Premier Health of America (TSXV: PHA), a Montreal-headquartered provider of healthcare staffing, reported revenue rose 112.3% year over year in its fiscal second quarter ended March 31. The increase in revenue was driven by its acquisition of Solutions Staffing in November 2023.
Though the quarter included the acquisition, Premier Health pointed to a number of one-time costs. The first was an additional amount of C$500,000 (US$369,102) in connection with the acquisitions and another C$500,000 for various legal fees. Gross margin was also impacted by a delay in activation of a new contract with Indigenous Services Canada.
Premier Health also noted Quebec is moving forward with new pricing under its Bill 10. The company is planning to increase its market share to compensate for the expected lower margins.
“Negotiations with the largest Quebec nurses’ union are still ongoing. The main roadblock remains the topic of flexibility requested by the government,” Martin Legault, CEO of Premier Health, said in a press release. “The good news is that nurses who choose to work for staffing agencies like ours are mostly looking for such flexibility. It is only a question of time before the public system recognizes we are complementary. Meanwhile, we will continue our expansion program outside of Quebec.”
Premier Health currently has six staffing business lines:
- Placement Premier Soin, a healthcare staffing firm serving more than 480 healthcare organizations in Quebec. It provides nurses, therapists and others on a temporary and permanent basis.
- Premier Health Nordik, which provides health consulting, nursing and healthcare services in remote communities in the northern regions of Canada.
- Solutions Nursing, which was acquired in March 2021, provides nursing staff to northern healthcare organizations in remote areas of Quebec and Nunavut.
- Code Bleu, which provides permanent and temporary placement of nurses, caregivers and others in Quebec.
- Canadian Health Care Agency, which provides nursing services to remote and semi-remote Indigenous communities in Ontario and Alberta.
- Solutions Staffing Inc., which provides short and long-term healthcare assignments ranging from one to 52 weeks across Canada.
The company reported that it provided 411,657 hours of service in the three months ended March 31.
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Share price
Shares in Premier Health were down 15.0% to C$0.34 (US$0.25) as of 12:07 p.m. Eastern time today. They were 49.3% below their 52-week high.