Premier Health Reports 2024 First Quarter Results

MONTRÉAL, Feb. 26, 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 first quarter ended on December 31^st, 2023.

*Highlights*    
(in thousands of Canadian dollars) *Dec. 31, 2023
**(3 months)* Dec. 31, 2022
(3 months)
*Revenues* *36,973*   21,576  
*Gross margin* *7,657*   5,064  
*Gross margin as a % of revenues* *20.7* *%* 23.5 %
*Adjusted EBITDA *^*(1)* *2,622*   1,504  
*Net Loss* *(231* *)* (376 )

[^(1) See the Corporation’s MD&A for details on this non-GAAP measure.]*Summary*

· Acquisition of Solutions Staffing of British Columbia (“SSI”) and $50 million refinancing completed on November 9^th, 2023.
· Gross margin for the quarter at 20.7% in-line with our revised long-term target of 20%.
· Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $2.6M ($1.5M for the same period in 2022), despite acquisition costs of around $650K in the quarter and only 52 days of contribution from SSI.
· Net Loss for the quarter was $0.2M ($0.4M for the same period in 2022); resulting from acquisition costs and higher financing costs.

The first quarter of 2024 was marked by the largest acquisition and refinancing PHA has completed so far. By integrating SSI, not only the PHA group will almost double its revenues and Adjusted EBITDA, but it also significantly improves its geographical diversification within Canada. This is key to ensuring organic growth and reducing revenue volatility. Our existing agencies performed as expected during the quarter, although CHCA suffered some slowdown while it prepares for the operationalization of its new contract with Indigenous Service Canada.

“We are proud of finalizing the acquisition of SSI and refinancing transactions. As a coast-to-coast agency, we are now stronger, more attractive for new candidates, and more resilient to local headwinds. Our business model, digital platform, and mobile app are perfectly aligned with the gig economy framework. In that context there is still a lot of consolidation possible in Canada and we are eager to pursue our growth outside Quebec,” said Martin Legault, CEO of Premier Health. “The Quebec market is evolving, and we still believe agencies will play a role in the future state of its healthcare system. We need to be smart, adapt, and use our scale to be competitive.”

More information can be found in the Company’s quarterly financial statements and MD&A as available on 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 healthcare services sector digital transformation to provide patients with faster, cheaper, and more accessible care services.

*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. More detail can be found in PHA’s Management Discussion and Analysis.

*For Further Information Please Contact:*

Mr. Jean-Robert Pronovost
Vice President Corporate Development
*Premier Health of America Inc.*
jrpronovost@premierhealth.ca / 1-800-231-9916 Mr. Guy Daoust
Chief Financial Officer
*Premier Health of America Inc.*
gdaoust@premierhealth.ca / 1-800-231-9916

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

*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