DGAP-News: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG (english)

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG: Annual General Meeting



RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG / AGM/EGM/Dividend



31.05.2007



Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.

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announcement.

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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt/Saale

- Annual General Meeting -



2006: Revenues EUR 1.9 billion / net consolidated profit EUR 109.1 million /

investments EUR 393.6 million / operating cash flow EUR 165.0 million /

earnings EUR 2.03 per ordinary share / shareholders' equity according to IFRS

EUR 728.7 million / 1.4 million patient treatments / 30,409 employees /

dividend: 50 euro cents per ordinary share



2007: First quarter - revenues of EUR 502.0 million / net consolidated profit

EUR 25.2 million / earnings per share EUR 0.46 / operating cash flow EUR 45.9

million / investments EUR 31.5 million / 388,882 patient treatments / 31,426

employees



Outlook: Forecast for 2007 confirmed: Revenues of EUR 2.0 billion and net

consolidated profit of EUR 102 million / qualified growth applying sound

business judgment / development of promising future-oriented concepts,

strategies and technologies for further long-term growth in value



Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale/Frankfurt am Main, 31 May 2007 ----- At today's

Annual General Meeting of the listed hospital group Rhön-Klinikum, the

figures of the past financial year played only a subordinate role: the most

important key figures for 2006 had already been presented and discussed at

this year's Results Press Conference on 19 April 2007, and the results of

the first quarter were published on 3 May 2007. The 2006 Annual Report as

well as the quarterly report for the first quarter of 2007 are posted on

the Internet at www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com.



2006: Revenues were lifted 36.5% to EUR 1.933 billion (previous year: EUR 1.416

billion); net consolidated profit rose by 23.5% to reach EUR 109.1 million

(previous year: EUR 88.3 million); earnings per ordinary share stood at EUR

2.03 (previous year: EUR 1.61); shareholders' equity according to IFRS was EUR

728.7 million (previous year: EUR 641.5 million); operating cash flow

recorded growth of 6% - not including the one-off cash effect (amendment of

Section 37 (5) Corporation Tax Act) - to reach EUR 165.0 million (previous

year: EUR 155.6 million). A total of 1,394,035 patients (+46.8%; previous

year: 949,376) were treated in the 45 hospitals belonging to RHÖN-KLINIKUM

Group at year-end.



Q1 -2007: Revenues rose by 10.6% to EUR 502.0 million (Q1 previous year: EUR

453.8 million); net consolidated profit recorded a slightly

disproportionate rise of 11.0% to reach EUR 25.2 million (Q1 of previous

year: EUR 22.7 million); earnings per ordinary share stood at EUR 0.46 (Q1 of

previous year: EUR 0.42 adjusted; + 11.1%); operating cash flow amounted to EUR

45.9 million (Q1 of previous year: EUR 38.9 million); in the first three

months of 2007 the Group's hospitals treated 388,882 patients (Q1 of

previous year: 313,774); as at the reporting date, the Group employed a

total of 31,426 persons (31 December 2006: 30,409).



On the whole, the Board of Management was pleased with both the results for

2006 and with Q1 2007. 'We have met our goals for revenues and profit and

have once again revealed the efficiency and performance of the Group's

hospitals as well as our expertise in the acquisition, integration and

restructuring of hospitals', stated Wolfgang Pföhler, chairman of the Board

of Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. 'Thanks to this positive business

performance, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board jointly

propose to the Annual General Meeting an increase in the dividend from 45

to 50 euro cents per share. The strong start into 2007 makes us optimistic.

For full-year 2007 we are shooting for revenues of 2 billion euros and net

consolidated profit of 102 million euros.'



Looking back at financial year 2006, Pföhler particularly emphasised the

bolstered competence in the management of university hospitals. In his

statements he stressed that 'a company with the breadth and depth of output

such as RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG laying claim to being the trendsetter in the

healthcare sector cannot succeed long-term without tapping into the flow of

medical innovations'. For this reason the Group, already in the early 90s,

seized the opportunity to acquire the university hospital Herzzentrum

Leipzig. Since the newly constructed facility opened its doors in 1994, the

Company as private operator took over the hospital care activities from

four medical professor chairs. 'In the current research report of the

University of Leipzig, the four professor chairs of the Herzzentrum are top

ranked in the overall rating of scientific research results in clinical

medicine. In my view this clearly shows that good healthcare and good

science are not contradictory but are mutually interdependent'.



The many years of expertise acquired as the operator of a university

hospital had been used by the Group to broaden access to clinical research

and the transfer of knowledge to healthcare. This had proved successful

with the takeover of Gießen/Marburg - the first-ever completely privatised

university hospital in Germany.



'We are pleased with what has been achieved after 16 months', Pföhler said:

'We have successfully privatised both university hospitals and integrated

them into the Group without a fuss.

We have restructured and rationalised the facilities, and have begun to

gradually clear up the investment backlog, investing more than 50 million

euros in 2006.

Patient numbers last year rose by three per cent. We have gained the

trust of the population.

We have halved the loss for the year from 15 million euros to 7.5 million

euros. In the first quarter of 2007 we nearly achieved break-even. We are

convinced that we will succeed in returning Gießen/Marburg to sustained

profit this year.'



The chairman of the Board of Management then dealt with two fundamental

issues:



1. Why do economics and good medicine belong together?



2. What are the core elements of our growth strategy?



Remark: The following contains an excerpt of the main considerations; the

entire presentation will be published shortly on the homepage of

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG - www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com.



Re 1) Good medicine and economics are not a contradiction, but are mutually

interdependent. This is confirmed by the many years' of growth that

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has achieved as a private hospital operator and leader of

the sector.



Economically viable and innovative healthcare models are becoming

increasingly important for preserving the high level of care for all

patients, whether under statutory or private health insurance.



'We do not want the state's underfunded, substandard medical care. To

counter 'insidious' rationing we aim for visible rationalisation and

innovation, thus following the logic of 'more performance through

competition'.



It is increasingly the case that economic behaviour is becoming the basis

for achieving socially desirable effects - such as a high standard of

healthcare remaining affordable for everyone on a sustained basis.



'Efficiency and innovation are part of our approach', Pföhler said, and

explained in detail four concepts of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. These are:

Rationalisation through the flow principle

Intelligent division of labour - The New Professional Model for Doctors

Innovations in healthcare delivery, as well as

Innovative co-payment models



Re 2) Growth strategy: With the current strength of the economy, tax

revenues are on the rise and the state is again planning more generous

expenditures. This is enabling municipalities and local government to

provide funding to moribund facilities in order to offset their losses. By

giving such guarantees and subsidies, change within this economic sector is

being paralysed. It is therefore also unsurprising to see the catchword

'public-private partnership' (PPP) being increasingly slipped into the

discussion on the future of public hospitals.



Pföhler stressed he is convinced that PPP will change nothing in the

insufficient profitability of many public hospitals. He said he was

therefore certain this was nothing but a passing fashion. For him there is

no real alternative to the hospital 'company' when it comes to the

restructuring and modernisation of public hospitals. 'It is only when the

best management concepts are competed for that viable and efficient

foundations are created for hospitals. Here, privatisation is the ideal

solution. In our acquisition strategy the focus of interest of our

multi-stage regional care concepts is on the expansion of our core

competence, that is the management of acute hospitals.



We are not aiming for growth at any price. What we want is qualified

growth. Of decisive importance for us is that as the operator of the

hospital we are handed full entrepreneurial responsibility and

decision-making competence. It is only then that we can swiftly take

suitable restructuring measures, i.e. create new department structures,

optimise clinical processes and conclude performance-oriented in-house wage

agreements with profit participating components for staff.'



One tool that will revolutionise medical care is the EPF (electronic

patient file) co-developed by the Group. The purpose of the electronic

patient file is to allow for staff or, as the case may be, the system to

immediately recognise the patient and the patient's history upon admission

- even if the patient arrives at this hospital for the first time without

any documents. The patient file then serves as a kind of tool for guiding

the clinical treatment process. It is the patient's virtual escort through

the hospital. Following the already successful trial phase in Saxony, the

EPF will be introduced at the Group's hospitals over the next few years.











DGAP 31.05.2007

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Language: English

Issuer: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG

Schlossplatz 1

97616 Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale Deutschland

Phone: +49 (0)9771 - 65-0

Fax: +49 (0)9771 - 97 467

E-mail: fire.ir@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

www: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

ISIN: DE0007042301

WKN: 704230

Indices: MDAX

Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;

Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart



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