Expansion of CDB costs US$ 75 million
Valor Econômico
The CDB - Brazil Center of Diagnostics is investing nearly R$ 120 million (US$ 75 million) for the expansion of its network of laboratories, which currently has five units in São Paulo. The goal is to invest that amount in the next two years for the construction of four more new laboratories. "It is the largest expansion made at once by the CDB, which was created in 1998 by two doctors. We've been planning the investment, so we have own resources for the expansion", told Valor Roberto Kalil, marketing director of the CDB.
The Executive also does not rule out growth through the acquisition of other laboratories. "We are not for sale. Quite the contrary, if there is an interesting company, we can even buy it", he said, emphasizing that in the last twelve months they promoted professionalization of the internal administrative processes, as part of the expansion plan. Currently, the occupancy rate of the laboratories of the CDB is 90%, with nearly 100 thousand imaging scans a month. The company is known in the healthcare sector, precisely, because it works in such segment of imaging exams (such as ultrasound and radiography, for example). Typically, on the market of laboratories, imaging exams represent, on average, 30% of the exams, but equivalent to 60% of the earnings. Thus the companies operating in the sector of diagnostic medicine, in general large companies, which have been making acquisitions, have been investing heavily in the segment.
In Dasa, largest diagnoses company in the country, the gross earnings from Radiology and imaging services registered, in the first quarter, R$ 182.1 million (US$ 115,4 million), representing growth of 9.2% compared to the same period last year. The participation of the segment of imaging exams in Dasa already amounts to 40% of the total earnings of the company. It is not by chance that the company is bringing to São Paulo Rio de Janeiro laboratory CDPI, known for the imaging exams.
Fleury also bets in the area. In February, it acquired the Bahia-based laboratory Diagnoson for R$ 53.2 million (US$ 33.3 million), representing 7.4 times the ebitda (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization). The national market of diagnostic medicine generates nearly R$ 12 billion (US$ 7.5 billion) a year and it features 8 thousand laboratory companies.