Patientline is begining to reach critical mass with its penetration of the NHS.
This from their website:
"The market-leading pioneer of bedside communication and entertainment services within the NHS healthcare sector since 1994.
We offer a comprehensive solution partnering Trusts in delivering digital TV, telephone, free 24hr radio, internet, email and information services direct to bedside.
Our state of the art technology delivers a range of Trust focused facilities designed to reduce hospital staff workload thereby improving patient care.
Patientline is exclusively focused on providing bedside services and remains committed to improving the hospital experience for patients and streamlining patient care for our hospitals.
Patientline continues to be the market leader in offering bedside communication and entertainment services."

A round of fundraising in June 2002 saw the company raise 128m - this on top of 40 from its flotation in March 2001.
On 15th December, PTL delivered a strong set of results which reassured many in the city that the company is on track to corner the patient bedside information/comms/entertainement niche in the NHS.

The rollout is going to plan and PTL now has 51% share of the hospitals in its target market with 19% yet to decide.

Revenues are now at 16.1m - up 77% in the first half, with operating margins up from 44% to 50%.

PTL's business plan is augmented by the Government's Patient Power Directive which is promting bedside TV and communication services and has stipulated that any hospital >400 beds must have contracted a service provider by end of 2004.

However compelling the core business is , the exciting kicker here could be provided with the possiblity of dislpay of electronic patient records at the bedside. For anyone who has worked in the NHS and experienced the frustration of being slow - or even unable - to find patients notes, especially in emergencies, this could be very important if PTL's network is used to facilitate the bedside delivery of the Integrated Care Records Service.

Techncially, the stock looks strong having broken out of a 4 month consolidation.
Next level seems to be around 1.40 however any more positive newsflow could drive it quickly back to old highs over the 2 mark.
With the next few months seeing a number of key NHS IT contracts being awarded, 2004 could well be a pivotal year for PTL.

Please DYOR.

I have a brokers note should anyone care to read more - email me at ninadan@hotmail.com
http://www.patientline.co.uk

Broker update from Ev Bee Greg. (noticed that BJ not sure)

Patientline (PTL) Add

Mkt cap: 123m Net cash: -26m Trading update Price/Target:135p/145p
On target for terminal rollout

In the past the ability to rollout the bedside terminal networks has proven
the most serious challenge. PTL has learned from several years of
experience and now the implementation is almost ‘clockwork’.
At the beginning of the year we predicted a rollout of c.20,000 terminals in
the year to March 2004, and the Company has hit that target in the middle of
the month. This level of predictability is a far cry from the early days of
operations when delays and uncertainty in ward availability led to the
company missing its rollout targets. To some extent this was beyond PTL’s
control, dependent upon the NHS and the supply of terminals. Experience is
having a real impact here and allowed the Company to take that control.
With 55,000 terminals now installed the company is a long way through the
crucial UK rollout phase. We originally envisaged a total rollout of 75,000
terminals, however given the success of its NHS IT partner IDX in winning
LSP contracts London and the SE, this is likely to be higher. At 20,000
terminals p.a. there is likely to be another two years of rollout.

Once downtime has been found for the wards to be fitted out, the rest of the
business model is actually quite predictable. We expect the average revenue
per terminal per day will continue to grow steadily as patients become more
familiar with the terminals, offset by the pull-down of new terminals being
added with low initial usage. Encouragingly revenues from mature T2 sites
are ahead of T1, demonstrating the value of the new services on offer.
We also expect gross margins will be raised by the rollout of digital services
this year, and that overheads will remain steady during the rollout phase
and drop off significantly thereafter as the costs of the rollout disappear.
Depreciation and interest will remain the major draws on profit. Cash
generation will of course be strong and constant.

Based on a 20,000 terminal installed this year our DCF valuation in
December estimated a fair price of 124p on a high discount rate of 10%.
Patientline is meeting that forecast and the model is looking more certain
everyday. On that basis the risk and discount rate is steadily falling and we
therefore raise our price target to 145p.

cheers GF.

This ones being doing very well in these horrible markets.

cheers Gf.

NHS patients may reward patience
Midas, Mail on Sunday
28 March 2004

EW things are better for a company than having a captive customer base. Communications and entertainment services provider Patientline has one of the best.




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It provides digital television, phone and internet services to patients' bedsides in more than 115 NHS hospitals.


Patients pay for the service, though some elements are free, and there is no cost to the NHS trusts that operate the hospitals or to the hospitals themselves.


Patientline installed its first system in 1995 and joined the stock market in 2001 at 175p a share, raising 40m in the process.


It raised a further 38m last year through a share placing* at 131p and increased its debt facility to 90m to help fund expansion.


The driver for its growth is the so-called Patient Power initiative in the Government's NHS Plan for the future shape of the health service. Published in July 2000, the plan set a target of this year for the introduction of communication and entertainment services in all major hospitals in England.


Patientline has one of only four full licences to provide Patient Power services and earlier this month said the total number of beds in NHS hospitals capable of receiving its services had reached 55,000.


Interim results announced in December showed turnover of 16.1m, against 22m in the whole of the previous year, and flat half-time losses of 5.9m.


Shares in Patientline, which is chaired by Derek Lewis, the former head of the Prison Service and a former chief executive of media group Granada, closed last week at 134 1/2p to value the company at 122m.


Midas verdict: Valuing a company that has yet to post a profit is tricky and you have to believe in the growth story, but Patientline looks to have one.

The rate at which it is installing terminals continues to beat forecasts and the next update on progress will come with full-year results expected at the end of May.


Do not expect a profit until 2007, which means you must take a lot on trust, but as a speculative growth company, it is worth buying

Just caught an article on the news re: Patientline and Tvs in hospital. It was a negative report on the basis that the technology is too complicated and that no one can turn them off so they are annoying everyone and also the screens are too small.

Worth trying to catch BBC news today if you hold

Didn't the BBC show a documentary on Jarvis (which was very negative) about a month ago and week after Jarvis shares were trading about 40% higher ?

Regards

Some better trades out there imo, such as long SPS, short HRR.
NAG DYOR MFI RAF

bog off Dai :-)

is this worth buying yet

No...it has crash through the support level of 1...and it going down further...buy at 60-70p.

94.5p now

Sad , made a packet on these a couple of years ago , hope you didn't follow your own advice and buy at 60p hyleo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6449557.stm

Hospital mobile phone ban lifted

A ban on patients and doctors using mobile phones in hospitals in England is to be lifted this spring, the government has announced.
Restrictions have been in place because of concerns phones could interfere with medical equipment.