Spire Healthcare Group PLC Covenant waiver agreed with lenders (3181I)

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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   [phone] 
Instinctif Partners 
 Damian Reece                                  [phone] 
 Guy Scarborough                               [phone] 
 Jeremy Durrant                                [phone] 
 

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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April 01, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)