Circle Health has seen revenues rocket buoyed by increased business from private medical insurance (PMI), the NHS and patients choosing to self pay, according to its first full year results since acquiring BMI Healthcare.
Results for the year to 31 December 2020 reveal the group recorded revenue of £985m, up from £103m in 2019. However, the group also posted loss before tax of £63.2m, up from a £23.9m loss in 2019.
The figures for the first year of the pandemic highlight the vastly altered healthcare space including the increased use by the NHS.
Looking at provision of healthcare services by customer, the group posted £403.8m in revenue from PMI, up from £36.1m in 2019, £428.1m from the NHS, from £51.4m in 2019, and £129.7m in revenue from self pay, from £10.2m in 2019.
In December 2019, the group entered into share purchase agreements to acquire GHC Holdings, the holding company of BMI Healthcare Group.
The group incurred £2.8m costs related to its integration of BMI, with a further £1.7m in professional and legal fees.
BMI merger action
However, the acquisition of BMI Healthcare has subsequently required action to alleviate competition concerns, with one hospital already sold and another one potentially to go.
Originally the CMA required the sale of Circle’s hospitals in Bath and Birmingham to address reduced competition in those cities and allow the deal to proceed.
Circle sold its Bath hospital to Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust in June.
However on 21 June 2021, Circle requested that it be allowed to sell BMI Edgbaston rather than BMI Birmingham, claiming a material change in circumstances, which the regulator appeared to have rejected.
However, in August the CMA revealed it was reviewing the requirements, which has now been revealed as a result of Circle not being able to sell the Birmingham site.
Subsequently in December 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) added the sale of BMI Priory hospital as a potential requirement to fulfil the merger with BMI Healthcare.
In addition, the CMA said it was varying the original requirement to sell the Circle Birmingham hospital, adding that it could be sold with another undisclosed entity on more favourable terms.
The regulator said either of these two options would satisfy its concerns about the competition impact of the merger of two of the largest private hospital groups in the UK.
