Spire Healthcare Group PLC Covenant waiver agreed with lenders (3181I)
April 01 2020 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSPI
RNS Number : 3181I
Spire Healthcare Group PLC
01 April 2020
Spire Healthcare Group plc
("Spire Healthcare", "the Company" or "the Group")
Covenant waiver agreed with lenders
1 April 2020
Spire Healthcare (LSE: SPI), a leading UK independent hospital
group, today announces that its lenders have agreed to waive the
covenant testing required under the Company's Senior Facility
Agreement for the two forthcoming scheduled test periods on 30 June
and 31 December 2020. This waiver will provide further flexibility
to Spire Healthcare through, and in the period after, its
partnership with the NHS.
The agreement signed with NHS England on 21 March 2020 will
provide Spire with sufficient liquidity and financial stability
during the COVID-19 outbreak as the Company is paid weekly in
advance. In addition, the Company has an undrawn revolving credit
facility of GBP100m that remains available.
Further, the Spire Healthcare Board has decided that, due to the
current COVID-19 uncertainties, and in view of its new relationship
with the NHS, it would be prudent and in the long term interest of
shareholders and stakeholders to suspend dividend payments until
the current crisis is over. Accordingly, the Company will not be
putting forward for approval to shareholders at its forthcoming AGM
the previously announced 2019 final dividend payment of 2.5p per
share.
Jitesh Sodha, Chief Financial Officer of Spire, said:
"We have had constructive and helpful discussions with our Group
of Lenders, reflecting our solid relationship with them, and would
like to thank them for their support while we assist NHS England in
combatting COVID-19."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For further information please contact:
Spire Healthcare
Cora McCallum, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0)7967 109 731
Instinctif Partners
Damian Reece +44 (0)7931 598 593
Guy Scarborough +44 (0)7917 178 920
Jeremy Durrant +44 (0)7792 918 648
Registered Office and Head Office:
Spire Healthcare Group plc
3 Dorset Rise
London
EC4Y 8EN
Registered number 09084066
About Spire Healthcare
Spire Healthcare is a leading independent hospital group in the
United Kingdom, with 39 private hospitals and 8 clinics across
England, Wales and Scotland.
Working in partnership with around 7,300 experienced
consultants, Spire Healthcare delivered tailored, personalised care
to approximately 810,000 in-patients and daycase patients in 2019,
and is the leading private provider, by volume, of knee and hip
operations in the United Kingdom.
The Group's well located and scalable hospitals have delivered
successful and award-winning clinical outcomes, positioning the
Group well with patients, consultants, the NHS, GPs and Private
Medical Insurance ("PMI") providers. 85% of Spire Healthcare's
hospitals are rated 'Good' or 'Outstanding' by the CQC (or the
equivalent in Scotland and Wales).
Spire Healthcare treats patients through a variety of routes
including PMI, Self-pay and the NHS, providing the Group with
diversified access to the expected growth opportunities in the UK
healthcare market, which faces significant supply challenges as a
result of NHS budget constraints and increasing demand from a
growing population with longer life expectancy.
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Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
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contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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