Image Plus to develop new HQ, targets Xmas 2024 for move
Medical technology services company Image Plus Consultants is targeting a move to new headquarters in eighteen months or thereabouts.
It’s in the process of acquiring land on which to develop its new operational centre, a three-quarter acre property located somewhere in the Kingston 5 zone, which includes New Kingston and Cross Roads.
The company, which trades as Apex Radiology, posted a notice to the stock exchange regarding the signing of a sales agreement for the property, but was reluctant to provide details, saying the deal was still being finalised. The transaction is due to close two months after the signing date for the sales agreement, that is, by the end of August.
CEO Kisha Anderson says the acquisition will enable the company to construct a multilevel facility, allowing it to shift from rented space at Winchester Road to its own home.
Image Plus operates four locations; three in Kingston – Apex Medical Centre, Winchester Medical and Surgical Institute, and an outlet at the 129 Pro commercial complex in Liguanea – and one in Ocho Rios, at the White River Commercial Complex.
Anderson declined to identify the precise location for the new complex to which the company’s Winchester Medical is also being relocated.
“The new facility will serve as our new headquarters and will act as our corporate offices as well,” Anderson said, adding that it is expected that Image Plus will expand beyond its present staffing levels of 80 persons.
The medical services company listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in January following a $500m IPO. The bulk of the funds raised has been earmarked for the company’s services expansion programme.
In the meantime, Anderson says Apex is weighing how to finance the headquarters project.
“There are a number of options that we can exercise to include joint venture since the property that we’re acquiring is so valuable,” she said.
“We can also leverage the strength of the balance sheet; we’re in good stead whichever way we go.”
The plans for the complex are to be finalised by August. Apex anticipates it will take another three to four months thereafter to secure planning permission for the construction.
Based on that schedule, and an anticipated one-year timeline for construction, she expects the building to commissioned around December 2024.
“For Q2 we’re working to get together the professional team to scope the project. We’ll also have to settle the financing and there are approvals. At a high level, we expect about 12 months for execution so that by December 2024 we should be relocated there,” Anderson said.
Image Plus Consultants Limited was incorporated in February 1996. The company offers diagnostic X-ray, ultrasound, computerised tomography, CT scan and Intervention services under the business name of Apex X-Ray and Ultrasound Services.
For the financial year ended February 2023, Image Plus achieved its highest ever revenues and profits. Revenue climbed 41 per cent to $1.09 billion, while earnings jumped 151 per cent to $236 million.