MONTRÉAL, Dec. 12, 2023 (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 financial year ended September 30, 2023.

⁽¹⁾ See the Corporation's MD&A for details on this non-Gaap measure.

Summary

• Gross margin for the quarter was 25.8%, in-line our long-term target of 25%.
• Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $2.1M ($2.2M for the same period in 2022). For the twelve-month period, Adjusted EBITDA increased by $2.5M or 43%.
• Net Loss for the quarter was $1.9M (nil for the same period in 2022).
  

During the fourth quarter of 2023, PHA suffered a slight decrease in Adjusted EBITDA when compared to last year. This is mainly due to acquisition costs related to the recently closed acquisition of Solutions Staffing Inc. in British Columbia, as well as the issuance of Deferred Share Units under the standard program for its directors. This quarter was generally in line with management's expectations, although a goodwill impairment loss was recorded against the Code Bleu agency. Such impairment follows the adoption of Bill 10 in Quebec, more information can be found in the Company's annual financial statements available on sedarplus.ca.

"We are pleased by the performance of CHCA, and very excited of welcoming Solutions Staffing into our group. The timing of our expansion outside of Quebec was perfect, and this will be of great benefit to the group as we navigate through the regulatory changes from Quebec's Bill 10, effective since October 2023. Our eyes remain open to consolidate more assets in Ontario and the rest of Canada, and we feel there are still good opportunities available," 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."

Business Highlights and recent developments

• The Corporation provided 209,421 hours of service during the quarter (217,100 hours in Q3 of 2023).
• Acquisition of Solutions Staffing (British Columbia, Canada), completed on November 9^th, 2023.
• $50M acquisition financing and refinancing of our revolving credit and a term loan completed on the same day.
• Renewed contract with Indigenous Services Canada for CHCA – the contract has a term of 4 years plus 4 one-year extensions.
• New contracts with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay.
• Extension of the main procurement contract in Quebec until June of 2024.
• Official deployment of our LiPHe platform in our Code Bleu subsidiary. The next deployment will be at CHCA and is targeted for Q3 of 2024.
  

Solutions Staffing Inc.

This acquisition is a major milestone in terms of geographical diversification of PHA. It also expands our base in the travel nurse segment, which, because of longer term assignments, is simpler to manage. Based on its 2022 fiscal year, SSI had revenues of $74.0M and an EBITDA of $6.7M. On a proforma basis, PHA's revenue base outside Quebec will represent over 60% of total revenues.

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. Guy Daoust
Chief Financial Officer
Premier Health of America Inc.
gdaoust@premierhealth.ca / 1 800 231 9916

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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