Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 1951X

Assura Group Limited

11 August 2009

Assura Group Limited ('Assura' or the 'Company')

First Quarter Interim Management Statement

Strong start to new financial year

Assura, one of the leading healthcare companies in the UK, today publishes the following Interim Management Statement covering the period from 1 April 2009 to date.

There have been no significant changes to the financial position of the Company since the publication of the Preliminary Results on 30 June 2009. On a Group consolidated basis, trading for the first quarter was ahead of the Company's expectations with strong revenue growth in the medical business, increased turnover in the wholly-owned pharmacies and continued growth in rental income.

Highlights:

Q1 Group revenues (which do not include revenues in GPCos) were up 18 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

Q1 revenues in the GPCos were significantly ahead of budget due to certain contracts becoming operational sooner than forecast. Q1 revenues in GPCos were £1.6m which was double the revenue achieved for the whole of the last financial year.

Q1 pharmacy revenues were ahead of budget and in our wholly owned pharmacies, like for like prescription item numbers were up 9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Rental growth in the property portfolio has continued with the first 17 reviews so far this year averaging 4 per cent per annum.

Non-core disposals ongoing with two further investment properties sold for £3m and three more properties for disposal in solicitors' hands. Contracts exchanged on 5 non-core pharmacies and/or licences and a further 8 contracts in solicitors' hands with an aggregate value of £5.5m.

Current trading

Since the end of Q1, the Company has continued to trade in line with the Company's expectations.

Chief Executive Richard Burrell commented:

'Assura has continued to make good progress in the first quarter of this financial year. Our GPCo business, in particular, has continued to develop with services going live and more new contract wins resulting in a significant increase in revenues from this business. The pharmacy business is trading well and good rental uplifts are continuing in our property portfolio. Overall we believe the business is firmly on track to achieving profitability.'