-3x Short China Regulatory News (SCHE)

4 Jul 2008 07:00



Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC

Board Appointments

Friday, 4 July 2008 - Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC ("Southern Cross", the "Group" or the "Company") today 

confirms that Richard Midmer has joined the Board of Directors of the Group, following his appointment as Finance Director announced on 30 June 2008. Southern Cross also announces a further strengthening of the Board through the promotion of Kamma Foulkes to Executive Director of the Company with responsibility for Elderly Care. John Murphy, who remains an Executive Director, will take sole charge of Acquisitions and Developments and retain responsibility for the Group's Active Care division and management of the supply chain.

Richard Midmer was previously Group Finance Director of NHP plc, the quoted care home company, from November 2000 until its acquisition in February 2005.  He is a non-executive Director of CareTech Holdings plc and Rugby Estates Investment Trust plc.  

Kamma Foulkes, currently Managing Director of the Group's 324 homes in the Southern division, has over 15 years experience in the care sector and joined the Group in 1998. She is a registered nurse.

Ray Miles, Chairman of Southern Cross, said: "Richard and Kamma are important additions to the Board of Directors. Richard is highly experienced in finance, project management, elderly care and the PLC environment and he knows our business well.  Kamma currently oversees the operations of the Group's Southern division and her experience and knowledge will provide a highly valuable insight to the Board." 

There are no further details to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rules LR9.6.13.

For further information, please contact: 

About Southern Cross

Southern Cross is, in terms of number of beds, the largest UK provider of care home services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes for the elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare and Ashbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personal care services and nursing care services for elderly people with physical frailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist services operate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term care services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for younger people with complex forms of challenging behaviour.

Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well invested facilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which it operates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authorities in the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of the Company's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with a high percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms. Occupancy levels in its core elderly segment are consistently in excess of 90%.

This announcement includes statements that are, or may deemed to be, "forward looking statements". These forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or " should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Company's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the outlook on the care home industry. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances.