro. SG&A costs decreased by 25 million Euro or 25.8 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Due to the effects of the economic slowdown and certain one-off effects, recurring EBITDA decreased from 54.9 million Euro (or 14.7 percent of sales) in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 29.6 million Euro (9.1 percent of sales). Recurring EBIT decreased to 14.1 million Euro or 4.3 percent of sales.
The highlight of the quarter was the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). In spite of the economic conditions, the number of professionals visiting the world's largest medical meeting remained stable. Agfa HealthCare's booth was very popular, with the IMPAX IT solutions and the complete CR portfolio taking center stage.
In imaging, ProHealth Care in Wisconsin (USA) ordered 10 DX-S digitizers for use in three of its care centers. Riley Hospital for Children (Indiana, USA) purchased a DX-S for its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Recent studies show that the system allows an X-ray dose reduction by up to 50%, without reducing the diagnostic quality of the images.
In the field of imaging IT, Intermountain Healthcare (Utah, USA) partnered with Agfa HealthCare to integrate imaging from its 21 hospitals and from its more than 150 clinics. Furthermore, the US Air Force granted the newest version of Agfa HealthCare's Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), IMPAX 6.3, and the IMPAX Data Center an Authority to Connect, which means that these systems meet all requirements to be installed on US Air Force networks. In the UK, the private acute care center King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes signed an agreement for the installation of an IMPAX Radiology Information System (RIS) and a PACS, as well as a number of CR 35-X digitizers. In Cardiology IT, the Antwerp University hospital (Belgium) signed an agreement for IMPAX Cardiovascular. This confirms the success of Agfa HealthCare's internationalization strategy of its Cardiovascular solutions outside North America.
In Enterprise IT, Agfa HealthCare's ORBIS solution continued its strong growth in the fourth quarter. In the course of 2008, 35 new contracts have been signed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa's headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,283 million Euro in 2007.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and state-of-the-art systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Agfa HealthCare has over a century of healthcare experience related to diagnostic imaging and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. The HealthCare division has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2007 were 1,392 million Euro, accounting for 43% of total group sales. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfa.com/healthcare.