Performing markedly better than in the first months of this year, Agfa HealthCare booked a slight revenue increase of 0.3 percent (a decrease of 3.7 percent excluding currency effects) compared to the second quarter of 2009. The traditional imaging products continued their market-driven decline. Computed Radiography (CR) performed well and a strong order intake was booked for CR, as well as for Direct Radiography (DR). For IT, revenue grew substantially in the emerging countries and the USA, where Agfa HealthCare clearly outperformed the market. In certain Southern European countries, the unstable economic climate weighed on Agfa HealthCare’s IT sales, whereas the beginning of an upturn was noticed in the German and Northern European markets.
As a result of improved service efficiency in IT and the efficient use of manufacturing capacity, the business group's gross profit margin improved from 39.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to 41.9 percent. The business group's SG&A expenses remained stable. Agfa HealthCare’s recurring EBITDA amounted to 48.1 million Euro (or 16.3 percent of revenue). Recurring EBIT improved strongly to 35.6 million Euro, or 12.0 percent of revenue.
In the second quarter, Premier Healthcare Alliance honoured Agfa HealthCare with the Supplier Performance Award. With the award, the alliance applauds the efforts of contracted suppliers that meet and exceed operational expectations. Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 US hospitals and 67,000 other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care.
In the field of Imaging, Agfa HealthCare was awarded a new three year, multisource, contract by HealthTrust Purchasing Group to provide Computed Radiography products to their more than 1,400 acute care hospitals, 120 alternate care sites and 3,600 physician practices in the US.
In the 2010 Best in KLAS Medical Equipment Report, Agfa HealthCare was named category leader for single plate CR. Agfa HealthCare's CR 30-X digitizer is the No. 1 ranked CR product according to KLAS, a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. In the second quarter, a strong order intake was booked for CR and DR systems, with the CR 30-X as the absolute star among the family of CR digitizers.
In Imaging Informatics, Agfa HealthCare signed an agreement with the Academisch Medisch Centrum (AMC) in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) to upgrade its existing Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and install a Radiology Information System (RIS) and Nuclear Information System (NIS). The AMC is one of the The Netherlands' leading university medical centers. Furthermore, Agfa HealthCare completed the installation of its latest PACS and RIS releases at four of Alliance Medical's sites across Ireland. Alliance Medical is an independent provider of diagnostic imaging services with 11 dedicated sites across Ireland.
In Brazil, Agfa HealthCare signed an agreement with the Fundação Instituto de Pesquisa e Estudo de Diagnóstico por Imagen (FIDI) for the installation of its CR and Imaging IT solutions across the organization’s 25 sites.
In Enterprise IT, Agfa HealthCare continued its geographical expansion by launching its Document Management System (known as HYDMedia) in France and Luxemburg. This new offering completes the digitization of hospitals and healthcare facilities, by allowing them to install a fully paperless workflow.
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 2,755 million euro in 2009.
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 2009 were 1,178 million euro. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfahealthcare.com.