LONDON: Medica Group Plc announced the acquisition of Global Diagnostics Ireland (GDI), the market leader for teleradiology services in Ireland, for an initial cash consideration of €16m (£14.5m) from private Irish healthcare group, Centric Health, on a cash-free and debt-free basis.
Dr. Stuart Quin, CEO of Medica Group stated: “This highly complementary acquisition of Global Diagnostics Ireland aligns with, and significantly accelerates, our strategy to diversify Medica’s geographic reach, service offering and customer base, while being strongly accretive to earnings.
“We have been evaluating the Irish market for teleradiology for the past year and in GDI we have found an ideal partner that shares our focus to provide the highest quality radiology services. GDI has built a strong reputation amongst radiologists, as well as hospital and primary care clients across Ireland. Additionally, in partnership with leading ophthalmologists in Ireland, they have built a strong reputation in the delivery of diabetic retinopathy screening services which cover 50% of the Irish market. Medica will support Caroline and the management team to continue to grow and develop the business, as well as invest to deliver a broader range of services.”
Caroline Byrne, who will join the Medica executive team as Managing Director, Ireland, commented: “We are excited to join forces with Medica and think it will benefit all our stakeholders. Ireland’s teleradiology market is attractive and evolving at a pace whereby we will benefit from the processes, systems and clinical governance expertise that Medica brings. In addition to the strong business rationale for both parties, we also see a close cultural fit between our two organisations and we look forward to continuing to develop the Company for the benefit of our clients and their patients.”
Global Diagnostics Ireland (GDI), based in Balally, Dublin was established in 2007 to operate diagnostic managed services, including teleradiology reporting services to support the successful growth of Centric Health’s primary care business.
The company, led by Managing Director Caroline Byrne, has grown rapidly and now operates at over 50 clinical sites within Ireland, employing a team of over 140 people nationwide working alongside more than 20 Irish Medical Council certified specialist radiologists.
Trading as Global Diagnostics, the company offers a range of diversified services, including ‘scan only’ or ‘scan and report’ managed-service radiology solutions for plain film, ultrasound, CT and MRI. It has also grown to become the market leader in the fast-growing teleradiology reporting market in Ireland. Clients include the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) and a range of private healthcare providers.
The Irish radiology services market represents over €500m of spend and demand for radiology is increasing at around 8% per annum. Ireland, like the UK, has an undersupply of radiologists which currently equates to a shortfall of around 25%. Also like the UK, teleradiology is increasingly being used to fill the gap in demand for highly qualified radiologists; particularly during hospital out-of-hours.
In addition, GDI, trading as Global Vision, provides dedicated eye screening and surveillance services on behalf of the Irish National Screening Service for patients at risk of diabetic retinopathy. The service covers an area comprising 50% of the population which equates to c. 50,000 patients screened per annum using a team of employed ophthalmologists and other healthcare professionals.
For the financial year ended 30 June 2019, GDI reported revenues1 of €7.4m, an increase of 16% on the prior year, adjusted EBITDA1 of €1.5m and profit before tax of €1.2m. For the year ended 30 June 2020, despite the negative impact of COVID-19, GDI reported revenues of €7.3m, adjusted EBITDA1 of €1.1m and adjusted profit before tax of €0.7m. Since the year end, the business has continued to perform strongly, reflecting the positive impact of contracts won during the prior year, with current run rate EBITDA2 of approximately €2.0m. As at 30 June 2020, GDI had total assets3 of €0.7m.
Medica is the UK market leader in the provision of teleradiology services, providing outsourced interpretation and reporting of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computerised tomography) and plain film (x-ray) images.
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