Somagen
The Canadian Healthcare businesses are managed through Diploma Canada Healthcare Inc (DCHI). The two principal operating businesses are Somagen and AMT.
Somagen is a leading supplier to the clinical diagnostics market in Canada and joined the Group in July 2004. It operates from a 16,000 sq.ft freehold facility in Edmonton.
Somagen supplies a range of consumables and instruments used in the diagnostic testing of blood, tissue and other samples in hospital laboratories. Consumable products are in the form of chemical reagents and are often packaged as kits to enable the analyst to carry out a complete testing routine. A large part of Somagen's revenues are generated from reagent rental contracts with terms ranging from one to five years. An instrument is provided to the customer in return for a commitment to minimum annual purchases of reagents.
In November 2008, Somagen completed the small bolt-on acquisition of Meditech, a Montreal based supplier of in-vitro fertilisation ("IVF) products. This acquisition has now established Somagen as a leading supplier of products and services to the growing IVF market, represented by approximately 30 dedicated clinics across Canada.
Somagen's principal customers are the 500-600 laboratories within hospitals across Canada. Somagen has exclusive long-term distribution agreements for Canada with a range of suppliers from the US, Japan and Europe.
Somagen locations: Edmonton and Montreal, Canada
AMT is a leading distributor of specialty electrosurgery and endoscopy equipment and consumables for use in the operating rooms and endoscopy units of hospitals across Canada.
Products include surgical smoke evacuation, conductivity pads, electrodes, generators, probes and flexible endoscopic accessories. AMT has also established a business to serve the growing market for vessel sealing products.
A large proportion of AMT's revenues come from multi-year customer contracts with hospitals and buying groups. Sales efforts are focussed on nurse managers, physicians and surgeons. AMT has strong long term relationships with its key suppliers.
AMT locations: Kitchener (nr. Toronto), Canada