MONTRÉAL, Aug. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier Health of America Inc. (TSXV: PHA) (the “Corporation”), a leading Canadian Healthtech company, announces it has filed its Unaudited Quarterly Consolidated Financial Statements and MD&A for its third quarter ended on June 30^th, 2024.

Summary

• Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $0.4M ($2.7M for the same period in 2023), despite one-time costs of $0.8M, as described below.
• Net Loss for the quarter was $8.5M (income of $0.5M for the same period in 2023); resulting from the same one-time costs, an impairment of goodwill and higher financing costs.

The Per Diem segment was strongly impacted by the implementation of Quebec’s Bill 10 during this quarter. As a reminder, Bill 10 imposes capped tariffs and a series of restrictions for using independent labor in Quebec. Main drivers for the decrease were the government’s directives imposed onto healthcare institutions to stop using independent labor, and the lack of interest from professionals following a series of measures affecting their compensation. Such measures included pay cuts, elimination of overtime premiums and limited compensation for travel and accommodations, all of which are direct consequences of the new rules. As a result of lowered anticipations for that segment, the Corporation recorded an impairment loss of goodwill in an amount of $5.5M during this quarter.

The results were also affected by several one-time costs. First, the Corporation recorded an additional amount of $0.2M in connection with the Solutions Staffing transaction and transition. Second, another $0.3M was incurred for various legal fees. Finally, Code Bleu recorded an amount of $0.3M owed under various Quebec administrative rules.

Solutions Staffing had a great quarter with a total booking of 263,000 hours. CHCA’s new contract with Indigenous Services Canada was activated at the end of April, so its gross margin is recovering to historical levels. Over the next year we will aim to accelerate organic growth in Ontario.

“Our acquisition of Solutions Staffing last November will compensate for the lower volumes delivered by the Per Diem segment. As we move through the current turbulences, we will focus our efforts on the travel nurse segment and deploy cost reduction initiatives. The largest Quebec nurses’ union collective agreement has now been expired for more than 500 days. The main roadblock remains the topic of flexibility; our business model is exactly designed to address this. In time, the public system will recognize we are complementary. Meanwhile, we will continue our expansion program outside of Quebec,” said Martin Legault, CEO of Premier Health.

More information can be found in the Company’s quarterly financial statements and MD&A as available on www.sedarplus.ca. 

About Premier Health

Premier Health is a leading Canadian Healthtech company that provides a comprehensive range of outsourced services solutions for healthcare needs to governments, corporations, and individuals. Premier Health uses its proprietary LiPHe^® platform to lead the digital transformation of the healthcare services sector, providing patients with faster, more affordable, and more accessible care.

Non-GAAP Measures

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (“EBITDA”), is calculated as the net profit (loss), before non-recurring items excluding acquisition and transaction costs, non-cash expenses (including loss from disposal of assets, impairments, amortization, and depreciation), interest expense, net of interest income and income tax expense. Gross margin is either used as a number or a percentage. As a number, it means Revenues minus Direct Costs. When used as a percentage, it means the ratio of Revenues minus Direct Costs to Revenues. More detail can be found in PHA’s Management Discussion and Analysis.

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation which reflects the current plans and expectations of the Corporation with respect to future events and financial performance. All statements other than statements of historical or current facts may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as ‘believes’, ‘continues’, ‘expects’, ‘projects’, ‘anticipates’, ‘plans’, ‘estimates’, ‘seeks’, ‘intends’, ‘targets’, ‘forecasts’, or negative or grammatical versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘should’, ‘would’ and ‘could’. Forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the execution of the Corporation’s growth strategy. Forward-looking information is based on management’s plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions as at the date of this release, and the assumptions related to those plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions may change; therefore, they are presented for the purpose of assisting the Corporation’s security holders in understanding management’s views at such time regarding those future outcomes and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Although the forward-looking information contained in this release is based on assumptions which the Corporation believes are reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made and, except as specifically required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The Corporation assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. These factors and others are more fully discussed in the filings of the Corporation with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedarplus.ca