Asklepios Kliniken GmbH: hospital operator presents healthy figures for the 2015 financial year

The Asklepios Group grew profitably again in the last financial year and is consolidating its market position. Asklepios set a new record with 2.3 million patients treated.

Revenue in the 150 medical facilities increased by 2.6% year on year to a total of EUR 3.1 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13.2% to EUR 374.0 million. This equates to an EBITDA margin of 12.1%, 1.2 percentage points higher than last year’s 10.9%. Consolidated net income for the year grew by 16.5% to EUR 176.8 million.

Asklepios opened itself wider to the capital market last year, using the favourable interest rate environment to issue one of the biggest promissory note loans in the healthcare sector with a volume of EUR 580 million in August 2015. The available liquidity and credit facilities give the hospital operator long-term financing security and ample financial scope for implementing the corporate strategy.

“The positive trend of the previous year continued in the 2015 financial year and shows that our patient care, which is geared towards the highest quality of medical care, is bearing fruit,” explains Dr Ulrich Wandschneider, CEO of the Asklepios Group. “The positive development of earnings was due mainly to rising patient and revenue figures combined with a lower rise in costs, resulting from efficient cost management and effective concepts.”

“The Asklepios Group is in a very solid business and financial position and has sufficient resources for the desired growth,” says Hafid Rifi, Chief Financial Officer and Group Managing Director of Asklepios Kliniken GmbH. “This strengthens us for the further optimisation of our financing structure and for selective acquisitions along the value chain. Our growth strategy geared towards continuity and sustainability is therefore on solid foundations.”

Last year, Asklepios increased its equity by 21.1% to EUR 1.2 billion. The equity ratio was 34.7% as of 31 December 2015. The debt ratio improved year on year to 1.6 times EBITDA (previous year: 1.8). In 2015, Asklepios again invested in the existing hospitals and the expansion of the Centres of Excellence, a total sum of EUR 180 million. The investments were financed wholly from operating cash flow, which totalled EUR 290.6 million in the 2015 financial year.

Positive outlook

For the 2016 financial year, Asklepios expects organic revenue growth of between 2.0% and 3.5% and a slight but sustained increase in EBIT/EBITDA year on year.

New management team shapes the future of Asklepios

A dual leadership team made up of two employees with many years of experience will take responsibility for the financial future of the Asklepios Group from 1 May 2016. The COOs Kai Hankeln, Group Managing Director for the subgroup in northern and eastern Germany, and Dr Thomas Wolfram, the long-standing chairman of the management of the Hamburg subgroup, will take on the leadership of the private hospital operator. The dual leadership team of Kai Hankeln and Dr Thomas Wolfram will be supported by Hafid Rifi, who has held the office of CFO since March 2016. Hafid Rifi has also been at Asklepios since 2009. The members of the newly assembled
management team already know each other from their shared past at Asklepios. In the coming months, the well attuned team will purposefully implement the strategy they have developed together.

Andreas Hartung, Group Managing Director responsible for central and southern Germany, is leaving Asklepios on 30 June 2016 of his own volition. Subject to his appointment by the Supervisory Board, Marco Walker will succeed as Group Managing Director for this area on 1 July 2016. He was formerly the manager responsible for Asklepios Klinik Harburg.

The current Chairman of the Group Management, Dr Ulrich Wandschneider, is being appointed to the Supervisory Board of the Asklepios Group after Dr Stephan Witteler – the previous Chairman of the Supervisory Board – announced his resignation from the Supervisory Board in connection with a legal mandate by mutual agreement with the shareholder and to avoid a potential conflict of interests. Asklepios founder and sole shareholder Dr Bernard gr. Broermann will advise the Supervisory Board to elect Dr Ulrich Wandschneider as his successor.

Dr Thomas Wolfram on the personnel changes at the top of Asklepios: “I am looking forward to working with the new management team. We already know each other from our shared past at Asklepios and have a trusting working relationship characterised by mutual value added. Together, we will continue the Asklepios success story.”

Kai Hankeln specifies the growth plans: “We are planning investments in the next few years that we expect to total over half a billion euros.

The funds are to be deployed above all for medical quality, the modernisation of the facilities and even better care. Another goal is to develop new care concepts across the board and thus to continue stimulating progress in the hospital market.”

Background information

About Asklepios

Asklepios is one of the leading private operators of hospitals and healthcare facilities in Germany. The hospital chain pursues a long-term strategy geared towards security and quality. On this basis, Asklepios has developed dynamically since it was founded nearly 30 years ago. The Group currently has around 150 healthcare facilities throughout Germany and employs more than 46,000 people. In the last financial year, 2015, around 2.3 million patients were treated in the Asklepios Group’s facilities.