Medicover announces healthy profits, but at the cost of investments

Medical Services Network Medicover recorded a zl. 5 million net profit for the first half of 2002 and said its end of year results might be even better. According to Agnieszka Szpara, director of Medicover Polska, this year's good results mainly come from reduced company investments, which stand at zl. 7 million. This year, the enterprise opened only two new centers, in Katowice and Slupsk, set up its own laboratory and expanded its ambulance fleet. Medicover declared it will not abandon its plans to build its own hospital, but the project must be fully analyzed, which will not happen before the end of 2003. The company is considering constructing three more clinics which will cost around zl. 6 million. However, despite its visible expansion of the medical services market, Medicover said it is not planning any mergers or takeovers as the standard of services it offers differs from that patients receive in other health centers. "If we find a company whose offer will match ours we might consider a takeover," said Szpara. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) J.K.