2022 results
Stichting Synergos achieved a positive result for the 2022 financial year totalling €357,180. As a result of this positive result for 2022, equity increased by this amount, reaching €13,297,845. Consequently, equity at the end of 2022 amounts to 44.0% of total assets and 32.1% of turnover.
Investments
In the year 2022, a total of €2,517,655 in (in)tangible fixed assets was capitalised. In FY2022, the focus was again on digitisation and standardisation. Here, the DOP (Digital Order Process) Programme is the most impactful multi-year programme, as substantial efficiency improvements can be achieved when digitisation from orders to laboratory analysis is fully implemented. The Sustainability Programme was also launched during the financial year. The Clinical Assistant Programme was completed in 2022.
From the portfolio management project, several sizeable projects were merged into programmes, which led to capital expenditure in the financial year. Focus projects were also identified. The progress of the following programmes and focus projects were monitored monthly in the BoM-MT meetings in 2022:
- DOP Programme (Digital Order Process);
- Clinical Assistant Programme (standardisation of client examinations)
- ICMT Programme (telephone accessibility and Office 365);
- Sustainability Programme
- Project Careware optimisation Blood Collection Service;
- Project Glims upgrade;
- ERP Project order portal.
The information management projects deliver improvements in both efficiency and effectiveness. The efficiency improvements are necessary to compensate, on the one hand, for the decrease in turnover caused by continued price pressure and, on the other hand, for the sharp increase in cost inflation in 2022. The efficiency improvements allow Synergos, for example, to have a better connection with cooperating parties in the region, including in the field of data exchange and with the implementation of the orders portal. In 2022, depreciation totalled €2,298,342. An impairment of €22,380 was recognised under this item in 2022.
Turnover
Turnover increased by 4.7% in 2022. This increase came about as follows:
The increase in turnover is explained by two main causes. Firstly, turnover in first-line diagnostics was higher because of the commitment to grow medical microbiology and because pathology started in early 2022. Synergos’ multi-year strategy for 2021-2023 aims to grow outside the region with laboratory diagnostics. This has resulted in a significant increase in order requests from a number of special accounts. In contrast, turnover in Covid-19 diagnostics fell sharply in 2022, and the continued decline in the thrombosis service due to the continued expansion of deployment of NOACs in anticoagulation treatment led to a further decline in this revenue item.
Costs
Total costs increased by 6.5% in 2022. As a result of the stated higher turnover, production costs increased. The increase is explained not only by higher production numbers but also by the sharp increase in cost inflation. Furthermore, personnel costs were higher than in 2021. This was mainly caused by the collective labour agreement increase at the beginning of 2022. In contrast, ‘non-salaried’ staff costs decreased by 12%. All other operating expenses in 2022 were reasonably in line with the 2021 cost level. Impairment charges were of a negligible level in 2022.
Cash flows and financing requirements
There was negative cash flow in 2022, which resulted in a decrease in cash. Negative cash flow from operating activities was over €0.8 million in 2022. Expenditure related to investing activities was over €2.6 million. On the other hand, positive cash flow from financing activities was over €1.1 million. On balance, this resulted in a decrease in cash of over €2.3 million. In contrast, the current ratio increased sharply from 2.2 at the end of 2021 to 2.9 at the end of 2022. This was caused by a substantial decrease in short-term liabilities, which will be paid in 2023.
The section on risk describes a number of risks that impact future revenue development. As the board has already taken measures to mitigate these risks, it is very likely that Synergos will meet all of the principal banker’s ratios for 2023.
Production numbers
