Partly due to positive currency effects, Agfa HealthCare posted solid top line growth for the third consecutive quarter. In the Imaging segment's digital radiography business (consisting of Computed Radiography (CR), Direct Radiography (DR) and the hardcopy business), the DR product range's revenue continued to grow strongly, while the hardcopy product range also performed well.
In the IT segment, the HealthCare Information Solutions range posted revenue growth. In the field of Imaging IT Solutions, the business group is making good progress with the rollout of its new Enterprise Imaging platform.
Mainly due to the success of its efficiency programs, Agfa HealthCare was able to increase its gross profit margin from 35.9 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2014 to 38.8 percent. Recurring EBITDA improved from 26.2 million Euro (10.1 percent of revenue) in the third quarter of 2014 to 33.9 million Euro (12.3 percent of revenue). Recurring EBIT increased from 17.6 million Euro (6.8 percent of revenue) to 27.6 million Euro (10.0 percent of revenue).
In the field of Imaging, Agfa HealthCare signed several eye-catching contracts for its advanced digital radiography solutions. In the US, a new three-year group purchasing contract was signed with the leading healthcare improvement company Premier, Inc. The agreement allows Agfa HealthCare to offer its DR solutions to Premier's approximately 3,600 member hospitals and 120,000 other alternate healthcare sites. The Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia ordered 29 DX-D 100 mobile DR units. The systems will be employed in hospitals in the southern region of the country. In Jordan, the Ministry of Health ordered 29 CR systems and hardcopy printers to digitize imaging in hospitals across the country. In the UK, the Bristol Royal Infirmary teaching hospital replaced its existing CR equipment with nine Agfa HealthCare CR solutions.
For the second year in a row, Agfa HealthCare is the Technical Sponsor of the Mobile Horse Vet Clinic for the annual Longines Global Champions Tour show jumping series. The ‘Horse Ambulance Group' uses Agfa HealthCare's CR and DR technology to screen and care for the horses participating in the tour.
In the field of Imaging IT Solutions, Agfa HealthCare signed a cooperation agreement with the Institut und Poliklinik für Radiologische Diagnostik of the university hospital in Cologne. Both parties will join forces to further develop Agfa HealthCare's radiology information systems. In the US, Northwestern Medicine selected Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging for Radiology platform. Northwestern Medicine serves more than 90 locations in Illinois, including six hospitals. In Canada, eHealth Ontario - an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Time Care - selected Agfa HealthCare's XERO viewer to support its strategy to enable access to medical images and reports throughout the province. The decision will impact 28,000 physicians.
Furthermore, Agfa HealthCare was selected to update and upgrade the RIS (Radiology Information System) and imaging infrastructure of the Area Vasta Centro region in Tuscany, Italy. The region comprises five hospital groups. Other important imaging IT contracts in Europe were signed with - among other organizations - AZ Alma Sijsele (Belgium), Centre Hospitalier Du Nord Ettelbruck (Luxemburg) and Klinikum Augsburg (Germany).
In the field of HealthCare Information Solutions, Agfa HealthCare confirmed its leading position in the German speaking region of Europe. Furthermore, the business group has been selected as one of the approved suppliers in the NHS Shared Business Services' Healthcare Clinical Information Systems Framework. This four-year framework, which can be extended by an additional two years, speeds up and simplifies the healthcare IT systems tender process for healthcare providers in the UK. Agfa HealthCare will now be able to participate in tenders for complex IT projects organized by NHS care providers with its modular and customizable ORBIS suite. ORBIS supports medical, diagnostic and care workflows. It is designed to provide fast availability of patients' histories, including images and clinical and administrative data.
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world’s leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,865 million euro in 2013.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2013 were 1,160 million euro.