The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are burdening the business development in the first quarter of 2021

The economic and social effects of the coronavirus pandemic, i.e. lockdown, increasing capacity utilization in intensive care units, reserved capacities and postponed acute treatments, weighed on the business development of MEDICLIN Aktiengesellschaft (MEDICLIN) in the first quarter of the new financial year 2021.

Group EBIT significantly below prior-year quarter despite cost reductions l

In the 1st quarter of 2021, Group sales amounted to EUR 156.4 mill. and were EUR 11.0 mill. or 6.6% below the value of the 1st quarter of 2020. Group sales include a total of EUR 7.6 mill. in protective shielding benefits for free capacities and payments on the part of the cost providers for additional expenses for hygiene and protective materials.

Despite these benefits and a total of EUR 2.1 mill. lower expenses, the Group operating result was EUR -11.9 mill. and thus EUR 8.0 mill. below the value of the first quarter of 2020. Protective shield benefits and payments from the cost providers, which have been severely reduced by politicians, only accounted for a small part of the capacity losses and the higher costs", said Tino Fritz, CFO of MEDICLIN, commenting on the business development.

Cash and cash equivalents as of 31 March 2021 amounted to EUR 100.1 mill. (31.12.2020: EUR 100.4 mill.). Cash and cash equivalents contain a total of about EUR 56.0 mill. in expected repayments to be made in the course of 2021, in particular of benefits under the protective shield previously received. Furthermore, the cash and cash equivalents item includes about EUR 18.0 mill. in subsidies for the planned construction of a new clinic.

Outlook

The number of people infected with corona, which has been rising steadily since the beginning of February 2021, and the capacity bottlenecks in clinics with intensive care units, only allow a reliable estimate on the company's own business development based on experience gained in the previous year. "The sales and earnings development for the year as a whole depends largely on the development of the pandemic and the protective shielding benefits, which will be significantly lower in 2021 than in the previous year," said Volker Hippler, CEO of MEDICLIN.

Currently, MEDICLIN assumes that occupancy rates at pre-Corona levels will not be achievable before the second half of the year 2021 as vaccinations are progressing only very slowly.

The interim report for the first quarter of 2021 is available from today at /investor-relations/finanzpublikationen/ in German and English.

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About MEDICLIN Aktiengesellschaft (Ticker: MED; WKN: 659 510)

MEDICLIN includes 35 clinics, seven care facilities and ten medical care centers. The Group has around 8,350 beds / care places and employs around 10,300 people. In a strong network, MEDICLIN offers the patient integrative care from the first visit to the doctor through the operation and subsequent rehabilitation to outpatient aftercare. Doctors, therapists and nurses work together in a carefully coordinated manner. MEDICLIN designs the care and support of people in need of care according to their individual needs and personal needs.

MEDICLIN ─ ein Unternehmen der Asklepios-Gruppe.