Azure Healthcare Limited (ASX:AZV) is proud to announce its continued growth in revenue and profit identified in the body of this year’s Annual report ended 30 June 2013. The strategic direction embarked upon by the Company some 20 months ago to transition the Company from a Nurse Call system manufacturer to become a provider of clinical workflow software and healthcare solutions is now beginning to gain traction and momentum with increases in revenue, gross margins and profitability.
In comparison with the previous corresponding period, revenue from ordinary activities is up 23.5% (from $18.224m June’12 to $22.504m June’13), reflecting increased demand for our new generation Tacera products. Net profit after tax (NPAT) increased by 39.8% (from $0.744m June ’12 to $1.040m June ’13). Importantly the profit from continuing operations increased by 164.7% (from $0.365m June ’12 to $0.966m June ’13) after excluding the impact of discontinued operations. The Azure Group produced earnings of 0.55 cents per share for the 2013 financial year compared to 0.47 cents in previous year 2012. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, (EBITDA) increased from $0.940m June ‘12 to $1.556m (June ’13), whilst earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased from $0.501 in 2012 to $1.108m in 2013.
The research and development investment expenditure increased from $1.5 million in 2012 to $2.6 million in the 2013 financial year. Our success over the past 12 months has been possible only because we have addressed the market drivers within the clinical workflow space with more integrations, to empower nursing staff with mobile solutions.
Mr. Peter Kamarinos, National Manager-Australia, Austco Communications Pty Ltd, commented “We continue to be excited by the emerging opportunities within the clinical workflow space. We have seen an increasing and rapidly expanding trend toward clinical workflow integrations which empower health carers with integrated software and mobile solutions. Some of these integration opportunities include Patient Electronic Records, Real-Time Patient Telemetry, Admissions, Discharge and Transfer software, Real Time Location Services, Patient Flow, Touch Tablets, Smart and Wireless telephony. The rapid increase in demand for workflow solutions has been readily met by our 3G Tacera platform solution and has seen us expand our traditional markets in Australia and New Zealand whilst recently obtaining substantial and escalating growth in North America and Asia. We expect this growth to continue for the foreseeable future.”
In December 2012 the Azure Group acquired the healthcare assets of Nurse Call competitor Sedco Communications. This strategic acquisition has enabled additional future sales and service growth with a relatively fast return on investment and expands Azure’s Healthcare site footprint from 6,000 to 8,000+ sites globally.
With the significant increase in demand and requirement for Austco’s Nurse Call solutions in North America, the company decided to commence a second manufacture and assembly plant in the USA. This facility is expected to come online in December 2013 and will feed the growing US, Canadian and South American markets with reduced shipping costs, lead and transit time.
“We are delighted to announce the progress we have made in the last year in the Azure Healthcare group and this is highlighted in the Annual Report 30 June 2013 financial results. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the Executive Management, we would like to thank all our employees for their outstanding support. Our thanks go also to our customers for the trust they show in our products and services, the good business relationships and the many ways in which they inspire us. As Azure Healthcare shareholders we should be proud of the progress our company has made this year and I personally thank all of you for your continued support of our company as we continue to grow and prosper,” commented Robert Grey, CEO and Chairman, Azure Healthcare Limited.
Azure Healthcare Annual Report 30 June 2013 now available for download Azure Healthcare Annual Report 2012-13