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Press Release Source: National Health Partners, Inc.
National Health Partners
HORSHAM, Pa - (BUSINESS WIRE) - National Health
Partners, Inc. (OTCBB: NHPR -
News), a leading provider of
unique discount healthcare membership programs, announced today that it
will be providing a letter to its shareholders of record. The text of this letter is
provided below.
To our
stockholders:
Our fiscal year 2007 was a tremendous year for
National Health Partners as our revenue and gross profits have continued
to soar and our net loss decreased substantially. Over the past few months, we have
signed agreements with several large organizations for the sale of our
CARExpress programs as we continue to experience growing demand for our
programs. I would like to
take this opportunity to discuss our recent accomplishments and our
exciting plans for the next 12 months.
Industry Update
The current healthcare debacle in the United
States continues to worsen. More and more organizations are
reducing the level of healthcare coverage they are providing to their
employees and members, or terminating them entirely, as the cost of
healthcare continues to soar.
Consider the following data from the U.S. Department of Commerce,
the National Coalition on Healthcare and the Kaiser Commission, which was
recently updated for 2006:
·
15.8% of all
Americans, or 47 million individuals, were without health insurance
coverage in 2006, up from 15.3% of all Americans, or 44.8 million
individuals, in 2005, an increase of 2.2 million people, and an additional
60 million people are underinsured;
·
more than 40% of
small businesses do not offer employer-sponsored health
coverage
·
premiums for
employer-sponsored health coverage are expected to increase from $7,000
per year in 2001 to $17,000 per year in 2011
·
the average cost of family coverage is now nearly
$11,480 per year, including workers contributions of nearly
$2,973.
Organizations of all sizes are turning to the
discount healthcare market for solutions to the healthcare crisis, and we
expect this migration to continue to drive demand for our unique and
affordable CARExpress healthcare solutions.
CARExpress
CARExpress has become one of the most
recognized names in the discount healthcare market and is one of the
fastest growing companies in the healthcare industry. There are several reasons why
organizations across the country are turning to us rather than our
competitors. First, our
CARExpress health savings network is the largest in the industry. We have over 1,000,000
participating providers available to our members through our agreements
with CareMark, Aetna, Optum, Outlook Vision, Integrated Health, Three
Rivers and HealthFi - some of the largest and most prestigious national
medical networks in the country.
Second, we offer cutting-edge membership programs under the name
"CARExpress Plus" that are comprised of our CARExpress health discount
programs and limited liability insurance benefits underwritten by one of
the world's largest insurance companies. And third, we provide a level of
customer service that is unmatched in our industry. We have a full team of primarily
bilingual individuals who provide outstanding service to our members. The culture that we have created
at the company is inspiring to all of the people who work
there.
2007 Financial
Results
Our 2007 financial results were
outstanding. Revenue for 2007
increased 100% to $3,724,204 from $1,870,612 for 2006, and our gross
profit increased $549,268 to $982,075 for 2007, representing an increase
of 125% over gross profit of $432,807 for 2006. In addition, our net loss per
share decreased 75% to $(0.10) for 2007 from $(0.39) for 2006. These numbers show substantial
improvement in all of our financial metrics and represent a tremendous
achievement for our employees and shareholders.
Our performance this past year is not the
by-product of a one-year spike in growth or a market anomaly. It is the result of effective
planning, work and dedication to delivering our members program
innovations that differentiate National Health Partners from the
marketplace and will enable us to continue to develop relationships with
more and more small businesses, associations and other
organizations.
Where Our Business is
Heading
We are entering a particularly exciting time
for National Health Partners which will be marked by a substantial
increase in the amount of revenue we are generating and greatly improving
financial fundamentals. Over
the course of the past few months, we successfully completed the
changeover of the mix of business partners with whom we work. In the past, we sold our
CARExpress programs primarily through a single sales channel largely
comprised of marketing companies and generated the majority of our revenue
through a limited number of these marketing companies. This was costly financially and
produced members with very low retention rates. In addition, it caused significant
fluctuations in our results of operations as the number of sales they
produced varied each month.
We are now marketing our programs to a variety
of higher-quality sales channels.
By expanding the number and quality of the sales channels we are
utilizing, we have diversified the number and mix of organizations selling
our programs. We are now
selling our CARExpress programs through (i) "affinity groups," (ii)
brokers and agents, and (iii) consumers, and are marketing our programs to
these various sales channels through (i) our direct sales force, (ii)
co-sponsored marketing campaigns, and (iii) electronic media. It is far less costly for us to
sell our CARExpress programs through these sales channels than it is for
us to engage in expensive, nation-wide marketing and advertising
campaigns, and the members that we obtain through these sources tend to
remain CARExpress members for a long period of time.
An "affinity group" is a group of people who
share interests, issues, and a common bond or background, and offer
support for each other. These
groups can be formed between friends, or people from the same community,
workplace or organization.
Examples of the types of affinity groups that we are pursuing
include unions, associations, chambers of commerce and small business
networks. These types of
groups boast large numbers of members and are regarded by these members as
a trusted source for information.
Thus, when these organizations market our CARExpress programs to
their members, their members view the organizations efforts as an
endorsement of our programs and are much more willing to consider and
purchase our programs.
While we have only been pursuing affinity
groups for only a short period of time, our efforts to date have been
extremely successful. In the
past few months alone, we have entered into agreements with several large
affinity groups, an overview of which is provided
below:
In additional to the affinity groups named
above, we have signed up more than 200 insurance brokers to sell our
CARExpress health discount programs and CARExpress Plus programs across
the country and are beginning to generate sales through these individuals
as well. We are currently in
negotiations with several unions, associations, chambers and commerce,
small business groups and other affinity groups that will be making our
CARExpress programs available to tens of thousands of households per
year.
We are also seeking to add complementary
product offerings to our family of CARExpress programs to further enhance
the benefits available to our members. We recently added our new
CARExpress pharmacy discount program, which is a private-labeled
prescription discount plan that features a formulary that organizes both
brand name and generic prescription drugs into four pricing tiers. We have received a tremendous
amount of interest in this new program and are currently in negotiations
with several organizations that want to offer it to their members. With the addition of complementary
products and services, we will transform National Health Partners into a
comprehensive, full service health discount organization - something that
none of our competitors have achieved or attempted.
Financial Outlook for
2008
Our business is really beginning to take
off. We continue to enter
into agreements with a wide range of affinity groups and brokers and
agents who are marketing our CARExpress health discount programs and
CARExpress Plus programs to their members and clients. Most importantly, we are beginning
to experience a significant number of sales through these groups. Purchases of our CARExpress
membership programs by members of affinity groups located throughout the
country will be the primary driver for revenue, positive cash flow and
profitability in 2008.
We recently announced relationships with two
groups - the Polish National Alliance and a 5,000-member union - that will
represent the greatest driving forces behind our revenue growth during the
second half of 2008:
·
Polish National
Alliance. The Polish National Alliance (PNA)
is the largest ethnically-based fraternal insurance society in the United
States. It is in the process
of initiating a multi-faceted marketing campaign through which it will be
promoting our CARExpress health discount programs to its 65,000 households
nationwide. The marketing
campaign will utilize a variety of marketing channels, including: (i) the
PNA's own internal sales force and home office staff, (ii) an external
network of approximately 500 licensed insurance brokers, (iii) a daily and
bi-weekly newspaper owned by the PNA, (iv) newsletters that the PNA
publishes and provides to its members, (v) radio commercials through two
radio stations owned by the PNA, (vi) a bank with two branches that is
owned by the PNA, and (vii) the PNA's corporate website at www.pna-znp.org.
·
5,000-Member
Union. Representing our single greatest
accomplishment in our company's history, we were recently selected by a
5,000-member union as the health benefit program provider for all of the
union's members. The union
will be purchasing specially-designed CARExpress Plus membership programs
on behalf of all of its members.
On a conservative basis, this landmark deal is expected to generate
between $600,000 and $800,000 of revenue per month and between $7.2
million and $9.6 million of revenue per year for us. Upon completion of the enrollment
of all participating union members in CARExpress Plus, we could be
generating annual revenue of more than $12 million through this
relationship. What's more,
this is a fully funded deal for our CARExpress Plus programs, meaning that
the union will be paying the monthly membership fees to us directly out of
the union's cash reserves rather than requiring that the union members pay
all or part of the fees.
As we continue to generate monthly recurring
revenue from our fast-growing membership base and expanding program
offerings, we expect 2008 to be the fifth consecutive year for which we
have achieved year-over-year revenue growth of over 100% and, more
importantly, a year marked by accelerating revenue growth. While our decision to terminate
our relationships with marketing companies resulted in a temporary
decrease in our quarterly revenue during the first half of 2008, we expect
to experience a substantial surge in revenue during the second half of
2008 as a result of the quick and substantial traction we have gained with
affinity groups and the revenue that we will generate through affinity
groups such as the PNA and the 5,000-member union during the second half
of 2008. In addition, we
expect to begin generating positive cash flow from operating activities
and a net profit from operations during 2008. Once we achieve these results, we
will submit an application to have our common stock listed on the NASDAQ
or AMEX, which will greatly increase the number of individuals and
institutions following our stock.
We are performing exceptionally well and have
achieved our remarkable results in the face of various crises that have
enveloped the company at different times during the year. We are working diligently to
achieve our goal of increasing stockholder value and believe we have made
the right investments in the people, programs and partnerships to allow us
to grow quickly and efficiently during the remainder of 2008. Based on our projected revenue
over the next 12 months, our stock is currently trading at a
forward-looking price-to-sales ratio of less than one, which is an
incredibly low valuation for a high-growth company like us. Most high-growth companies trade
at a substantially higher price-to-sales ratio. We believe the price of our stock
will increase substantially as it reflects the growth that we are
experiencing and the results that we are generating.
I would like to express my appreciation to our
shareholders for all of the support they have provided to the company and
its management team and for the patience they have displayed as long-term
investors. Our commitment to
deliver outstanding financial performance continues through the execution
of our strategic plan and delivery of industry-leading programs to our
members. As our revenue
continues to grow and our costs continue to benefit from economies of
scale, we will experience significant improvement to our bottom line. We are accomplishing something
very special and it is our goal to make sure that our shareholders reap
the benefits of our success.
On behalf of our entire team, we thank you for
your continued support and confidence in National Health Partners.
Sincerely,
David M.
Daniels
President & Chief
Executive Officer
* * * *
*
This letter contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of
historical fact contained herein, including, without limitation,
statements regarding the company's future financial position, business
strategy, budgets, projected revenue and costs, and plans and objectives
of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "intends,"
"plans," "projects," "estimates," "anticipates," or "believes" or the
negative thereof or any variation thereon or similar terminology or
expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
results proposed in such statements. Although the company believes that
the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove
to have been correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update or
revise any of the information contained in this letter.
National Health Partners,
Inc.
National Health Partners, Inc.
is a national healthcare savings organization that provides discount
healthcare membership programs to uninsured and underinsured people
through a national healthcare savings network called "CARExpress." CARExpress is one of the largest
networks of hospitals, doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other healthcare
providers in the country and is comprised of over 1,000,000 medical
professionals that belong to such PPOs as CareMark and Aetna. The company's primary target
customer group is the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance of
any kind. The company's
secondary target customer group includes the 61 million Americans who lack
complete health insurance coverage.
The company is headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania. For more information on the
company, please visit its corporate website at www.nationalhealthpartners.com.
Safe
Harbor Provision
This
press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than
statements of historical fact contained herein, including, without
limitation, statements regarding the company's future financial position,
business strategy, budgets, projected revenues and costs, and plans and
objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking
statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking
terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "intends," "plans,"
"projects," "estimates," "anticipates," or "believes" or the negative
thereof or any variation thereon or similar terminology or
expressions. Forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from results proposed in such
statements. Although the
company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it can provide no assurance that such
expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations
include, but are not limited to, its ability to fund future growth and
implement its business strategy, its ability to develop and expand the
market for its CARExpress membership programs, demand for and acceptance
of its CARExpress membership programs, its dependence on a limited number
of preferred provider organizations and other provider networks for
healthcare providers, as well as those factors set forth in the company's
most recently filed post-effective amendment to its registration statement
on Form SB-2 and its other filings and submissions with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the
company assumes no obligation to update or revise any of the information
contained in this press release.
Contact: National Health Partners, Inc. _______________________
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Send mail to info@nationalhealthpartners.com with questions or comments. Copyright © 2006 NATIONAL HEALTH PARTNERS, INC. |
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