Centric Health Corporation ("Centric Health" or the "Company") (TSX:CHH) today announced that it has completed the acquisitions of three Specialty Pharmacy locations in Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat, Alberta, further strengthening the Company's presence in Alberta and its ability to serve regional and multi-province long-term care and retirement home customers. With these acquisitions, Centric Health's Pharmacy business now offers a network of 21 pharmacies, 17 of which are specialty pharmacy packaging fulfillment centres with mobile clinical pharmacy teams across four provinces. The three new pharmacy operations complement the Company's six existing operations in Alberta to provide Centric Health access to the vast majority of the province's seniors population and the opportunity to expand outside of Edmonton and Calgary, with a potential of servicing the 12,000 rural seniors community beds in the province.
In Grande Prairie, Alberta, the Company acquired 100% of the equity interests of Vic's Pharmacy Services Ltd. – the owner of two Specialty Pharmacy operations operating under the Guardian banner, which, in addition to providing retail and specialty clinical services, service approximately 550 beds in long-term care and retirement living homes and which have the potential to significantly increase their capacity in Northern Alberta.
In Medicine Hat, Alberta in mid-November the Company also completed the acquisition of 100% of the equity interests of RPH.A.R. Consulting Inc., one of only three providers of long-term care and supportive living pharmacy services in the region. This acquisition provided Centric Health with enhanced abilities to service beds in the Medicine Hat region, including recently announced, sizeable, multi-province contract awards.
Both of the transactions are immediately accretive to Adjusted EBITDA* and earnings per share.
"With these two strategic acquisitions, Centric Health now has a broad geographic spread of Specialty Pharmacy facilities and clinical pharmacy teams servicing long-term care and retirement homes across Canada," said David Cutler, President and Chief Executive Officer, Centric Health. "They provide entries into two new, sizeable, underserviced local markets with limited competition and significant growth opportunities. Moreover, they further extend our ability to service regional and multi-province customers as they look to improve quality and safety by sourcing through a single-pharmacy-provider providing the latest medication management technology, reliable distribution, and standardization of policies and reporting."
Mr. Cutler continued, "Adding Centric Heath's Specialty Pharmacy infrastructure and know-how to the outstanding management of the acquired businesses - who will all continue on with their respective businesses - will further strengthen the value proposition of these successful operations while increasing clinical knowledge and operational capacity to expand margins as we grow our market share. With outstanding pharmacy teams and clinical expertise, the acquisitions support Centric Health's patient-first strategy, which is fully aligned with federal and provincial government priorities, as well as our goal to be recognized as the number one clinical team of any provider in the country."
These acquisitions, plus the previously completed acquisitions in 2016 of CareRx in British Columbia and Pharmacy West in Saskatchewan, are expected to add $2.7MM to Centric's annual EBITDA on a pro-forma basis, with a potential of $4.1MM if all the earn out targets are achieved.
