1 month ago
9
Diagnostic imaging company Image Plus Consultants Limited, which trades as Apex Radiology, is in the process of acquiring the assets and brand of The Woman’s Place, a Kingston-based facility specialising in mammography.
Image Plus is also in negotiations to acquire another facility, and has started construction of its new building on Lady Musgrave Road in New Kingston, CEO Kisha Anderson said.
“The Women’s Place started in 2006 and they’re a well-established brand as it relates to the delivery of mammography services,” Anderson said in her report at the company’s annual general meeting in Kingston on Wednesday.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed. Image Plus said the conclusion of the deal is still subject to the execution of a definitive sale and purchase agreement, after which more details of the transaction would be disclosed.
“Operational developments will be communicated directly to patients and referring physicians,” Image Plus said in a market filing.
Dr Verna Reid, CEO of The Woman’s Place, will be joining Image Plus as a reading radiologist, Anderson reported at the meeting.
“The very fact that she’s with us, the brand presence will be built because the patients who have come to trust and love her will recognise that it will only get bigger and better as we go forward,” she said.
Located at Stanton Terrace in Kingston, The Woman’s Place also offers other services, including ultrasounds and bone densitometry. The company has another acquisition target in sight.
Image Plus itself provides MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, CT scans and mammography services. Its services are delivered from branches in Kingston and one in Ocho Rios.
It’s in the process of lining up yet another acquisition, as the current transaction heads towards closing this quarter.
“We actually have one other target who is a leader in not just one modality, but several modalities, that we are in negotiations with that will widen our footprint in Jamaica in places that we aren’t,” Anderson said.
Image Plus is a $1.6-billion company by assets, with annual turnover of $1.1 billion at year ending February 2025. But while its assets and revenue were basically flat in FY2025, its earnings fizzled from $212 million to $44 million, amid higher depreciation charges, higher administrative costs, and bigger debt servicing.
For the company’s first quarter ended May, revenue fell nine per cent from $293.4 million to $267.4 million, while net profit plummeted nearly 57 per cent, from $31.6 million to $13.7 million. The company did 13,538 scans during the quarter, a decrease of seven per cent, or 990 scans, compared to the quarter ending May 2024.
However, Anderson CEO was upbeat about the immediate future, because of the improved reliability of Apex’s machines and the signing of a new contract with the government, through the Northern Regional Health Authority, to provide diagnostic services to hospitals in St Ann, St Mary and Portland.
The company is resuming nuclear medicine services this month, within its second quarter, following the installation of new equipment at the Apex branch at the 129Pro office complex in Liguanea, Kingston. The service is expected to grow Image Plus’ revenue by around $160 million per year.
“We decided that it was best to invest in a new unit with more capability that would actually make a big difference to serving healthcare in Jamaica,” Anderson reported to shareholders. “It’s been commissioned, it’s installed and we’re doing application training, where the specialists come from overseas just to ensure we are comfortable using the new unit; that’s happening as we speak,” she said.
Meanwhile, construction of Image Plus’ new headquarters at 33 Lady Musgrave Road, referred to a 33LMR, is advancing. The project is being done as a joint-venture partnership with Ripton Real Estate Limited, and includes Ripton Contracting as the contractor, and Shiloh Construction as project monitor. The structure is scheduled for completion in 2026, after which the operations at Winchester Road will be moved into the new building.
English (US) ·