The Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS) share price is up by 20.36% at the time of writing, following a market update this morning announcing the sale of its medical centres.
What's moving the Healius share price?
The company announced the sale of Healius Primary Care, its medical centres business, to BGH Capital for $500 million. The proceeds will be used for investments and to pay down debt.
Commenting on the sale, Healius managing director and CEO, Dr Malcolm Parmenter said:
This sale is consistent with our strategy of simplifying our portfolio and focusing on our leading and scalable diagnostics and day hospital business, in order to deliver on our mission of seeking and sustaining life-enhancing healthcare through people who care.
The proceeds will strengthen the company, reducing our net debt and freeing up capital for investment, while enabling shareholders to realise the value of the Medical Centres business, which has not been reflected in our share price.
Healius expects to receive a total of $470 million from the sale after costs. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 and will be subject to approval by the foreign investment review board.
The company also announced that it has seen growth in its diagnostics business since the economy started to reopen following shutdowns. This has been supported by testing for the coronavirus in its pathology labs. Healius announced that its day hospitals, dental and IVF businesses were also moving back toward pre-coronavirus levels following the lifting of restrictions.
How has the Healius share price performed in 2020?
The Healius share price is up 58.33% since its 52-week low reached in April. The company's share price performance for the year to date has been steady, rising 10.14% since the beginning of January. The Healius share price has fallen 4.10% since this time in 2019, but is now significantly closer to its 52-week high of $3.32.
