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Medica Group

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FY2020 Annual Report · Medica Group
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A network of specialists 
leading the way in 
teleradiology

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 
for the year ended 31 December 2020

Improving your 
outcomes through 
a collaborative 
approach to care

Creating value through our core commitments:

Collaborative 
approach to the 
delivery of our 
service

Responsive to 
the clinical needs 
of patients and 
hospitals

Accessible to our 
customers when 
they need us

Excellence in 
everything we do

Highlights

Medica Group PLC is the 
market-leading provider of 
teleradiology services in the 
UK and Ireland.
Medica prides itself on delivering the 
highest quality service, underpinned by 
strong clinical governance and a culture of 
customer-centric process improvement. 
Medica provides a fast and reliable service 
during out-of-hours for urgent reporting, 
as well as support for routine diagnostic 
reporting throughout the week. Medica 
has developed a bespoke IT interface 
with customers, allowing comprehensive 
access to diagnostic images enabling our 
reporters the best opportunity to deliver 
high-quality reports for our clients and in 
turn, for their patients. 

Strategic report
02 Highlights

04 Chairman’s statement

06 Business model and services

07 Key performance indicators

08 Market positioning (COVID recovery)

10 Definition of telemedicine

12

Strategy

14 Delivery: People/values

16 Delivery: FutureTech

20 Delivery: GDI

24 Delivery: Enhanced patient outcomes

26 CSR & ESG

31 Human story: Charity partnership with RefuAid

32 CEO review

36 Financial review

38  Risks and uncertainties

Governance
42 Board of Directors

46 Corporate Governance report

50 Report of Audit Committee

52 Report of Nominations Committee

54 Report of the Remuneration Committee

76 Directors’ report

80  Section 172 report1

89 Independent Auditors report

Financials
92 Consolidated income statement and consolidated 

statement of comprehensive income

93 Consolidated statement of financial position

94 Consolidated statement of cash flows

95 Consolidated statement of changes in equity

96 Notes to the financial statements

121 Company statement of financial position

122 Company statement of changes in equity

123 Notes to the financial statements

126 Key advisors

1. 

The Section 172 report forms part of the 
2020 strategic report

01

STRATEGIC REPORTHighlights

Financial highlights

2017
2018
2019
2020

2017
2018
2019
2020

2017
2018
2019
2020

2017
2018
2019
2020

2017
2018
2019
2020

£33.7m

£38.9m

£46.5m

£36.8m

£16.4m

£19.0m

£22.3m

£17.5m

£36.8m

Revenue

£17.5m

Gross Profit

48.7%

49.0%

47.8%

47.4%

47.4%

Gross Profit Margin

£8.5m

£9.7m

£11.3m

£5.0m

Underlying Operating Profit¹

6.92p

7.75p

8.13p

3.47p

Underlying Earnings Per Share²

£5.0m

3.47p

(1)  Underlying operating profit is a non-IFRS measure and is calculated as operating profit before exceptional items and one-off costs relating to the 

GDI acquisition and associated extension to the debt facility, share-based payments, intangible amortisation in respect of acquired assets.

(2)  Underlying Earnings per share is a non-IFRS measure and is calculated based underlying operating profits less financing costs and taxation.

• 

Delivered sales of £36.8m representing 21% revenue decline:

 −

 −

 −

NightHawk revenues of £23.0m (+4%) demonstrating a strong performance  despite headwinds 
caused by the pandemic and a quick recovery from the impact of COVID-19

Elective revenues of £12.m (-49%) representing a material impact on volumes as a result of 
re-prioritisation away from elective procedures in the NHS

GDI contributed £1.3m in revenues following its acquisition on 3 November 2020

• 

• 

Resilient gross profit margin of 47.4% (2019: 47.8%) due to careful management of both 
pricing and costs

Underlying operating profit of £5.0m, a 56% decline, reflecting the COVID-19 impact on revenues 
and the continued planned investment in the business to best position the Group for recovery 
and growth in 2021 and beyond

•  Net cash at 31 December 2019 of £4.6m became net debt of £3.9m at 31 December 2020 after 
taking into account strong positive cash generation through 2020 offset by the impact of 
the initial consideration of €16m (£14.4m) for the acquisition of GDI

The Board declared an interim dividend for 2020 of 0.85 pence per share and is now 
proposing a final dividend for 2020 of 1.70 pence per share which will, if approved, 
result in total dividends for 2020 of 2.55 pence per share, up 13% on 2018, the last 
year when a final dividend was declared.

02

Post-period highlights
•  Launched an Australian based 
joint venture called MedX with 
one of Australia’s leading radiology 
companies, Integral Diagnostics  
to grow market access, reporting 
capacity and expertise

•  Undertook a successful and over-
subscribed equity placing and 
subscription which together raised 
£16.1m, from new and existing 
institutions together with the Board 
and senior management in March 2021

•  Completed the earnings-accretive 
acquisition of RadMD, an imaging 
Contract Research Organisation 
(iCRO) business based in the US, 
enabling entry into the USD 1 billion 
global market 

•  Completed a refinancing of the group’s 
debt in early May 2021 via a new three 
year fully flexible £30m RCF facility 
with a syndicate of three banks on 
favourable terms

Operational highlights 
•  Expanded geographic reach and 

diversified service offering with the 
completion of acquisition of GDI, a 
leading teleradiology and managed 
services provider based in the Republic 
of Ireland that also manages 50% of 
Ireland’s screening and surveillance 
programme for diabetic retinopathy

• 

Improvement in reporter capacity of 
13% during 2020 and an increase in 
Nighthawk SLA to 98% (from 97% in 
2019)

•  Became the first UK teleradiology 

provider to fully implement 
Augmented Intelligence (AI) into 
clinical practice with the successful 
launch of AI tool to detect brain 
bleeds in acute stroke patients, in 
collaboration with Qure.ai. Over  
50,000 live clinical reports have been 
completed to date

•  Contracted with Sectra to provide 
the new PACS as the first stage of 
the Company’s ambitious FutureTech 
programme

•  Focus on operational excellence 

projects as well as improvement in 
clinical protocol development for acute 
trauma and stroke reporting

•  Strengthened management team with 
the appointment of  Richard Jones as 
Chief Financial Officer and Rob Lavis 
as Clinical Director

•  Successfully negotiated through the 
early COVID-19 pandemic by quickly 
transitioning to a homeworking 
environment whilst able to improve 
operational performance metrics 
with  UK customers without 
needing to furlough staff or 
take any form of government 
support 

•  Launched an effective pro-
bono service for clients 
to assist in the hospital to 
homeworking switch during 
the early stages of the 
pandemic

•  Launched new corporate 

brand and company values 
aligned to the new  strategy 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

03

STRATEGIC REPORTChairman’s Statement

Resilient performance in 
response to the pandemic

The first quarter of 2020 
started positively with 
continued growth 
in Medica’s core 
teleradiology reporting 
business. Growth up 
until the end of March 
was 13% ahead of the 
comparable period 
in 2019. 

However, during the last week of March 
2020, the UK government sanctioned a 
national lockdown. This had a significant 
and immediate impact on Medica’s 
performance as the NHS focused on 
COVID-19 related cases and ceased 
all non-urgent, elective procedures. 
Additionally, a combination of people 
being confined to their homes and 
a reluctance to attend Accident and 
Emergency (A&E) unless for very critical 
health issues meant that attendance at 
A&E fell considerably. Medica’s Elective 
activity fell to c.5% of the pre-Covid 
(Jan-Feb 2020) levels in April and the 
out-of-hours, urgent reporting service 
(NightHawk) activity reduced by c.50%. 

By May, NightHawk activity had 
returned to pre-pandemic levels and 
Elective reporting activity started to 
increase gradually. Subsequent regional 
restrictions and ‘lockdowns’ dampened 
the recovery in Elective which returned 
to c. 50% of pre-pandemic activity by 
year end.

In total, the impact of COVID-19 
precipitated a reduction in reported 
revenue from £46.5m in 2019 to £36.8m in 
2020. As a result of the impact on activity, 
underlying net operating profit fell by 
£6.3m from £11.3m in 2019 to £5.0m in 
2020. Despite this and due to efforts to 
maximise working capital management 
and control costs, net cash inflow from 
operating activities remained strong at 
£8.6m compared to £9.7m in 2019 due to 
careful working capital management.

Medica’s business model provided a 
hedge against this negative impact: 
our radiologists are predominantly 
consultants so are remunerated on 
a case-by-case basis, enabling us to 
easily scale costs in line with activity. 
Additionally, teleradiology is enabled 

by remote reporting from workstations 
based in reporter’s homes. Therefore, 
reporters were already prepared for such 
a scenario. The office-based operational 
and technical team also migrated quickly 
and seamlessly to remote working 
ensuring that the service was able to 
operate without being compromised. 

Whilst for most of the year the focus of 
the NHS was on managing the pandemic 
and not on procurement of services, 
Medica was able to record a net increase 
in NightHawk clients over the 12 months. 
Much of this increase was down to clients 
returning to Medica due to the difference 
in quality, clinical governance, breadth 
and depth of service that differentiates 
Medica’s offering.

Changes to executive and 
non‑executive directors
Medica also continued to make changes 
to its leadership team and Board to 
support the company’s new strategy 
and phase of growth. In August, the 
Company welcomed Richard Jones as 
Chief Financial Officer and Company 
Secretary. Earlier this year, Dr. Stephen 
Davies took the decision to retire and will 
leave Medica at the end of May. I would 
like to thank Stephen for his contribution 
to Medica and for the impact that he 
had of bringing a culture of continuous 
clinical and quality improvement to the 
business. Stephen will be replaced by Dr. 
Robert Lavis who joined Medica in 2020 
as Clinical Director. The succession plan 
is being executed successfully and will 
result in a smooth transition next month 
as Stephen hands over to Robert.

In April 2021, the board also welcomed Dr 
Junaid Bajwa as non-executive director. 
Junaid brings with him a background and 
experience in the NHS and more recently, 
leading digital transformation within large 
IT firms, that will help the company as it 
continues to grow and diversify into the 
broader telemedicine arena. 

In addition, as announced separately 
on 11 May, Steve Whittern decided to 
resign and is therefore not standing for 
re-election at the 2021 AGM. I would 
like to thank Steve for his commitment 
to Medica since IPO, particularly for 
supporting the previous management 
team as they made the move from private 
equity to a fully-fledged listed business. 
I wish him well for the future. A search 
process to appoint a replacement Senior 
Independent Director and Chair of the 
Audit Committee is well progressed. 

“ Progress made in 2020 
despite the impact of the 
pandemic, demonstrates 
that the new management 
team is delivering on 
its strategy and the 
Group has a renewed 
focus on execution 
and growth which I am 
confident will generate 
benefits for our patients, 
reporters, employees and 
shareholders alike.”

Roy Davis 
Chairman

04

www.medicagroupplc.com l stock code: MGP

Every year, I end by thanking our 
employees and the management team 
at Medica, as well as our reporters and 
central services team for playing their part 
to ensure continued delivery of reporting 
services throughout the year. However, 
after 2020 and the continuation of the 
impact of the pandemic into 2021, it is 
even more important to pay tribute to 
their achievements and dedication. It is 
only at times like these that a team is truly 
tested and I am proud that they stood up 
to the challenge and not only managed to 
deliver a robust financial performance, but 
also took the opportunity to accelerate 
development of the business in line with 
the new strategy. 

Progress made in 2020 and so far this year 
demonstrates that the new management 
team is delivering on its strategy and the 
Group has a renewed focus on execution 
and growth which I am confident will 
generate benefits for our patients, 
reporters, employees and shareholders 
alike.

Roy Davis, 
Chairman

10 May 2021

Significant progress made to deliver 
against new strategic priorities
In March 2020, the Company set out its 
strategic aims for the next five years. 
Despite the impact of the pandemic and 
the need for management to focus on 
provision of the service remotely and under 
challenging circumstances, I am pleased to 
report that Medica did not make use of any 
government funded schemes or furlough 
any staff and was therefore able to make 
significant progress with implementation 
of the new strategic priorities in our core 
teleradiology business. 

Delivering on strategy to expand 
into new markets and diversify 
services
In November, Medica acquired Global 
Diagnostics Ireland Limited (GDI). This 
acquisition follows Medica’s strategy 
of international expansion and service 
diversification. Since the acquisition, the 
team has completed the initial integration 
of the business and it has been rebranded 
as Medica Ireland. It is performing 
as expected and our focus is now on 
supporting and driving future organic 
growth.

Further focus on execution of 
strategy in 2021 and return to 
growth
As announced in February this year, 
Medica has launched a 50:50 joint venture 
with Integral Diagnostics Limited Pty (IDX), 
one of Australia’s leading radiology service 
companies. This joint venture, MedX, 
aims to source UK qualified radiologists to 
report for Medica and, in time, bid jointly 
for new teleradiology contracts in Australia 
and New Zealand. 

In March 2021, Medica was excited to 
announce its entry into the international 
market for the provision of imaging 
services for clinical trials. The acquisition 
of US-based RadMD opens up 
opportunities for Medica to offer a wider 
range of telemedicine services, expand its 
customer base to include pharmaceutical, 
biotech and medical device companies, 
and provides foundations for Medica in the 
US market. 

Medica aims to continue to expand 
its geographic reach and diversify its 
telemedicine services in fast-growing 
market segments where Medica’s 
experience and expertise can be brought 
to bear. As laid out in our strategy last 
year, we intend to focus on new areas 
of telemedicine, as well as geographical 
diversification of our core business into 
new markets.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

05

STRATEGIC REPORTBusiness Model and Services

Our services
At its core, our business model can be 
summarised as identifying opportunities to 
improve the service available to our clients 
and patients using technology and a strong 
governance framework. 

Improvements in services are 
demonstrated by any combination of the 
following:

•  Higher clinical quality, leading to 
improved patient outcomes;

•  Timely delivery, facilitating improved 
patient outcomes and/or improved 
patient satisfaction;

• 

Increased return on investment for 
our clients.

Medica Group provides 
teleradiology, teleophthalmology, 
managed imaging services, 
and clinical trial reading and 
imaging management services. 
Teleradiology is the secure electronic 
transmission of radiological patient 
images, including plain film X-rays (PF), 
computerised tomography (CT) scans 
and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 
scans, from one location to another, for the 
purposes of diagnostic interpretation and 
reporting by highly qualified radiologist 
experts. 

Through teleradiology, images can be 
transmitted from the hospital setting, 
where the images are created, to a 
reporter who can review and report on the 
images remotely. 

In the case of Medica, these reporters 
comprise consultant radiologists, reporting 
radiographers and rheumatologists, all 
specialising in their relevant field, who 
typically report on the images from 
their own home or from one of Medica’s 
dedicated reporting 
centres. 

Teleradiology improves patient care by 
enabling reporters to provide their services 
remotely, thereby facilitating the rapid 
availability of trained specialists 24 hours a 
day, 365 days a year. 

Teleophthalmology is the secure 
electronic transmission of photographs of 
the eye from one location to another, for 
the purposes of diagnostic interpretation 
and reporting by highly qualified experts. 

Teleophthalmology is particularly useful 
in the context of community screening for 
potential eye diseases. 

Medica Group currently provide the 
Diabetic RetinaScreen service to around 
half of the Irish population in partnership 
with the Irish National Screening Service. 

We provide a full end-to-end screening 
service, arranging appointments, taking 
photos of the eye in convenient community 
locations which are then collated centrally 
for review and reporting. If the images 
show no evidence of disease progression 
(or other abnormality) the service user 
is kept on the surveillance cycle and we 
will see them again after an appropriate 
interval. If there are signs of disease 
progression (or other abnormality) they 
will be referred to a specialist centre for 
further investigation or treatment. 

Managed imaging services, is the 
provision of end to end imaging to 
healthcare providers. 

For Medica this includes the provision of 
facilities, staffing, imaging equipment, 

appointment scheduling, imaging, 
and reporting via our 

teleradiology service. 
We provide a 

service which 
is tailored 
to the 

requirement allowing the flexibility 
to provide elements of the service 
themselves. 

We provide X-ray, CT, MRI, Ultrasound 
and DEXA managed services. These range 
from short-term contracts to aid with 
waiting lists or improved patient access, 
right through to long-term contracts 
where we establish lasting partnerships 
with our clients. 

Clinical trials imaging services
Clinical trials support the development 
of new treatments (drugs, therapies and 
devices) to improve patient care and 
patient outcomes. A large proportion 
of clinical trials utilise medical imaging 
performed at regular intervals to provide 
empirical data on the impact of the new 
treatment. Medica provide consultancy, 
project management, training and reader 
services for clinical trial imaging. Clients 
include pharmaceutical and BioTech 
companies, device manufacturers and 
Contract Research Organisations.

Multi‑disciplinary teams (MDT)
Medica has begun collaborating with 
hospitals to trial the delivery of MDT 
support as part of the elective reporting 
service. This will support clients that 
may have specialist radiologist capacity 
gaps by leveraging the large cohort 
of radiologists at Medica who have 
experience and expertise of working 
in an MDT environment.

Medica radiologists are engaging with 
the hospital’s on-site clinical team to 
provide a clinically appropriate and 
high-quality service, assisting in making 
timely decisions that directly affect patient 
treatments and outcomes. The service 
will utilise Medica’s technical platforms 
to provide this support via a teleradiology 
platform, the first UK provider to do so.

Why might a client  
choose Medica? 
•  Rapid flexible set up options, providing 
support to clients when they need it;

•  Experts are available to discuss or 

client’s 

clarify reports with clients;

•  Experienced in-house technical team 

offering full support 24/7;

•  Platform designed with contingency 
systems providing a robust and 
resilient network;

•  Access to a network linking Medica’s 
over 500 reporters with over 100 
hospitals;

•  Market-leading Emergency service 
delivering high quality reports in a 
timely manner to support critical 
decisions in patient care.

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www.medicagroupplc.com l stock code: MGP

Key Performance Indicators 

Average urgent care (NightHawk) 
turnaround time

NightHawk SLA 

Under 

23

minutes

98+%

DEFINITION
This represents the time taken for an exam to be reported by a 
Medica radiologist with a diagnosis and this will in turn inform the 
patient care plan. 

WHY IS THIS METRIC IMPORTANT?
In an acute environment where a patient may have had a stroke 
or major trauma, time is critical, simply put the quicker an accurate 
and actionable report can be delivered, the better the chances of a 
positive patient outcome.

PERFORMANCE 
Under 23 minutes

DEFINITION
Definition: Adherence to the target turnaround time requested by 
clients for NightHawk examinations.

WHY IS THIS METRIC IMPORTANT?
Emergency departments rely on NightHawk reports for the rapid 
assessment of patients with critical injuries.

PERFORMANCE 
Up 1.7% from 2019  
Expected performance is 95%+

Reporting 
capacity

Number of 
reported body parts

13%

increase

1.16m

DEFINITION
This represents the change year on year in the contractually 
committed and rostered reporting hours provided by our reporters.

WHY IS THIS METRIC IMPORTANT?
Recruitment and retention of reporters is a high priority for 
Medica as we grow the number of our reporters to meet the 
market demand. As indicated in our 2019 annual report, we 
now use contractually committed reporting hours as the best 
measure of capacity given the changing profile of our workforce.

PERFORMANCE 
13% Increase (first year reporting using this metric)

ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT
£5.0m

PERFORMANCE 
Down 55.7% from 2019

DEFINITION
The number of different body regions included within an exam. 

WHY IS THIS METRIC IMPORTANT?
It provides a better understanding of our case load than simply 
reporting patient numbers.

PERFORMANCE 
Down 40% from 2019 (COVID‑19 impact)

REVENUE 
£36.8m

PERFORMANCE 
Down 20.9%

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

07

STRATEGIC REPORTMarket Positioning (COVID recovery)

Market review
2020 was a challenging year for many 
healthcare companies in the UK and 
Ireland. From late March onwards there 
was significant disruption as healthcare 
providers focused the majority of their 
efforts on dealing with patients suffering 
from COVID-19. 

NHS England Diagnostic Imaging Datasets 
(DID) for 2019-20 and 2020-21 show the 
total Cross-Sectional exams (CT and MR) 
performed in England during April 2020 
was 375,780 compared with 867,610 in 
January 2020, a fall of 57%. In the six 
months April - Sept 2020 over a million less 
Cross-Sectional exams and over 1.6 million 
Ultrasound scans were performed in 

England compared to the same period 

in 2019. 

In Ireland diabetic screening 
services were paused for 15 
weeks. From around July 
onwards, systems were 
established to try to 
return to normal service 
and increase capacity 
where possible to 
address the backlog 
of ‘routine’ patients. 
Whilst COVID-19 
is still circulating 
logistical barriers 
to this will remain 
including reduced staff 
due to illness, lower 
productivity as a result 
of additional cleaning 
requirements and 
additional time required 
between appointments to 
allow for social distancing 

in waiting areas. DID data 
shows that whilst the picture 

had improved by the end of 
the year only 85% of the Cross-
Sectional examinations performed 

in Jan 2020 were performed in 

December 2020. 

As of April, the NHS announced that 
388,000 patients are now waiting over 
12 months for elective procedures and 
in total, a backlog of 4.7 million patients 
exists. This is the highest number since 
August 2007 and demonstrates the huge 
pressure that exists on the NHS to address 
the backlog of procedures as a result of the 
pandemic.

It is clear from the numbers above that 
there is a significant backlog of imaging to 
be performed. It will take many months, 
if not years, before the system can return 
to a steady state with waiting lists at 
pre-pandemic levels. It is impossible 
to accurately predict the shape of the 
recovery curve for healthcare providers but 
Medica is well positioned to support our 
partners as activity returns to or exceeds 
pre COVID-19 levels. We have solidified our 
relationships with many key clients through 
our flexible and responsive support to them 
throughout the pandemic

Examples include:

a.  The introduction of ‘pass through’ 

reporting which enabled many of our 
clients’ radiologists to undertake NHS 
reporting at home on a pro-bono basis 
leveraging Medica’s expert systems, 
and capacity which would have 
otherwise been lost; 

b.  The rapid introduction of new 

emergency reporting pathways, 
with alerts to clinical staff where our 
radiologists suspected the patient 
was COVID positive.

When conditions allow, we will be able 
to offer both both responsive teleradiology 
services across the UK and Ireland as well 
as additional managed imaging services 
in Ireland to support our clients to tackle 
the huge backlog of elective cases 
requiring imaging.

In addition to reducing the backlog of 
scans that need to be taken and reported, 
there are a range of underlying market 
conditions which, when combined, result 
in increasing demand for our services. 

NUMBER OF CT/MR SCANS IN ENGLAND PER MONTH

1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

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www.medicagroupplc.com l stock code: MGP

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Underlying annual 
growth in scan volumes
The need for examinations continues to 
grow and increase in complexity. A drive 
for early diagnosis in a greater number of 
specialities, pressures from increasing A&E 
admissions, a move towards NHS seven-
day working and NICE guidelines evolving 
to include more diagnostic imaging has all 
contributed to a growth in scan volumes 
across the UK. These factors have resulted 
in a 30% increase in diagnostic reporting 
workload over the last five years in the 
UK – three times more than the rate of 
workforce growth.

Healthcare providers 
unable to meet demand
The critical shortfall of consultant 
radiologists has left 97% of radiology 
departments in the UK unable to meet 
their reporting requirements within staff 
contracted hours. Medica Group offer 
these struggling departments a cost-
effective solution, covering regional 
shortages and providing access to 
consultant radiologists who are experts in 
specialist areas.

Continued shortage 
of radiologists
Three quarters of hospitals have 
insufficient in-house radiologist capacity 
to report all of the scans conducted in 
their hospital. According to the Royal 
College of Radiologists (RCR) Workforce 
Census 2019 there is a radiologist shortfall 
of 1,100 consultants which was projected 
to increase to nearly 2,000 by 2023. 
Resourcing through traditional channels 
continues to fail, with the RCR reporting 
that one in ten consultant radiologist 
posts are vacant, of which 60% have been 
unfilled for over 12 months. Stagnant 
radiologist growth across some regions 
continues to contribute to this shortfall 
with less than a 1% increase in radiologists 
across Scotland, Wales and Northern 
Ireland over the past five years. 

Growth in outsourcing
With increasing workloads, a critical 
shortage of radiologists, many radiologists 
retiring or deciding to work fewer sessions 
in the NHS and lack of options to recruit, 
radiology departments in the UK are 
increasingly seeing the value in using the 
services of outsourced teleradiology, with 
the use of radiology outsourcing doubling 
over the last three years.

Demand for 
specialist services
Working collaboratively with NHS 
hospitals and specialist doctors, Medica 
has developed a range of Specialist 
Reporting Services. These allow us to 
provide additional capacity to supplement 
local resources, or to provide reporting 
capability which is not available from local 
staff. In fact, in many hospitals, Medica will 
provide all of the reporting for certain sub-
specialties – for example neuro radiology 
reporting – where it is challenging to 
find radiologists or where a radiologist 
cannot be fully utilised to just report 
sub-specialty cases.

Demand for 
radiographer reporting
Radiologists are increasingly required 
to change their job plans away from 
plain film, towards cross-sectional and 

interventional work to meet local 

needs. Retiring radiologists also often 
undertake a higher-than-average 
percentage of plain film reporting. 
These factors combine to result in 
a decrease of radiologist plain film 
reporting capacity. Radiographer 
reporting is widely adopted 
within the NHS and Medica 
Group are providing a reporting 
radiographer service which 
offers high quality capacity 
and expertise. 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

09

STRATEGIC REPORTDefinition of Telemedicine

What is telemedicine?

Medica has the ambition to lead 
the way in providing a range of 
international telemedicine services
At Medica, we define telemedicine as the 
remote review of patient investigations 
by specialist clinicians enabled by reliable 
and compliant technology platforms and 
delivered under high quality clinical 

governance frameworks.

Medica does not focus on remote 
consultations by primary care 
physicians, but instead focuses on 
providing an established, highly 
skilled network of specialist 
doctors and clinical experts to 
interpret diagnostic information 
for hospitals and clinics to allow 
fast, reliable, and accurate 
treatment of patients.

Telemedicine services include 
screening services where data 
(usually images) is captured by 
a clinical expert/technician and 
remotely interpreted by a doctor. 
For example, this could be remote 
lung screening services to detect 
lung cancer in ‘at-risk’ patient groups 

or screening for calcified nodules to 

detect breast cancer. Telemedicine 
services also include urgent, acute 
reporting of clinical cases where the 
expert doctor is connected to the hospital 
via a secure and reliable connection and 
can diagnose cases within a high-quality 
clinical governance framework. Perhaps 
the best example is Medica’s NightHawk 
service which reports urgent radiology 
cases within a target response time of 1 
hour. In 2020, our average turnaround time 
for this service was less than 23 minutes. 
In this respect, hospitals do not have 
to provide a range of on-call, specialist 
radiologists working throughout the night. 
By aggregating cases across a range of 
hospitals, one specialist can be efficiently 
utilised to serve a wide pool of patients 
across a region or country. This works 
particularly well where there is a chronic 
shortage of highly trained experts for 
example, in pathology, radiology and 
ophthalmology to name a few areas. 
Overall, telemedicine services include, 
but are not limited to, the following areas:

Teleradiology 
• 

Is the transmission, display and 
interpretation of radiological images, 
such as CT scans and X-Rays, in a 
location independent of where the 
patient is imaged. It allows specialist 
doctors (radiologists) to provide an 
expert and timely report to allow 
clinicians to decide on the best 
treatment for their patients;

•  Patient imaged in healthcare facility;

• 

Images transmitted to our 24/7 
support team, who send them on to a 
specialist from our team of 500+ global 
reporters;

•  Expert reporter reviews the images and 
the patient’s clinical history and creates 
a report detailing what the images 
show;

•  Report sent back to clinician to inform 
patient treatment in less than 22 
minutes on average for our emergency 
service;

•  Our platform enables the secure 

electronic transmission of radiological 
patient images from one location to 
another, for the purposes of diagnostic 
interpretation and reporting by 
highly qualified radiologist experts. 
Through teleradiology, images can be 
transmitted from the hospital setting, 
where the images are created, to a 
reporter who can review and report 
on the images remotely. In the case 
of Medica, these reporters comprise 
consultant radiologists, reporting 
radiographers and rheumatologists, 
all specialising in their relevant field, 
who typically report on the images 
from their own home or from one of 
Medica’s dedicated reporting centres. 
Teleradiology improves patient care 
by enabling reporters to provide their 
services remotely, thereby facilitating 
the rapid availability of trained 
specialists 24 hours a day, 365 days a 
year.

The benefits:

•  Clinical support

Radiologists are available to discuss or 
clarify reports with the clients

•  Technical support

Experienced in-house technical team 
offering full support 24/7

•  Robust infrastructure

Dual data centre and multiple 
contingency systems providing a 
robust and resilient network

•  A strong network of clinicians

  Medica link over 500 reporters with 

over 100 hospitals, based on capacity 
and sub-specialty support.

•  Reporting with the full picture

Access to prior reports and images

•  Saves time

  Our platform has the unique ability to 

access the client’s RIS, saving the client 
time.

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Our process

•  Ophthalmology

•  Pathology

•  Cardiology

Teleophthalmology is the transmission, 
display and interpretation of visible 
light images of the eye in a location 
independent of where the patient is 
imaged. Teleophthalmology allows 
imaging to be undertaken in a 
community healthcare setting, which is 
convenient for the patient, whilst also 
providing access to a centralised team 
of specialist readers. Its uses include 
remote monitoring and diagnosis of 
retinal conditions such as macular 
degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. 
Often these are diseases which need 
to be monitored based on a patient’s 
clinical history or susceptibility. 
In such cases, highly specialist 
ophthalmologists do not need to be 
co-located at screening centres and 
an image can be captured, securely 
transferred, and reported remotely 
and the patient referred to see an 
ophthalmologist if required.

Historically, tissue sections and liquid 
cytology samples have been taken, 
transferred to a glass slide, stained, 
and reported by a trained technician 
and/or pathologist looking down 
a microscope. Increasingly, digital 
images are being taken of the stained 
tissue or cellular matter and can be 
interpreted remotely. This has the 
additional benefit that pathologists can 
share digital images that have already 
been annotated by the pathologist for 
secondary opinions or to sub-specialist 
pathologists within their network. Also, 
digital images can be shared during 
multi-disciplinary team case meetings 
alongside digital radiology images and 
laboratory diagnostic results.

•  Endoscopy

The theme here is the same as in other 
areas of telemedicine where a remote 
endoscopy can be conducted by a 
highly trained clinician, but the doctor 
reporting and visualising the case can 
access the image remotely. This may 
be done live whilst the patient is in 
situ or later. Again, this allows a scarce 
resource such as a gastroenterologist 
to care for multiple patients across 
multiple hospitals at a time that is 
both convenient for the doctor and 
minimises the time for patients to 
receive results and of the intervention 
for the patient.

Telecardiology can also be delivered 
remotely to diagnose and treat heart 
disease. This includes coronary heart 
disease, chronic and acute, as well as 
arrhythmias, congestive cardiac failure, 
and sudden cardiac arrest. Remote 
diagnosis allows electrocardiographic 
data to be transmitted in real time, for 
interpretation by a specialist. It enables 
specialist care to be accessed by 
people in remote locations.

•  Clinical trials 

Telemedicine also extends to services 
where a decision is made for the 
purposes of clinical trials. In the 
examples above, telemedicine is 
used to connect a specialist doctor to 
patient data or an image to enable a 
clinical diagnosis to be made remotely, 
but it can also be used to read data and 
images for clinical trial purposes. Many 
clinical trials particularly in therapeutic 
areas such as oncology, infectious 
diseases, and bone disease, all require 
imaging endpoints. Much like in clinical 
diagnosis, a specialist radiologist with 
considerable expertise in reading 
images for clinical trials, can remotely 
access the study and file a report at 
various timepoints during a clinical trial 
to monitor disease progression and 
response to therapy.

11

Report sent back to the clinician to inform patient treatment in less than 23 minutes on average for our emergency serviceExpert reporter reviews the images and the patients clinical history and creates a report detailing what the image showsPatients imaged in healthcare facilityImages transmitted to our 24/7 support team, who send them on to a specialist from our team of 500+ global reportersAnnual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORT 
 
 
 
 
Strategy

Medica has the 
ambition to lead the way 
in delivering innovative 
technology-enabled 
telemedicine services. 

Telemedicine includes any 
clinical service that can be 
delivered remotely by a 
clinician and enabled using 
technology combined with 
Medica’s market-leading 
clinical governance. 

Drivers of our strategy

1  Increased reporter capacity
• 

Increase number of rostered reporting 
hours and productivity of reporter 
network

•  Reduce manual workflow processes 

and deliver proprietary image 
allocation solutions and state-of-the-
art reporting systems

•  Expanded network of international 

reporters

•  Focus on reporter engagement to 

improve experience of working with 
Medica

2  Expanded core offering
• 

Integrate “Augmented Intelligence” into 
workflow as a clinical decision support 
tool to improve efficiency and speed of 
reporting for customers and patients

•  Expand presence in partnership with 
independent hospital groups and 
insurance companies

•  Geographic expansion of teleradiology 
reporting leveraging our installed base 
of reporters and bespoke reporting 
system

•  Expanded portfolio of services 

including PET-CT, Cardiac, Prostate 
and Lung Screening

3  Diversified service offering
•  Leverage teleradiology platform to 
expand into new areas of radiology 
reporting such as clinical trial reporting

•  Evaluate opportunities to diversify 
range of telemedicine offerings

•  Develop strategic partnerships to 

access new markets and to strengthen 
capacity in our core business 

•  Evaluate opportunities for new 

market entry and international service 
expansion

4  Driving profitable growth
•  Constantly strive to deliver better 

turnaround performance for routine 
and NightHawk services with specific 
focus on critical communication for 
urgent cases

•  Reduce manual workflow and drive 
improved productivity by improving 
efficiency of service delivery 

•  Deliver operating leverage through 

improved system and process design

5  Engaged and motivated team
•  Ensure that Medica remains a great 

place to work for both our service 
delivery team, as well as the network 
of reporters who choose Medica to 
build and enhance their careers

•  Energised and aligned employees: 

clear, transparent objectives and 
motivating incentives closely aligned 
to business performance

2020 and Q1 2021 Highlights

FutureTech and augmented 
intelligence
In December, Medica announced that 
it signed a partnership agreement with 
Sectra to deliver a new Picture Archive 
and Communication System (PACS); the 
key component of Medica’s FutureTech 
programme. Medica expects that this new 
system will go live in Q1 2022.

Also, in December 2020, following two 
successful pilot projects, Medica deployed 
its Urgent Stroke AI Support Tool (“qER”) 
into live clinical practice. This clinical 
application, which has been delivered in 
partnership with Qure.ai, is the first full 
implementation of AI into clinical practice 
by a UK teleradiology provider and acts 
as a decision support tool to enhance 
radiologist reporting of urgent stroke cases 
during the night-time. Within the first 
month of ‘go live’ around 15,000 radiologist 
reports utilised this important support tool 
and it has been well received by clients and 
radiologists

Acquisition of Global Diagnostics 
Ireland (November 2020)
In November, Medica acquired Global 
Diagnostics Ireland (GDI), the market 
leader for teleradiology services in Ireland, 
for an initial cash consideration of €16m 
(£14.5m) from private Irish healthcare 
group, Centric Health.

Transaction highlights:

•  Diversifies Medica’s customer base and 

geographical operations with Ireland’s 
market leader in teleradiology services

•  Expands service offering into 

ophthalmology with a 50% market 
share for the provision of diabetic 
retinopathy screening services on 
behalf of the Irish health service 

•  Brings with it a strong management 
team and network of expert doctors

•  Expected to be strongly earnings 
enhancing and return on invested 
capital expected to be approximately 
twice the cost of capital

Medica remains on track to complete the 
integration of GDI as planned by the end 
of Q1.

Joint venture partnership  
in Australia (February 2021)
Medica has formed an exciting joint 
venture with Australia-based Integral 
Diagnostics to expand Medica’s access 
to UK-qualified radiologists to deliver 
NightHawk during the Australian daytime. 

In time, the joint venture called MedX, 
will also bring together Medica’s expertise 
in delivering high quality out-of-hours 
teleradiology services with Integral 
Diagnostics’ knowledge and reputation 
in delivering radiology services across 
Australia and New Zealand and beyond. 

Acquisition of RadMD (March 2021) 
In February 2021, Medica acquired 
RadMD, a US-based leading Imaging 
Contract Research Organisation (“iCRO”) 
headquartered in the Philadelphia area 
with revenues of $8.9 million and EBITDA 
$1.2m in 2020.

RadMD provides high-value imaging 
expertise services and applies advanced 
systems to reduce costs and improve 
efficiency in drug and device development 
to pharmaceutical/biotech and Contract 
Research Organisations (CROs). 

The acquisition completed on 25th March 
for an upfront consideration of USD 21.7 
million (circa £15.6 million).

Teleradiology 
reporting

Wider 
telemedicine 
services

International 
expansion

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2021 strategic imperatives
In terms of the specific focus for 2021, 
this will continue to be on the three main 
drivers of growth:

1  Teleradiology reporting
•  Focus will be to maintain improved 

performance in reporting ensuring that 
there is sufficient capacity available 
to support the backlog of Elective 
reporting in the UK and Ireland

•  Continue to drive growth of both 

NightHawk and Elective reporting. 
Seize opportunities to expand the 
client base in both UK and Ireland. 
Proactively manage the impact of 
pricing pressure in the UK for Medica’s 
premium NightHawk service

•  Continue to expand the range of 

services offered by Medica. In late 
2020, Medica launched its first 
“Multidisciplinary Team” service which 
is particularly valuable in cancer 
diagnosis and treatment. The team 
aims to expand the uptake of this 
service in 2021.

2  Wider telemedicine services
Medica has a stated aim of doubling its 
revenue once the Company has recovered 
from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This will be driven by a strong recovery 
from COVID-19 as our clients tackle the 
huge backlogs of patients awaiting imaging 
for elective procedures. In addition, 
Medica will continue to grow organically 
with further penetration of existing client 
accounts, as well as the opportunity to win 
new NightHawk and Elective clients. 

Additional growth could be expected 
to come from further expansion of 
telemedicine services that enable remote 
clinical diagnosis such as ophthalmology, 

pathology, and cardiology, as well as 
entering the fast-growing market for 
clinical trials where remote reading of 
images and delivery of imaging studies as 
part of a clinical trial are areas that play to 
Medica’s core strengths.

Medica aims to leverage its trusted brand 
and client network to offer a broader range 
of telemedicine services and to expand 
these into new geographies over time.

Diabetic Retinopathy Screening
•  As part of the acquisition of GDI in 
Ireland, Medica acquired a diabetic 
retinopathy screening business called 
Global Vision, achieving our stated 
aim of diversifying services into other 
areas of telemedicine. The focus for 
2021 is to continue to expand the 
number of individuals that are screened 
and to continue to deliver an efficient 
surveillance programme for patients

Image reading for clinical trials 
•  Building on our acquisition of RadMD, 

Medica will continue to expand 
its presence in the market for the 
provision of imaging services for 
clinical trials. This specialist area of 
the Clinical Research Organisation 
(“CRO”) market is growing at mid 
double-digit growth rates driven by the 
number of clinical trials in therapeutic 
areas such as oncology, infectious 
diseases and diagnostics that required 
image reporting by specially trained 
radiologists both for clinical trial end-
points and for safety analysis. This 
attractive market offers opportunities 
for Medica’s network of radiologists to 
report clinical trials, as well as diversify 
Medica’s client base to include global 
pharmaceutical, biotechnology and 
contract research organisations.

Telemedicine services
Clinical Diagnostic 
Reporting:

•  Teleradiology

•  Teleophthalmology

•  Telepathology

•  New areas such 

as telecardiology, 
tele-endoscopy

Clinical trials:

•  Radiology study reading

• 

Imaging CRO

UK

Ireland

International

Near term

2020

Mid term

Mid term

Longer term

2021

2021

Other telemedicine Services
• 

In time, the Company will look at 
adding other telemedicine services 
using its established network of clients, 
clinical governance expertise and 
remote reporting systems and know-
how to operationalise and market these 
new services.

3  International expansion
• 

Ireland: The strategy for Medica 
in Ireland is to continue to deliver 
a flexible model combining low 
capex equipment, radiographer, 
and sonographer staffing, as well as 
expanding the teleradiology services 
offering across both public and private 
hospitals. Medica will start to utilise its 
combined network of dual Irish and UK 
Medical Council certified radiologists 
to increase the reporting capacity in 
both markets. In addition, Medica will 
look to leverage its systems, processes, 
and expertise in the UK to help to drive 
growth in Ireland, whilst at the same 
time adapting its business model to take 
advantage of the expertise and broader 
range of services delivered in Ireland

•  Australia and New Zealand: The 

focus for 2021 is to leverage the joint 
venture, MedX, to access additional 
reporting capacity during daytime 
hours in Australia for urgent, out-of-
hours reporting in the UK. In addition, 
MedX will look at the opportunity to 
enter the Australian and New Zealand 
market for teleradiology, as well as to 
expand into other markets where there 
are opportunities to leverage its core 
offering and expertise

•  United States: The focus for 2021 is to 

integrate and support the continued 
growth of Medica’s imaging contract 
research organisation, RadMD. 
The company is well placed to take 
advantage of the fast-growing market 
for imaging studies as part of clinical 
trials. RadMD provides both reader 
services; specialist radiologists 
experienced in reading images for 
clinical trials, as well as expertise in 
the design and execution of imaging 
studies for clinical trials. Whilst many 
of the key decision makers are based 
at large pharmaceutical and biotech 
companies in the United States, Medica 
will also support RadMD to continue to 
expand service clients in other markets.

 New international markets: The MedX 
joint venture will also in time target 
markets outside our current core 
focus. Medica is already working 
with customers outside of the UK and 
Ireland and is in discussion to enter new 
markets. This focus will continue in 2021. 

• 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

13

STRATEGIC REPORTDelivery: People/Values

addition of a clinical engagement lead 
and head of reporter liaison assisting 
with our reporter strategy, and a head 
of recruitment to oversee the company’s 
growth plans. Communication and 
feedback continue to help us to define 
our evolving culture, and this culminated 
in a formal rebrand for Medica in 2020 
and shaping of our organisational values. 
Staff workshops, director led town hall 
events and the ongoing enagement with 
non-executive directors provided feedback 
from staff. These have been successfully 
embedded in both organisational 
development and performance and were 
at the forefront of our response to the 
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, where 
Medica successfully continued to support 
both its clients and more fundamentally 
their patients during these challenging 
times.

2021 and beyond
Our people strategy will develop further 
as we enter 2021. Following the successful 
acquisition of GDI and Global Vision, and 
working closely with Managing Director 
Caroline Byrne, work is already under way 
to align our organisational approach and 
culture across the Medica group. As the 
group continues to experience growth 
and diversification, it is important we gain 
continuous feedback and we are therefore 
investing in an employee engagement 
platform that will facilitate employee 
communications and boost engagement, 
enabling employees to have a voice and 
engage in decision-making.

Our People Strategy
At Medica we continue to invest in our 
most valuable assets, our people. In 2020, 
we added to our growing workforce, 
adding 27 new employees to the team. 
In addition, the reporter community 
within Medica has grown in excess of 
500 radiologists, radiographers and 
rheumatologists.

Learning & Development
Medica has continued to invest in 

developing its wider workforce during 

2020 and into 2021. Our senior 
management team embarked on an 
externally facilitated learning and 
development programme, based 
around agile people principles, 
with the core objective of shaping 
the organisation’s future leaders. 
This has led to the creation of an 
ongoing mentor and coaching 
programme initiated in Spring 
2021 that will allow all our leaders 
to share experience and develop 
the wider workforce. Education 
has also been a priority, with the 
launch of our educational Seminar 
Series. This bi monthly programme 
covers topics such as the use of 
AI in imaging and emerging clinical 
developments. 

In addition, we have invested in the 

educational tool Stat DX so all our 

reporters have instant access at any time 
to an up to date learning and clinical 
reference tool.

Workforce Engagement 
and Culture
Medica relies on its diverse and adaptive 
workforce to deliver our services, retain 
our position as the market leading 
teleradiology provider in terms of quality 
and to deliver its growth strategy. 
Investments in key appointments 
across the business 
strengthened our 
team in 2020, 
with the 

14

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Our People, Our Values
2020 truly showcased our values in action, with many colleagues delivering on key 
projects and strategic activities that had a positive impact on our services and the patients 

they serve. 

Patient first and truly collaborative

Patient first and
Patient first and
truly
truly
Medica’s acute services provide 
collaborative
collaborative
emergency reporting around the clock 
for clinically and critically ill patients. 
Patients referred to Medica via the 
We are focused on our 
We are focused on our 
acute stroke and major trauma pathways 
goal of improved patient 
goal of improved patient 
are at a critical point in their care, and 
experience and outcome 
experience and outcome 
and achieve so much more 
and achieve so much more 
where every minute is crucial in terms of 
together by working in a 
together by working in a 
ongoing treatment and the impact on their 
collegiate and cooperative 
collegiate and cooperative 
eventual clinical outcome. A project led 
way.
way.
by our in-house clinical governance and 
service development colleagues looked 
at redefining the development scope for 
these pathways and therefore improve 
the referral, communication and reporting 
of such cases. The impact being faster 
turnaround times informing clinicians in 
under 30 minutes of the initial diagnosis.

Responsive and
accountable

Responsive and
accountable

Adaptive and pioneering
Adaptive and
Adaptive and
pioneering
pioneering
Role development within the team while 
managing our ambitious FutureTech 
We strive to offer the best 
We strive to offer the best 
We are responsive and 
We are responsive and 
Programme has allowed a long-standing 
at all times which means 
at all times which means 
flexible in our approach, 
flexible in our approach, 
member of staff to gain experience and 
adapting our services and 
adapting our services and 
processes and services in 
processes and services in 
use his technical skills within several 
using pioneering software 
using pioneering software 
order to meet the changing 
order to meet the changing 
core projects and initiatives within 
and technologies to ensure 
and technologies to ensure 
requirements of our
requirements of our
the programme. His creativity and 
the best customer and 
the best customer and 
customers. We take our 
customers. We take our 
understanding of our core imaging systems 
patient experience.
patient experience.
responsibilities seriously 
responsibilities seriously 
has been instrumental in integrating our 
and act professionally at all 
and act professionally at all 
augmented intelligence algorithms into 
times.
times.
our clinical workflow. This will aid our 
reporters in identifying acute stroke cases 
quickly and providing accurate assessment 
back to clinicians across our many 
hospitals within the UK.

Excellence in our
DNA

Excellence in our
DNA

Our reliability and quality 
of delivery is what our 
customer’s value most 
highly about Medica. We 
are always prepared to go 
the extra mile to deliver a 
service that adds value and 
exceeds expectations.

Our reliability and quality 
of delivery is what our 
customer’s value most 
highly about Medica. We 
are always prepared to go 
the extra mile to deliver a 
service that adds value and 
exceeds expectations.

Patient first and

Patient first and

truly

truly

collaborative

collaborative

We are focused on our 

We are focused on our 

goal of improved patient 

goal of improved patient 

experience and outcome 

experience and outcome 

and achieve so much more 

and achieve so much more 

together by working in a 

together by working in a 

collegiate and cooperative 

collegiate and cooperative 

way.

way.

Adaptive and
pioneering

Adaptive and
pioneering

We strive to offer the best 
at all times which means 
adapting our services and 
using pioneering software 
and technologies to ensure 
the best customer and 
patient experience.

We strive to offer the best 
at all times which means 
adapting our services and 
using pioneering software 
and technologies to ensure 
the best customer and 
patient experience.

Responsive and
accountable

Responsive and accountable
Responsive and
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our 
accountable
recruitment team have shown great 
flexibility in their approach. Going above 
We are responsive and 
and beyond to ensure we continue to 
flexible in our approach, 
recruit valuable reporting resource across 
processes and services in 
the globe. Their approach in an ever-
order to meet the changing 
changing environment has been pivotal 
requirements of our
to exceeding our capacity targets. The 
customers. We take our 
team have expanded their core offering 
responsibilities seriously 
to all recruitment for both the Medica 
and act professionally at all 
times.
and recently acquired GDI, providing 
a seamless experience for candidates 
onboarding within the Medica Group.

We are responsive and 
flexible in our approach, 
processes and services in 
order to meet the changing 
requirements of our
customers. We take our 
responsibilities seriously 
and act professionally at all 
times.

Excellence in our
DNA

Excellence in our DNA
Excellence in our
And finally, joining Medica just a few days 
DNA
before lockdown, our newest recruit to the 
Information Security and Risk team has 
Our reliability and quality 
shown exceptional professionalism and 
of delivery is what our 
taken on significant responsibility in a short 
customer’s value most 
space of time, even with the organisation 
highly about Medica. We 
all working from home for much of the year. 
are always prepared to go 
This has resulted in continued accreditation 
the extra mile to deliver a 
for Medica in the form of ISO standards 
service that adds value and 
9001 and 27001, demonstrating quality, 
exceeds expectations.
safety, and excellence in our systems of 
work.

Our reliability and quality 
of delivery is what our 
customer’s value most 
highly about Medica. We 
are always prepared to go 
the extra mile to deliver a 
service that adds value and 
exceeds expectations.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

15

STRATEGIC REPORT 
Delivery: FutureTech

What is the FutureTech 
Programme?
The FutureTech Programme comprises 
a series of technology –led projects 
that together build a new, integrated 
telemedicine reporting platform for 
Medica, its reporters and its clients 
that will support the future growth 
and scalability of our business. 

The programme covers five separate 
functional areas. These are depicted 
in the schematic opposite.

The Picture Archiving 
Communication System 
(PACS)
The PACS is the cornerstone of 
Medica reporting. It stores and 
manages the images to facilitate 
the reporting of studies by 
Medica reporters

The Integration Layer
The Integration Layer is the 
conceptual description of the 
standards-based communication 
capability that allows Medica to 
connect to its clients and its reporters 
(for example, in technical terms this 

could be a Dicom or HL7 interface). 
This capability allows us to handle client 
requests, to move studies from clients to 
reporters and reports back to clients. This 
will be a proprietary development and 
will include a bespoke interface with the 
Orchestration layer.

Orchestration
The Orchestration component of the 
Future Tech Programme provides the 
facility to manage the workflow of 
incoming studies; ensuring the studies 
get to the appropriate clinician in the 
fastest time possible. Orchestration will 
consider details such as reporter specialty, 
availability and the Client Service Level 
Agreement. Furthermore, any Augmented 
Intelligence (AI) input that identifies 
a potential urgent finding will inform 
orchestration such that studies may be 
prioritised for allocation to a reporter.

Augmented Intelligence
The underlying ethos of Medica is that 
the reporting clinician is responsible for 
generating the clinical report based on 
his or her interpretation of the image data. 
AI tools can be used to augment and assist 
the reporter in the production of the report 
by highlighting areas for inspection and 
by flagging potential detection of issues in 
an image allowing the doctor to make the 
decision whether to prioritise review or not. 
AI tools are not approved to substitute the 

important role of the radiologist, but rather 
as “decision support tools”. Consequently, AI 
in Medica relates to Augmented rather than 
Artificial Intelligence as it is a powerful tool 
used to inform diagnosis by the clinician.

Advanced Visualisation Tools
Advanced Visualisation tools are software 
packages that enable specialty specific 
viewing of images e.g Multi-Parametric 
Prostate studies. These tools extend the 
viewing capabilities of the standard PACS 
and allow Medica to provide an even wider 
range of clinical services. For example, this 
tool allows radiologists to rotate an organ 
to look at it from different perspectives 
or to visualise contrast media which 
highlights a particular area of interest 
for example a tumour.

The FutureTech Programme is a major step 
forward for Medica, enabling us to build 
on the services we already provide to our 
clients. It will deliver a proprietary ‘best in 
class’, integrated reporting platform with 
services listed above will facilitate Medica 
delivering next level reporting services.

Medica has committed an investment of up 
to £6 million to develop and implement the 
new FutureTech system. This programme 
is now well underway and will deliver the 
new PACS in Q1 2022.

Progress to Date
The FutureTech Programme started in 
earnest in early 2020. 

During 2020, Medica undertook:

•  A full procurement exercise to identify 
the provider for the new PACS system;

•  An evaluation of AI providers and the 

type of algorithms that would best suit 
the Medica workflow;

•  A review of the Advanced Visualisation 

Tools in place and future options;

•  An exercise to capture the 

orchestration requirements for the 
initial phase of the programme.

Furthermore, we have:

•  Assembled a dedicated team of new 
and existing team members with 
a range of project management, 
software development and specialised 
imaging software expertise focused on 
delivery of this exciting project;

•  Evaluated and implemented the q.ER 
algorithm from Qure.ai for identifying 
intra cranial haemorrhage;

•  Selected a new PACS partner and 
signed a contract with Sectra;

•  Commenced design of the new 

PACS solution.

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Reports

DICOM

Orders

Client Radiology 
Systems

DICOM

Workflow 
Processing

REPORTING TOOLS

Augmented 
intelligence Apps

Advanced 
visualisation

r
e
y
a

l

n
o
i
t
a
r
g
e
t
n
I

n
o
i
t
a
r
t
s
e
h
c
r
O

Medica deployed 
augmented intelligence

Sectra PACS

Qure

API

API

API

MEDICA SYSTEMS

Discrepancy  
Management

External  
Audit

Acute Workflow 
Management

Live  
Client View

17

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORT 
Delivery: FutureTech  

continued

Improved outcomes for patients
Our augmented intelligence tools will 
improve the prioritisation of studies to 
ensure that the most urgent are reported 
first with results being returned to 
referrers as quickly as possible. AI tools 
will also support radiologists to highlight 
abnormalities on scans such as very small 
ruptures in blood vessels that are very hard 
to detect. Overall, this quality improvement 
will provide another reason for clients to 
decide to work with Medica.

Plans for 2021/22:
The FutureTech Programme will 
continue throughout 2021 and 2022. Key 
deliverables will be:

• 

 An extension of the current Advanced 
Visualisation Tools

•  An ‘abstraction layer’ which forms 

an interface between the new PACS 
Application Programming Interface 
(API) and existing Medica systems

• 

• 

 The next Augmented 
Intelligence algorithm

 The first iteration of the new PACS 
product 

•  The first iteration of the Integration 

Layer.

Throughout 2022, there will be further 
iterations of all of the components but the 
key deliverable will be the second iteration 
of the PACS system which will include 
new orchestration rules, integration with 
Workforce Management, the first steps 
of automatic allocation and a much closer 
integration with client systems.

The benefits of the 
FutureTech Programme
The key benefits of the FutureTech 
Programme are:

A greatly enhanced user 
experience for Medica Reporters
In the evaluation of the new PACS 
solution, all clinicians involved 
highlighted the significant 

improvements in the Sectra viewing 
technology.

Rules-based automatic allocation 
will mean that more studies will 
be allocated on a “right first time” 
basis, improving turnaround times 
for clients and productivity of 
reporters.

New “prior image” rules will mean 
reporters will be assured they 
have all the studies that they 
need, when they need them to 
be able to undertake the highest 
quality diagnostic reports.

Improved turnaround times 
for clients

Closer integration with clients will 
reduce the administration time for the 

client and allow Medica to extend its 

partnership capabilities e.g. to help clients 
to manage their reporting lists.

Automated allocation will mean that 
studies will be allocated to reporters as 
speedily as possible, thereby removing 
administrative delays in the process.

Integration with workforce management 
will mean that studies can be allocated to 
active reporters, rather than being placed 
in a worklist and waiting for a reporter to 
connect.

Better tools for reporters
The augmented intelligence and 
visualisation tools will provide reporters 
with the highest quality reporting tools 
available;  
enabling our reporters to provide the 
highest quality diagnostic reports 
back to referring clinicians 
in a seamless manner.

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19

STRATEGIC REPORTDelivery: GDI

Interview with Global 
Diagnostics Managing 
Director Caroline Byrne

Can you explain the background 
to Global Diagnostics Ireland 
(GDI) and how the business is 
positioned in the Irish market?
Global Diagnostics originated in 
Western Australia in 1996, providing 
live remote ultrasound reporting for 
scans taken in locally for Australia’s 
aboriginal communities. The business 
model grew to encompass additional 
teleradiology reporting for other 
modalities before arriving in Ireland to 
form Global Diagnostics Ireland in 2007 
and becoming part of Centric Health. 

Centric Health at that time had launched 
their minor injuries clinics, Vhi Swiftcare 
with Ireland’s leading private insurance 
provider Vhi and were looking for a 
solution to reduce the turnaround times 
for radiologist reporting of the X-rays 
and to bring the provision of the staffing 
and equipment in-house. The acquisition 
of Global Diagnostics solved those 
conundrums. This service now provides 
end to end X-ray provision, within the 
Swiftcare Clinics, 365 days a year, for circa 
40k patients per year.

Shortly after the successful 
commencement of scanning and reporting 
plain films in Vhi Swiftcare, came Ireland’s 
first “diagnostics in the community” tender 
for X-ray and ultrasound full-service 
provision for the Irish public health service, 
the Health Service Executive (HSE), in 
Arklow Primary Care in County Wicklow. 
The HSE planned to set up the service 
as a locally funded programme only 
accessible to the GP population in the 
local area. GDI were awarded that tender, 
and remain the service provider for the 
community 13 years later, and it has been 
an outstanding success for the patient 
population who previously had to travel 
to Dublin or Wexford to access any 
diagnostic imaging service.

As the proverb goes “great oaks from 
little acorns grow”, and that first HSE 
engagement in Arklow and its success 
demonstrating the teleradiology model, 
enabled GDI to offer solutions to HSE 
Hospitals in Ireland struggling with 
radiologist access and shortages. In those 
early days there was no National PACS 
solution and in fact some hospitals had 
no PACS at all, often the service provided 
access to GDI PACS and provision of a 
digitiser and staffing onsite to mobilise the 
images for remote reporting. 

This development 
of “bespoke, tailored 
solutions” became the GDI 
unique selling point as other 
providers created their own niche in full 
diagnostic centre and modality provision 
across Ireland. As the HSE programme 
for a National Integrated Medical Imaging 
System (NIMIS) became a reality in 2011-
2012, GDI was positioned to become 
Ireland’s first true teleradiology provider as 
we migrated from those bespoke reporting 
solutions in several HSE hospitals, to 
continuation of their “live-time” reporting 
on the NIMIS platform. In one hospital 
case study, upon commencement with 
GDI teleradiology reporting, their average 
time between examination and report 
for all A&E cases fell from 20 days to 45 
minutes with urgent cases reported within 
15 minutes. The hospital also noted the 
cost of running the radiology department 
fell by 29% whilst the hours of consultant 
radiologist support more than doubled (45 
to 96 hours per week). 

Global Diagnostics is now Ireland’s largest 
teleradiology provider, reporting for 23 
HSE Hospitals with circa 150,000 public 
patient reports per annum.

What do you see as the opportunity 
to grow and develop teleradiology 
services in Ireland?
The teleradiology journey in Ireland is 
about five years behind where the UK 
is currently – with the expansion into 
NightHawk provision in its infancy. GDI 
has grown its out-of-hours acute reporting 
services from the support of a roster in 
one hospital in 2015 to 365 night provision 
and support or fully outsourced solutions 
for six hospitals over the last 24 months. 
We see the development of the NightHawk 
service in Ireland, paramount to our 
service offering, migrating to the Medica 
model of dedicated pathways for stroke 
and major trauma. 

Additionally, the undersupply of consultant 
radiologists in the public sector (estimated 
at the moment as 25% below the required 
per capita levels), is a problem that won’t 
be solved in the near future, and the GDI 
teleradiology model allows public hospitals 
in Ireland to ensure faster turnaround 
times (TATs) allowing referring doctors 
access to reports sooner, enabling them 

20

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be key and it has been refreshing to see the 
Medica Governance team seeking to learn 
from GDI systems and processes also.

Focus and Expertise – GDI are now 
working with an Executive Committee and 
a Board who are focused on telemedicine 
with a keen insight into what we do and 
how we can improve our services and our 
core business. We are already progressing 
on the development of a detailed strategic 
focus in Ireland that encompasses the 
learnings from Medica’s vast experience in 
teleradiology in the UK.

What do you think will be 
the benefits to the wider 
Medica from GDI’s 
expertise in managed 
radiology services?
GDI’s formative model 
of developing flexible 
services based on 
bespoke hospital and 
client requirements, 
that don’t solely 
encompass 
teleradiology has 
seen us create a niche 
in Ireland for being 
a solution focused 
provider. Often a 
short-term contract 
such as scanning and 
reporting within the 
hospital to eradicate a 
waiting list has led to GDI 
being poised to commence 
teleradiology services as 
that need arises and the GDI 
expertise in creating flexible 
partnerships with clients could 
lend itself to some strategic 
partnered approaches in the UK.

to make treatment 

decisions earlier, 
which ultimately improves 

outcomes for patients.

How will the partnership with 
Medica in the UK help you to grow 
your service offering in Ireland?
The acquisition of GDI by Medica was 
a truly exciting prospect from the start, 
and we could immediately see the 
opportunities and synergies each side 
could bring to the other. We see five areas 
as key to the Medica partnership and 
development of services for GDI:

1.  Business Development
2.  Radiologist Access
3.  Systems and Readiness
4.  Governance and Quality
5.  Focus and Expertise
Business Development – for GDI was 
historically largely reactionary simply 
due to limited resources and we see 
the Medica team support and focus 
instrumental to developing our product 
and our pipeline. 

Radiologist Access – is a reciprocal 
opportunity with both GDI and Medica 
having potential access to each other’s 
consultant radiologist panel. The expanse 
and sub-specialty of the Medica panel will 
give great leverage to GDI in the further 
development of the NightHawk service 
and sub-specialty reporting. The breadth 
and range of radiologist support will also 
allow enhancement of GDI MDT, peer 
review, audit and collegiate support. 

Systems and Readiness – the NightHawk 
platform, the Information Management 
and Technology team and project support, 
along with access to in-house experts all 
give GDI a real competitive edge in Ireland 
that we otherwise would have spent years 
and countless commercial and head count 
resources developing ourselves. 

Governance and Quality – Key to the 
continued success and growth of GDI 
was the development of clinical audit, 
quality assurance and clinical governance 
structures; however the peaks and pitfalls 
in teleradiology are known extensively by 
the Medica Clinical Governance team and 
we see a huge advantage to accessing their 
expertise and further perfecting the GDI 
processes. We have learned already that 
this is an area where shared learning will 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

21

STRATEGIC REPORTDelivery: GDI  
Delivery: GDI

continued

Global Vision – interview 
with Mr Mark Cahill, 
Clinical Director

What is your background and 
how did you become involved in 
delivering diabetic retinopathy 
(DR) screening services?
I started in DR screening as a trainee 
doctor. On completion of my 
training in Ireland I did a fellowship 
in DR at Joslin Diabetes Centre, 
Harvard University, Boston, where 
a lot of the original studies in DR 
screening originated. 

Once back in Ireland, in 2010 I helped 
reorganise the DR services in the Royal 
Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital alongside 
Centric Health. This service was funded 
by a small grant but was the start of 
a recognisable screening service and 
upon the release of the national tender 
for DR screening in 2012 it was a natural 
progression to build upon that model and 
put forward our vision for DR screening in 
Ireland to the National Screening Service 
(NSS). The NSS decided for continuity 
that they would award the national service 
to two providers, dividing the country 
geographically, and our tender for Global 
Vision won the wider Leinster region. 

We have been delighted to work in 
partnership with the NSS for almost 
nine years now in the DR programme 
which extended into a DR surveillance 
programme in 2018. Surveillance is for 
diabetic patients (although they are 
known as service users whilst in the 
screening programme) who need to be 
monitored more closely as they have 
signs of potential DR. By mobilising this 
service within the screening programme 
we are further reducing the pressures 
on the treatment centres in Ireland’s eye 
hospitals. 

Can you explain DR screening and 
how this is delivered by Global 
Vision?
DR is a complication of diabetes, whereby 
high blood sugar levels damage the back 
of the eye (retina). There are four stages of 
DR, and if not treated, they can progress  
to blindness.

Aside from preventing blindness, the 
screening programme is also the most 
cost-effective approach to DR risk as it is 
relatively easy to screen for and catching 
the condition early reduces the likelihood 
of blindness by 96%. The key aspects of 
DR screening are:

• 

Identifying the 
population, and 
the national diabetic 
register;

•  Providing a non-invasive eye 

photography test. We do sometimes 
have to administer eye drops to help 
capture the best quality images of the 
retina;

•  Ensuring the screening is efficient and 

timely – we have a defined criteria of 
timelines, service users need to be 
appointed, photographed, and results 
returned to their GP;

•  Once DR is detected, treatment is 
widely available and very effective.

How have you managed to deliver 
services during the pandemic?
In the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020, 
in line with the HSE’s measures to stop the 
spread of the virus and in recognition of the 
high-risk profile of our service user cohort, 
we agreed with the NSS to pause the DR 
programme temporarily. The service ceased 
for about 12 weeks, but we took that time 
to develop and hone our COVID-19 risk 
reduction measures in line with international 
guidelines and best practice standards. 

We introduced a five-element risk 
reduction plan including:

1.  COVID-19 Pre-screening/Risk 

Assessment – whereby all service users 
are triaged within 72 hours of their 
appointment and again by the screener 
on the morning of the appointment 
before entering our clinics 

2.  Social (Physical) Distancing – Global 
Vision teams introduced bespoke 
distancing measures for each of 
our 15 screening locations including 
the introduction of Perspex screens 
between our screeners and the service 
users at the cameras, COVID-19 
signage, elimination of waiting 
areas that did not allow two metres 
distancing etc.

3.  Personal Protective Equipment – we 
spent March and April coordinating 
large scale orders of the best quality 
PPE for our screeners and service users 
and training was given to all screeners 
on donning and doffing masks, 
goggles, and aprons safely

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A number of areas we are keen to explore 
in the future in terms of AI support 
are analysis of patient “Do not attend” 
rates, where we can seek to get more 
information from AI on the reasons for 
non-attendance and the profile of patients 
in the cohort. AI analysis of surveillance 
photographs from the OCT images would 
also be a keen progression – this is a 
binary function – are there cysts visible on 
the OCT or not? Photography capture is 
another area in which AI could potentially 
support diabetic retinopathy programmes. 
In future, it should be possible to have your 
diabetic eye screen in the future in a kiosk 
with reduced human intervention.

4. Infection 
Prevention and 
Control (IPC) Measures 

– all our screeners were 

trained on IPC measures including 

disinfecting the cameras after usage, 
wiping of doors, surfaces etc. 

5.  Social (Physical) Distancing – 

Appointment Capacity – to enable the 
four points above we had to reduce our 
overall appointment capacity by circa 
30% per day. Screeners have the time 
to pre-screen the service user before 
entering the building, ensure IPC of all 
areas between service users, and to 
sanitise their own hands. The capacity 
was also reduced to minimise service 
users crossing over with each other in 
waiting or communal areas

Our teams took that paused programme 
time to upskill in the areas mentioned and 
focused on areas such as clinical audit, 
research and cross training in different 
roles. They really showed their dedication 
to Global Vision, the DR programme 
and our service users and were ready to 
recommence appointing and screening 
on 1 July 2020 which was a fantastic 
advancement. 

We also had great support from the NSS 
in this period, and again the partnership 
approach we have built with them saw 
our senior teams work together towards 
the very successful recommencement 
of the programme.

What part will technological 
advances such as AI play in 
delivering services in the future?
AI can be applied in a few ways in DR 
screening – the first is to assist the 
graders by identifying whether or not DR 
disease is present. We have discussed this 
option with the NSS and have looked to 
international examples, but it is widely felt 
that the cost of the AI currently exceeds 
the benefit it would bring. AI is not 
advanced to the point that when screening 
for DR it can detect non-diabetic-eye-
disease, whereas our graders are trained 
experts in detecting this. Conditions like 
swollen optic discs, eye cancer or the more 
common eye debilitating disease macular 
degeneration, have all been found as part 
of the screening programme and with GPs 
notified, the service users are referred on 
for treatment.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

23

STRATEGIC REPORTDelivery: Enhanced Patient outcomes

The second area has been in the 
management of acute stroke. The Reporter 
Liaison team and Recruitment team at 
Medica have been busy improving the 24/7 
coverage of our acute service by specialist 
neuro-radiology reporters. In concert with 
this we have taken a pro-active approach 
to reporting, setting a target of 10 minutes 
for the initial impression of the CT head 
study to be communicated verbally to the 
client. This allows rapid decision making 
as to whether or not a patient receives 
thrombolysis (clot-dissolving) medication 
to try and improve the outcome. This 
has involved close co-ordination of cases 
by the NH Administration team with 
the reporters, workflow development 
through the NH Portal and excellent 
communication. As the stroke services are 
evolving in the NHS, some sites are also 
including a CT angiogram (blood vessel 
study). This can be utilised for assessing 
potential interventions such as mechanical 
thrombectomy and to assess presence 
or absence of collateral blood flow to 
ischaemic areas that will give prognostic 
information on outcome.

SQ: I believe that the team have also 
considered human factors involved in 
the NH process?

RL: Yes, it is acknowledged that working 
in a high pressure environment such as the 
NH service is akin to railway and airline 
safety management. Therefore, it was felt 
appropriate to arm the NH team with the 
knowledge and skills developed in those 
arenas. This has involved analysing where 
communication and process can fail and 
developing skills such as “NATO speak 
(Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc)” and “read-
back” to reduce error. The Executive team 
have also undergone a similar training 
process. In the future we will be looking 
at how we can share these skills and 
developments with the larger reporting 
team.

SQ: What are the challenges for the 
coming year in the NH process?

RL: We will continue working as a team 
to ensure an effective reporting 
service. This requires a 
multi-faceted approach. 

Annual report – Delivery – 
NightHawk evolution
CEO Dr Stuart Quin speaks with Clinical 
Director Dr Robert Lavis about service 
quality improvement in the NightHawk 
service.

SQ: Robert could you outline the remit of 
the NightHawk (NH) service?

RL: The Medica NH service provides 
reporting of emergency and urgent 
studies for clients across the UK. 
During daylight hours this is badged 
as “DayHawk” and out of hours 
it is “NightHawk” (NH). A large 
proportion of the work is triaged 
straight to scan through protocol 
driven pathways underpinned by 
clinical evidence and National 
Institute of Clinical Excellence 
(NICE) guidance. The service also 
provides the Ionising Radiation 
(Medical Exposure) Regulations 
(IRMER) 2017 requirements for 
more involved studies that require 
discussion with and justification 
by a consultant radiologist 
(practitioner) prior to scan.

SQ: What areas of the NH service 

have developed in recent years?

RL: In the last two years the Clinical 
Governance, Service Delivery, Accounts, 
IT and Reporting teams have worked 
collaboratively to enhance two main 
areas for patient care under the umbrella 
of NH. These were chosen due to their 
importance in terms of individual patient 
time-critical disease process management. 

The first area is trauma. Working with 
a large London teaching hospital, we 
have worked to ensure timely delivery 
of a written and verbal Seriously Injured 
Patient (SIP) report to the team in the 
clinical environment alerting them to 
and allowing the urgent management 
of significant pathology – for instance 
acute haemorrhage, pneumothorax, 
intra-cranial bleed, spinal injury. 
The second aspect has been the improved 
conformance by reporters in the use of a 
structured reporting template that ensures 
that all aspects of the study are covered 
and communicated effectively to the client 
referral team at Medica. The combination 
of these two actions has resulted in a 
more uniform approach to the reporting 
of trauma cases. We have now begun 
to successfully roll this structure out to 
other clients.

24

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Close liaison with clients will ensure 
correct use of the NH Portal, reducing 
the number of times that our team need 
to create proxy entries and ensuring that 
studies are labelled correctly if they are 
intended for expedited pathways (e.g. 
trauma, stroke). 

For obvious reasons, the focus of IT 
developments for 2021/22 will be on 
the FutureTech programme. However, 
we would like to develop further 
enhancements of the NH Portal to improve 
communication aspects, reduce “clicks” 
and improve the user experience.

SQ: Thank you, Rob. I look forward to 
hearing how this shapes up through 
2021 into 2022. You have described a 
collaborative approach to this service 
which certainly will benefit patient 
care and exemplifies all the Medica 
core values.

We have worked hard this year to increase 
adoption by client sites of the up to date 
Medica NH protocols. We have already 
achieved roll-out of these new protocols 
at over three quarters of our clients and in 
2021, we want to increase adoption further. 
This has required a co-ordinated cross-
team approach with a strong clinical lead 
from Dr Stephen Davies, Medical Director. 
There are many advantages of protocol 
driven pathways including reduced 
calls for referrers, efficient transfer of 
patients to imaging, reduced interruption 
with unnecessary calls for reporters 
and increased reporting throughput. 
We will continue to encourage clients 
onto the updated version of our protocols 
during 2021.

The Reporter Liaison and Recruitment 
teams will continue working hard in 2021 
to ensure we have the correct number of 
reporters with appropriate credentials 
covering the NH service. We have 
appointed many excellent reporters during 
2021 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, 
and we will be working with them to utilise 
their reporting capacity with Medica in the 
NH service.

SQ: What further evolutions can we 
anticipate for the NH service?

RL: We are developing a new pathway 
for acute abdominal imaging along the 
principles of the trauma and stroke 
pathways to ensure time-efficient image 
transfer and scan reporting. We will be 
developing a strategy for deploying the 
NH service in Ireland with our recent 
acquisition of GDI and their reporter 
capacity.

The oversight and quality management 
of the NH service is about to be brought 
under a quality framework approach 

to govern and drive future 

evolution and to assure 

ongoing quality of the 
current service.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

25

STRATEGIC REPORTCSR & ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Medica
The Group remains committed to embedding the three pillars of ESG within our business and have established a clear strategy that is 
meaningful to our employees, customers and investors. As a healthcare services organisation, we appreciate that some areas of ESG are 
more relevant than others. As such, we designed a clearer vision for our strategy that is governed by the ESG subcommittee of the Medica 
board currently chaired by Roy Davis. Our approach to ESG has been based on the established FTSE Russell model. Below we have 
outlined the breakdown of each area of focus within our Group framework along with commentary regarding annual progress. Lastly, the 
‘ESG spotlight’ section of the Annual Report highlights some examples of where ESG has positively impacted our business during the year.

Our supply chain

Environmental

Social

Governance

1  Climate change

2  Energy utilisation

3   Our people and standards

6   Governance and risk 

4   Human rights and community

5   Social impact and 
responsibility

management

7   Anti-bribery and corruption

8   Tax and financial  
transparency

Relevance to Medica

As certain areas of ESG are more relevant to Medica they 
therefore have a greater bearing on the current and future success 
of the Group. We have assessed the ESG categories and reflected 
the level of relevance and impact on our business as shown in the 
chart below:

Relevance: Of the category on the Group’s activities.
Level of impact: On the current & future success of the Group.

We currently consider the following areas from the FTSE Russell 
model to have minimal relevance and/or impact on the current and 
future success of the Group based on our existing business model:

•  Biodiversity

•  Water use

t
c
a
p
m

i

f
o

l

e
v
e
L

1

2

3

6

5

4

8

7

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www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
 
Category

Commentary for 2020

1

Climate  
change

2

Energy 
utilisation

Medica actively considers its environmental footprint and the impact that decisions may have on the environment 
and particularly climate change. As a technology & services Group with most of its staff either working from home 
or employed in one office location and radiologists contracted mainly from their own homes, we believe our own 
environmental footprint remains small. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result of transitioning our staff to remote working, travel and office 
usage has been minimised during the year resulting in a reduction in carbon footprint. In future, we expect our 
teams to continue to work from home more than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. We are likely to adopt a 
hybrid model of working part-time in the office and the remainder of the time at home. So, we expect this impact 
to have a lasting effect.

We have continued to reduce our carbon footprint on travel further through strategic partnerships that leverage 
existing delivery networks rather than delivering reporter workstations ourselves. This has resulted in reduced lead 
times, quicker overall deployment of workstations and an improved reporter experience.

We continue to maintain our clear approach to recycling by encouraging those in the office to use conveniently 
placed bins for standard paper & plastic recyclables, and separate secure confidential paper recycling.

A target for 2021 will be to continue to drive recycling of higher value items such as redundant workstations, 
laptops, PCs and cabling etc. Medica has a process that has been adopted for equipment used internally in the 
office, but needs to improve the recycling of non-office based equipment.

Energy and emissions report
Further to the energy efficiency actions detailed in section 1 above, the Group has disclosed its Streamlined Energy 
and Carbon Reporting, by calculating its energy usage and emissions as follows:

UK energy use (kWh)
Associated greenhouse gas emissions (Tonnes CO2 equivalent)
Intensity ratio (Emissions per 100,000 reported body parts)

20201

44,263

31.4

2.71

2019 
(comparative)

60,346

42.8

2.20

1  2020 energy usage excludes Ireland since acquisition on 3 November 2020 as this was immaterial to the group’s energy use for 2020. 

The Group applies the GHG reporting protocol as its method of reporting Greenhouse gas emissions:

Scope 1: Direct emissions that result from activities within the Group’s control in connection with the combustion 
of fuel. 

Scope 2: Indirect emissions from any electricity, heat or steam the Group purchases and uses. 

Scope 3: Any other indirect emissions from sources outside the Group’s direct control.

The Group does not purchase or combust fuel directly so the Scope 1 emissions for the year is zero. Scope 2 
emissions are limited to the Group’s head office building in the United Kingdom. Note, the Group has chosen this 
year not to make the voluntary disclosure for Scope 3 emissions.

The calculations in the above table are derived from electricity meter readings for lighting and power and emissions 
have been calculated using the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator.

27

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTCSR & ESG

continued

Category

Commentary for 2020

3

Our people 
and standards

Our people are our most valuable asset. They have been vital to our success so far and to our future story.

Diversity: 
We are proud of the mixture of talent and experience the people who work for us bring. We strive to make Medica 
a great place to work and this enables us to attract and retain the best talent and provide the best service for our 
customers. 

Medica has a firm commitment to equality of opportunity in all our employment policies, practices and procedures. 
Our recruitment and selection processes are geared to selecting the best candidate regardless of their age, gender, 
sexuality, ethnicity, full or part-time status, disability and marital status. We also apply these principles to the 
recruitment of our contract reporters.

We recognise that a diverse workforce will provide a wide range of perspectives that promote innovation and 
business success. The Group has a formal equal opportunities policy to ensure no employee or applicant is 
discriminated against.

In 2020, we added 25 full-time and 2 part-time employees to the team. At 31 December 2020, Medica had 113 
full-time employees and 21 part-time staff of which 74 were male and 60 were female. Of the senior members of 
management, 5 are male and 2 are female. We also had over 500 contract reporters registered and working in our 
service of which 79.6% were male and 20.3% were female.

Training and development: 
We have delivered a leadership programme for our management team, providing them with the skills and tools 
needed to deliver the Group’s strategic objectives and goals.

Our team has developed and deployed a suite of e-learning modules for new reporters during induction process, 
resulting in improved reporter engagement and streamlining of service.

Medica has remained committed to providing development opportunities to its talented workforce and this has led 
to internal promotion on 12 occasions during the year. This enables the Group to develop a loyal and highly engaged 
workforce whilst reducing external recruitment costs. Medica continues to adopt a “grow your own” approach to 
talent and where possible, will seek to fill internal roles by offering existing team members the opportunity to grow 
and develop within the organisation.

Engagement and culture:
The Group defines its employee performance management by setting company-wide strategic objectives that 
are cascaded and aligned to all members of staff. Performance is reviewed and managed via an annual appraisal 
process and regular meetings between management and their teams.

Our corporate rebrand introduced new company “values” and these have being embedded into our people 
framework, as well as our annual performance and development process. We will be further embedding the values 
into our performance evaluation during 2021.

Having an engaged staff and reporter workforce is vital to our current and future success. Medica holds regular “town 
hall” style meetings to share key progress updates and good news stories. We also provide regular communications to 
our employed workforce and to our contracted reporters. These are also delivered through our employee and reporter 
newsletters along with the opportunity to highlight and introduce members of the team. Our Non-Executive Director 
responsible for workforce engagement, Jo Easton, hosted a number of employee forums throughout the year to hear 
directly from our staff on a variety of topics and to provide feedback on how our people strategy is performing. 

Topics addressed included working at Medica and responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, 
understanding Medica’s strategy, culture and newly introduced values, communication and pay and reward 
mechanisms. A formal Board review of the output and feedback took place in December 2020. 

In addition, in 2020, Medica developed a programme of regular training and education sessions both for 
radiologists and radiographers, but also for Medica employees. These are well attended and help to disseminate 
information and best practice training across the group.

Finally, recognising and rewarding our staff is at the heart of what we do and at the end of 2020, colleagues and 
the leadership nominated individuals who embodied Medica’s values and we celebrated their success at our virtual 
Company Awards event.

Recruitment:
The Group has continued to invest in our dedicated recruitment team who help radiologists through the process 
whilst ensuring Medica contracts with the highest calibre of applicants. The recruitment process focuses on the 
needs of both stakeholders to ensure quality and work satisfaction which leads to a long-term relationship.

We have developed a retention strategy that covers all aspects of a radiologist’s interaction with Medica. As well 
as a team that looks after radiologist training needs we have a Reporter Liaison team, which deals with day-to-day 
queries and requirements and offer all radiologists 24/7 support. Overall radiologist management is overseen by 
our Clinical Governance team.

We have ongoing investment in a workflow programme to improve standardisation, efficiency and quality of service 
to all stakeholders. The Group have also brought the recruitment of internal staff vacancies in-house, with successful 
placements, increased engagement levels during the year and reduced external recruitment agency costs.

28

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPCategory

Commentary for 2020

4

Human rights  
and 
community

Medica publishes a modern slavery statement in line with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We 
have a Modern Slavery Policy that reflects our commitment to act ethically and with integrity in all our business 
relationships. The Policy is communicated to all workers to ensure they understand our responsibility and attitude 
towards modern slavery. Our wider policy suite instils ethics and integrity across the organisation. 

We conducted a review of the hourly rate of all staff and workers in 2019 to satisfy ourselves that the National 
Minimum Wage and National Living Wage were being paid in all circumstances. We continue to maintain 
this position and obtained the National Living Wage accreditation in early 2021 as a further statement of our 
commitment.

Our business continues to help improve the day to day reporting experience for our consultant radiologists and 
ultimately improving patient outcomes. There remain many ancillary benefits to the NHS of teleradiology other 
than reporting capacity. The fact is, that radiologists want a more flexible portfolio career that allows specialisation 
and teleradiology is a great way to do this. Our reporters continue to augment their expertise by focusing on 
particular types of reporting which benefits the NHS. Medica’s clinical audit process is quite different from the 
NHS and is valued by our radiologists. They receive a different kind of feedback on their own reporting and we 
also share the best learning points from our data output. This helps develop their NHS practice and is an important 
benefit of working for Medica.

We operate in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and take account of other internationally 
accepted human rights standards. We also promote human rights through our employment policies and practices, 
through our supply chain and through our services.

5

Social 
impact and 
responsibility

Our Group’s core business model relies on us to continually ‘“do well by doing good”. Medica’s aim is to offer 
the highest quality service to our doctors, customers and in turn, their patients. Through our business model 
and strong company values, we believe that we will have a positive impact on our people and the Group’s future 
growth. During the year we continued on the journey with our charitable partner RefuAid to support a refugee 
doctor. At the time of the first national lockdown in March, we also provided a pro bono “pass through” service to 
our NHS customers. There are more details on this in our ESG spotlight section below. 

The whole team is proud to work for a company that makes a real difference to improving patient welfare and 
contributes to saving lives. Our core NightHawk and routine services do this by providing high quality complex 
reports back to hospitals quickly to direct the care of the patient. 

We are always looking to innovate and improve the quality of our services and recent examples of this are the 
investment in developing the stroke pathway and the major trauma pathway. Training mentioned above to improve 
critical communication is directly aimed to improve patient outcomes particularly in time-sensitive conditions such 
as stroke. Other examples are the development of the radiographer reporting service and the emphasis on new 
Specialist Services which widen the range of services provided to customers.

Category

Commentary for 2020

6

Governance 
and risk 
management

We have continued to build and develop our risk management framework and this has been further embedded into 
our business. During the year we aligned risk, project and performance management. Further information on this 
can be found in the risks & uncertainties section on pages 38 to 41.

Clinical governance remains paramount to the delivery of our critical services. We have implemented clinical 
protocol improvements for stroke and multi trauma cases on our Nighthawk service line and rolled these out to 
our clients. This has streamlined the process and reduced turnaround time for patients. The Group utilises regular 
reporting that is consolidated by the Medical Advisory Board, led by our Medical Director. This information is 
shared upwards with the PLC Board and highlights potential clinical risk, enabling the board to review and manage 
this in line with the Group’s wider risk framework. 

We continued to review our approach to cyber security and data protection during the year and successfully 
deployed some new technical controls to mitigate against internet based cyber threats. We have increased the 
level of protection for our staff, reporters and importantly our customer data. Cyber risk is reviewed as part of our 
wider risk management strategy and was regularly reported on to the senior management team and board.

We continue to maintain and implement policies to ensure adherence to regulations on anti-bribery, anti-corruption 
and anti-money laundering. We reviewed our policies and process with external auditors to ensure continued 
adherence with the Criminal Finances Act 2017.

Medica maintains and implements policies that demonstrate commitment to adhere to regulations on tax and 
financial transparency. We refrain from using offshore jurisdictions for tax planning and our tax payments are 
aligned with revenue generating activity.

7

Anti-bribery  
and corruption

8

Tax and 
financial 
transparency

29

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTCSR & ESG

continued

In the ESG Spotlight

Pass Through Service for the NHS

RefuAid Partnership

5

6

4

5

Flexible Working

1

2

3

In response to the increased strain that 
COVID-19 placed on NHS hospitals, 
Medica has worked in collaboration 
with radiology departments to leverage 
our network of reporting capabilities. 
We offered our clients a “pass through” 
service to facilitate the home reporting 
of their own work by their staff on our 
infrastructure. This was provided on a pro 
bono basis during 9am - 5pm weekday 
NHS contracted hours throughout the year. 

The service has enabled NHS hospitals 
to utilise their radiologists or reporting 
radiographers who contract with Medica, 
to continue to report from home when 
required to self-isolate due to COVID-19. 
As a result, Medica has strengthened its 
relationship with clients and continues to 
demonstrate our core values.

Medica continued its partnership with 
RefuAid by sponsoring a refugee doctor 
from Syria. In November, our staff 
embarked on a challenge to collectively 
cover a distance of walking, running and 
cycling over 3,000 miles. This increased 
engagement with our employees who 
fundraised £16,000 after successfully 
completing the challenge. The fundraising 
efforts by the team are helping the 
individual to work towards a GMC 
registration and long-term goal of working 
for the NHS. More information on our 
partnership with RefuAid and an interview 
with Dr Mohammed Jalaleddin can be 
found opposite on page 31.

Medica has always adopted a flexible 
approach to our workforce and we 
continue to do so. The vast majority of our 
reporters work from their homes and this 
continues to remain one of the attractions 
of our remote working model. The Group 
has existing policies in place for staff and 
enables flexible working arrangements 
that support both the company and the 
individual. In early 2020 we shifted our 
entire workforce to remote home working 
ahead of the first national lockdown and 
the majority of staff continued to work 
in this way throughout the year. We have 
begun developing a flexible working policy 
that we plan to deploy after the COVID-19 
pandemic has come under control. This will 
further offer our workforce the opportunity 
to balance their own needs whilst we 
continue to provide our critical services to 
clients, our reporters and patients.

30

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPHuman Story: Charity Partnership with RefuAid

In November, the Medica 
team devised a virtual 
challenge of collectively 
walking, running, cycling, 
and swimming the distance 
between Latakia in Syria – 
the home of Dr. Mohammed 
Jalaleddin – and Dublin – the 
home of Medica’s recent 
acquisition – an impressive 
total of 3,064 miles. The 
team raised over £14,000 
much-needed funds for 
RefuAid; Medica’s charitable 
organisation partner. 

We live in a country where highly skilled 
medical staff, fleeing war and persecution, 
find themselves forced to work in low-paid 
survival jobs such as cleaning or waiting 
tables, due to the highly requalification 
costs. Medica has teamed up with RefuAid 
to help support refugees in the UK to 
return to their highly skilled profession. 
Many of the healthcare professionals 
supported have extensive experience 
in very challenging environments and 
have skills vitally needed within the 
UK healthcare sector. Not only can we 
provide financial support and advice, but 
we also hope to leverage our network of 
clients and reporters to help radiologists 
and radiographers back into work within 
healthcare.

In 2020 we sponsored Dr. Mohammed 
Jalaleddin, a refugee and experienced 
radiologist from Syria. Dr. Jalaleddin 
is currently working towards his GMC 
registration with the goal of practising as 
a radiologist in the NHS. He obtained his 
primary medical qualification in 2005 and 
worked in radiology between 2009 and 
2012 when he was forced to stop working 
because of the war.

Since arriving in the UK he has successfully 
completed his Professional and Linguistic 
Assessments Board (PLAB) Part One and is 
currently studying for PLAB Part Two.

Philip Bradley
Head of Reporter Liaison 
met with Dr Jalaleddin

Q

A

   Could you share with us  
your journey from Syria 
to the UK?

Our story started in 2012 when we 
had to move from my home city, 
Latakia, to the countryside where 

we lived for more than a year, until ISIS 
took control over the area. We had to make 
a difficult decision and leave Syria. As a 
woman, my wife was a higher risk, so we 
urgently arranged for her to leave for 
Turkey, and then apply for asylum in the 
UK. My children then joined her in 2016. 
For me, I had to take a difficult journey 
from Syria to Jordan, travelling through 
many dangerous places. I then lived in 
Georgia for about 6 months until my visa 
application was approved, and I was able 
to join my family in the UK.

Q

   Could you share with 
us how your interest in 
radiology started?

A

I decided to specialise in 
radiology when I was in my fifth 
year of medical school. I realised 
that the most rewarding part of the job is 
the diagnostic process, finding out what is 
wrong with the patients. Being a 
radiologist allowed me to make this 
diagnosis and help the clinician decide the 
treatment plan.

Q    What do you like most  
about the NHS?

A

I think the NHS is one of the best 
things about the UK, because the 
system allows anyone to have 
access to the best possible 
healthcare regardless of wealth or position. 
I also like the values of the NHS, especially 
how the patient always comes first.

Q   What are your goals? 

A

My initial goal is to start my 
career as a radiologist, but this 
has been slowed down because of 
COVID-19. My next step is to pass 

my PLAB 2 exam so I can then become 
GMC registered and a qualified radiologist 
in the UK.

Q

A

   How has RefuAid 
supported you?

RefuAid has supported me in 
many ways, starting with 
enrolling me into a very good 
English school. They covered 

almost all my expenses, so I could focus on 
my study. They later introduced me to 
different organisations that could help me 
progress into my career and provided me 
with the materials I needed. I cannot put 
into words how helpful they have been to 
me and how grateful I am for their support.

Q

   How can Medica help 
radiologists like yourself 
and how can we leverage 
our extensive network of 
radiologists at such a tough 
time?

A

I think Medica can make a real 
difference by providing funding 
for radiologists to be able to 

requalify in the UK, but more than that, 
Medica has a huge network of NHS clients 
who could potentially help newly UK 
qualified radiologists, who are also 
refugees, to find posts within their 
hospitals. 

Q    How have you settled  

into life in the UK?

A

I moved to the UK in 2017 to join 
my wife and children, who moved 
here in 2016 and settled in West 
London. When I first moved here, I faced 
some difficulties such as learning a new 
language. I volunteered for Oxfam to 
improve my language skills and learn about 
the culture. It is also how I learnt about 
RefuAid and how they could support me. 

Q    What is your favourite  
thing about the UK? 

A

Before coming to the UK, I liked 
many things about this country 
such as the history, english films 
and the education system. When I moved 
here, I was most impressed about how 
much diversity there is, as you can meet 
people from different backgrounds to learn 
about the traditions from their cultures. 
Which is, I think, really difficult to find in 
any other place in the world.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

31

STRATEGIC REPORTMedica has the aspiration to 
lead the way in telemedicine. 
Whilst Medica remains 
the market leader in 

teleradiology reporting in 
the UK, in 2020, Medica 
added market leadership 
in the Republic of 
Ireland and in 2021 has 
already expanded into 
the clinical trials field via 
an acquisition in the US 
and also took the strategic 
decision to establish a joint 
venture partnership in the 
Australian market. 

Medica has demonstrated the resilience 
of its business model in the face of a 
global pandemic and is now well-placed to 
support its clients as their elective services 
recover. A broader range of telemedicine 
services, coupled with a more international 
business, will provide Medica with 
additional opportunities to drive future 
growth and diversify its revenue base.

Growth impacted by pandemic, 
but elective procedure backlogs 
building up
Medica was fast to react to the unfolding 
pandemic in March 2020. As lockdown 
loomed, the Company had already tested 
its home working contingency plans. 
Whilst Medica reporters by virtue of the 
systems and processes the Company 
deploys, are set up to work from home, the 
central services team is office-based and 
so needed to react quickly. This shift to 
remote working was testament to the agile 
behaviour and ‘can do’ attitude of the team 
at Medica and I would like to start my 
report by recognising the speed at which 
the team responded to the challenge of 
COVID-19 and how well they were able to 
adapt and provide support to clients who 
in turn can do the same for their patients.

Medica was also fast to assist clients 
as the COVID-19 outbreaks occurred 
in hospitals. The Company was able to 
leverage its installed base of well over 
500 workstations to enable radiologists 

working for our clients to report from 
home, rather than risk going into the 
hospital to do so. Over 20,000 reports 
were allocated by Medica’s team on a pro 
bono basis during the initial COVID-19 
outbreak – a service which extended 
throughout the pandemic into 2021. 
Medica was also fast to deploy a specialist 
COVID-19 chest X-ray protocol to enable 
accurate and rapid reporting. In addition, 
we liaised with the NHS Nightingale 
hospitals to provide imaging reporting on 
standby, but thankfully our services were 
never required.

Whilst radiology activity reduced across 
the NHS last year due to a combination 
of focus on seriously ill patients, staff 
shortages, a need to socially distance 
patients and to disinfect scanners between 
appointments, most procedures for which 
imaging was requested have been deferred 
rather than been cancelled. 

Based on NHS statistics published in 
April this year, there are now a total of 
4.7 million people waiting for hospital 
treatment. That number is set to rise to 
what the NHS Confederation believes 
could be as many as 6.9m cases by the 
end of the year as people finally visit a GP. 
According to the most recent figures, the 
number of people who have been waiting 
for at least a year has increased from 1,613 
before the pandemic struck to 304,044. 
This represents an unprecedented 
demand for NHS imaging services. Medica 
expects there to be a significant focus on 
scanning these patients in 2021 to reduce 
the backlog. This will be dependent 
on controlling viral epidemiology and 
increasing immunisation across the 
population. Once these are under control, 
then we can expect the NHS to accelerate 
activities and expand imaging capacity to 
address the huge demand on its services. 

In anticipation of this, the Company 
continued to recruit radiologists in 2020 for 
both our NightHawk and Elective reporting 
work and increased its rostered reporting 
hours (the Group’s revised measure of true 
radiologist capacity) by 13% YoY. Medica 
has close relationships with its clients’ 
radiology departments and will ensure 
that it has sufficient capacity to meet this 
anticipated demand when it materialises 
into images that require interpretation.

CEO Review

“ Medica has 
demonstrated the 
resilience of its 
business model 
in the face of a 
global pandemic 
and is emerging 
well-placed to 
support its clients 
as their elective 
services recover. 
A broader range 
of telemedicine 
services coupled 
with a more 
international 
business will 
provide Medica 
with additional 
opportunities to 
drive future growth 
and diversify its 
revenue base.” 

Dr Stuart Quin 
Chief Executive Officer

32
32

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
FINANCIAL METRICS

Revenue of

£36.8m

Underlying operating profit of

£5.0m

Underlying EPS of

3.47p

OPERATIONAL

Increase in reporter hours of

13%year-on-year

Number of reported body

£1.16m

Down 40% on 2019 (COVID-19 
impact)

NightHawk turnaround time of

23 minutes

NightHawk SLA

98%

Up 1.7% from 2019

Progress against strategy

Launch of FutureTech programme – 
on track to deliver
In March 2020, I announced a new 
programme that will replace the current 
PACS, as well as automate and improve 
many of the currently manual legacy 
processes involved in allocation and 
reporting of images. In December 2020, 
Medica signed a contract with Sectra, an 
expert in delivering PACS solutions. This 
ambitious programme will deliver a new 
PACS in Q1 2022 and is expected to require 
up to £6 million investment over the period 
until 2024. This will be the platform upon 
which Medica can deliver improvements 
in the automated allocation of cases 
to reporters and more easily deploy 
Augmented Intelligence (AI) and Advanced 
Visualisation solutions to enhance the 
quality of reporting. 

Medica has invested in a dedicated team 
to deliver the FutureTech programme. 
Delivery of the new reporting system will 
improve the experience for reporters and 
over time, drive operational efficiencies 
and operating leverage in the business.

Successful pilot and launch of 
Augmented Intelligence tool 
to detect brain bleeds in stroke 
patients. 
Also in March 2020, I set out Medica’s 
approach to Augmented Intelligence 
and announced a partnership with Qure.
ai, a leading expert in AI solutions for 
radiology based in Mumbai. I am pleased 
to announce that within nine months, 
Medica has been able to conclude two 
detailed pilots of the AI algorithm for 
stroke called “qER” and launch into live 
clinical practice in December 2020. To date 
over 50,000 live clinical reports have been 
completed using this decision support tool 
and feedback from radiologists and our 
clients has been overwhelmingly positive. 
Radiologists are finding that the “qER” 
tool enhances their own diagnoses, but 
occasionally, and importantly, highlights 
evidence of bleeding that is hard to detect 
by human eye. This tool, the first launched 
into clinical production by a teleradiology 
company in the UK, therefore further 
differentiates Medica’s NightHawk service 
and is another reason for clients to choose 
Medica to handle their urgent, out-of-
hours reporting. 

Medica is planning to deploy further AI 
decision support tools to improve quality 
and increase efficiency once the first stage 
of the FutureTech programme has been 
delivered. 

Allied to this is the investment that Medica 
made in 2020 to revise and roll-out new 
protocols for reporting stroke and major 
trauma. Medica has trained its specialist 
radiologists to report using these best 
practice protocols and again, these quality 
improvements have been well received by 
clinicians and clients.

Entry into Ireland and diversification 
of service offering
In 2020 and into 2021, Medica accelerated 
its strategy to internationalise its core 
business and made progress to diversify 
the range of telemedicine services it offers.

In November 2020, Medica acquired 
GDI, the market leader in the nascent, 
but fast-growing teleradiology market 
in the Republic of Ireland. This exciting 
acquisition was conducted during the 
initial recovery from the first COVID-19 
lockdown. Whereas Medica’s core Elective 
reporting business was heavily impacted 
by the pandemic, GDI’s business was less 
impacted since as well as conducting 
radiology reporting services, GDI also 
provides a wider ‘managed service’ offering 
which includes scanning patients. This 
means that GDI is better able to capture 
reporting activity. Additionally, GDI was 
successful in negotiating with the HSE 
(Health Service Executive, the national 
health service in Ireland) to manage the 
costs of service delivery. This is particularly 
true for the ophthalmic screening service 
provided by GDI called Global Vision. 
This service provides ‘back of the eye’ 
retinal screening services to diagnose 
diabetic retinopathy in around half of 
the Irish population. This represents a 
new telemedicine service and revenue 
diversification for Medica. 

I am very pleased that the management 
team of GDI is equally excited by the 
prospect of joining Medica and with the 
initial phase of integration complete, the 
combined team is now focused on driving 
growth and ensuring sufficient capacity 
to support the anticipated demand that 
will come as the backlog of elective cases 
are managed in Ireland. Integration of 
the company is advanced and should be 
completed by the end of the first half of 
2021.

33

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTCEO Review  

continued

Strategic approach to access 
radiologist capacity and new 
opportunities in Australia, New 
Zealand and beyond
In February 2021, Medica established 
a 50:50 Joint Venture with Integral 
Diagnostics Limited Pty (IDX); a leading 
provider of radiology services in Australia 
and New Zealand that is listed on the 
Australian stock exchange. This innovative 
partnership, MedX, will have multiple 
benefits for both IDX and Medica:

1.  Working in collaboration with the joint 
venture, Medica will be better able 
to source UK certified radiologists to 
support its growing NightHawk service 
that remains predominantly supported 
from the UK during the night-time. This 
offers more flexibility as Medica grows, 
but also means that a contingent 
of urgent out-of-hours reporting is 
conducted during daytime hours in 
Australia and New Zealand.

2. 

In time, the joint venture will jointly bid 
to run teleradiology reporting services 
in Australia and New Zealand. Clients 
will benefit from the local knowledge 
and expertise of IDX coupled with 
Medica’s experience of delivering 
teleradiology reporting at scale.

3.  Further, the joint venture aims to target 
new markets where the expertise of 
both partners can be leveraged to 
unlock new opportunities.

Acquisition of RadMD and 
associated equity fundraising
In March 2021, Medica announced the 
acquisition of RadMD, a high-quality 
US based imaging Contract Research 
Organisation (“iCRO”) business based in 
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. 

The company was established in 2006 by 
two leading experts in imaging clinical trial 
design and execution, Dr Richard Patt and 
Dr Kohkan Shamsi, and the company has 
growth to become a key quality provider 
of iCRO services to Pharmaceutical and 
Biotech clients and to other CRO’s. RadMD 
offers a broad spectrum of imaging 
clinical research services including the 
full management of all imaging aspects 
of clinical trials, expert image review 
and consulting services with expertise 
particularly in design of early-stage trials 
with imaging. Medica and RadMD both 
focus on providing specialist interpretation 
of CT, MRI and X-ray images. However, 
whereas Medica focuses often on highly 

34

time sensitive diagnostic reporting of 
images from patients in hospital, RadMD’s 
radiologists and medical experts read 
images under strict regulatory protocols 
as part of multi-phase clinical trial studies. 
The business also includes an institute 
focused on the training of clinical trial sites 
and sponsors.

The company has grown rapidly and now 
counts a wide range of pharmaceutical, 
biotech, medical device and contract 
research organisations (CROs) among 
its clients, with an excellent reputation 
in the market. The business employs a 
team of 16 full-time employees, a full-time 
consultant and 1 part-time employee in 
the US working alongside more than 250 
radiologists specialised in reading scans for 
clinical trial purposes who are contracted 
to provide these services as required. 
Whilst the business covers a range of 
therapeutic areas including Central 
Nervous System (CNS), cardiovascular and 
medical devices, its particular expertise is 
in early-stage Oncology imaging studies.

Medica will support the Principals, Dr. 
Patt and Dr. Shamsi, as well as the wider 
team at RadMD to build on their success 
to date by providing more operational and 
strategic support.

To fund the $16.3m (£11.7m) initial 
consideration, in March 2021 we 
completed a 9.9% combined equity placing 
and direct subscription from the Board and 
senior management, which raised £16.1m 
gross proceeds with strong existing and 
new investor support.

Outlook 

New corporate brand and company 
values aligned with the new 
company strategy
In September, Medica launched a 
new corporate identity that reflects 
the ambition to grow and diversify 
the business. Alongside this, the team 
conducted focus groups to establish 
company-wide values that set out a 
clear framework in terms of how Medica 
expects employees to conduct business, 
interact with stakeholders and harness 
the creativity and ambition that we 
have within the company to grow and 
continually improve. These values are 
central to how Medica delivers its services 
and all employees are assessed against 
their ability to deliver their objectives 
within a framework that includes the new 
Company values.

Senior Leadership training 
programme and alignment of 
incentives with business strategy
Alongside the actions taken to execute 
Medica’s new strategy, investment 
was made in 2020 to train our senior 
management as part of a bespoke “Medica 
Senior Leadership Training” programme. 
The first of its kind at Medica, this 
programme encouraged greater interaction 
and opportunities for management to 
grow and develop in their current roles 
and prepares the ground for individuals 
to take new opportunities as they arise. 
In parallel, management incentives and 
terms have been aligned and revised such 
that there is strong alignment now across 
the management team with the new 
strategy and it is clear how each member 
of this team can be rewarded for their 
contribution. Changing culture takes time, 
but the pandemic accelerated the need for 
change and this cultural shift is now well 
under way at Medica.

Whilst 2021 started where 2020 left off 
with strong NightHawk performance 
and lower Elective activity in the UK 
and Ireland, we are already starting to 
see an improvement in Elective as the 
year progresses and the government’s 
accelerated immunisation programme 
reduces pressure on the NHS/HSE and 
allows a resumption of Elective backlog 
procedures.

While the Company is not able to re-
initiate full guidance at this time, we are 
very encouraged by the current trajectory 
of the recovery and expect to see 
continued improvement in performance as 
the year progresses.

Medica’s focus in 2021 will be divided 
between i) ensuring that the UK business 
is well prepared to support recovery in 
Elective activity, ii) accelerating growth 
in NightHawk and continuing to execute 
on our strategy to integrate, expand and 
iii) internationalise the new areas of our 
business.

i.  We are seeing a very positive month 

on month improvement in levels of 
Elective teleradiology activity. As the 
NHS in the UK and HSE in Ireland 
will remain capacity-constrained for 
some time, Medica does not expect 
a short-term spike of reporting, but 
rather expects a sustained period of 
increased reporting until such time 
as the backlog of Elective cases is 
processed. 

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPDespite COVID-19, significant progress 
has been made in 2020 and early-2021 
to underpin the growth of our core 
teleradiology business in the UK, as 
well as to diversify and internationalise 
the business to position Medica to take 
advantage of opportunities in adjacent 
markets. I continue to be excited by the 
future potential of the Company and the 
markets in which it operates today and 
could expand into in the future. 

This focus and drive to execute on our 
growth strategy will continue in 2021 
alongside existing efforts to focus on 
underpinning future expansion of the core 
UK and Ireland teleradiology business, 
as well as our new entry into the exciting 
imaging for clinical trials market in the US. 
In so doing, I fully expect that Medica’s 
profile in the market will continue to evolve 
over the year in our pursuit to become 
a leader in international telemedicine 
services.

I am grateful to the whole team at Medica 
for their efforts to respond to the pandemic 
and to position Medica favourably for 
future growth and expansion. I remain very 
confident that we will emerge stronger 
from the pandemic and well-placed to take 
advantages of the many opportunities that 
this will bring. 

Dr Stuart Quin, 
Chief Executive Officer

10 May 2021

ii.  The focus for NightHawk activity will 
be to continue to grow the service 
based on 2020 outturn and capture 
market share, as well as proactively 
manage the impact of pricing pressure 
on gross margin.

iii.  Medica continues to focus on 

delivering robust growth with the aim 
to double its revenue within five years 
once the impact of the pandemic 
subsides. The plan remains to deliver 
strong organic revenue growth in the 
core business with increased scalability 
and operating leverage, with upside 
potential from new business lines and 
selective M&A. 

Continued focus on new areas of 
business
• 

Ireland: The strategy for Medica 
in Ireland is to continue to deliver 
a flexible model combining low 
capex equipment, radiographer and 
sonographer staffing, as well as 
expanding the teleradiology services 
offering across both public and private 
hospitals. Medica will start to utilise its 
combined network of dual Irish and UK 
Medical Council certified radiologists 
to increase the reporting capacity in 
both markets. In addition, Medica will 
look to leverage its systems, processes 
and expertise in the UK to help to drive 
growth in Ireland, whilst at the same 
time adapting its business model to 
take advantage of the expertise and 
broader range of services delivered in 
Ireland.

•  Australia and New Zealand: The focus 
for 2021 is to leverage the joint venture 
to access additional reporting capacity 
during daytime hours in Australia for 
urgent, out-of-hours reporting in the 
UK. In addition, Medica will look at 
expansion into other markets where 
there are opportunities to leverage its 
core offering and expertise.

•  United States: The focus for 2021 is 
to ensure successful integration of 
RadMD and develop the team further 
to manage the fast growth of clinical 
trial imaging studies. 

35

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTFinancial Review

Revised segmental analysis
Following the acquisition of GDI during the 
year, we have made changes to the way we 
manage and report on Group operations. 
From 3 November 2020 we report our 

results in two geographic segments, the 
UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Revenue
In the UK, NightHawk, our urgent 
out-of-hours reporting service, had 
a very resilient performance and 
recovered quickly from the impact 
of COVID-19 and saw revenues 
increase 4% from £22.1m in 2019 to 
£23.0m in 2020. Elective encountered 
a material impact on volumes during 
the year as a result of re-prioritisation 

away from Elective procedures in the 
NHS, with revenue down 49% from £24.4m 
to £12.5m. 

In Ireland, GDI contributed £1.4m in 
revenues in the period from its acquisition 
on 3 November 2020 in line with 
expectations.

Gross Profit and GPM
Gross Profit is stated after the cost of 
reporting radiologists, internal audit 
costs required to deliver contractual 
commitments and other cost of sales such 
as framework costs. In 2020, Gross Profits 
reduced by £5.5m from £22.3m in 2019 to 
£16.7m in 2020 in line with the reduction 
in revenues. Gross Profit Margin at 47.4% 
remained in line with 47.8% in 2019.

Underlying Operating Profit
For 2020, consistent with prior years we 
have reported underlying operating profits 
that consider the impact of non-underlying 
and exceptional items to provide a more 
representative depiction of underlying 
activity. Underlying operating profits 
reduced from £11.3m in 2019 to £5.0m 
in 2020. This reflected both a reduction 
in revenues, as well as the continued 
impact of our investment in people and 
infrastructure to support our growth plans. 
Operating costs increased £1.1m from 
£9.2m in 2019 to £10.3m in 2020 largely 
due to the annualised increase in staff-
related costs.

Non‑underlying costs 
and exceptional items
Non-underlying costs after tax including 
exceptional costs increased by £1.3m from 
£1.2m in 2019 to £2.5m in 2020. These 
costs included £0.8m (2019 £nil) relating to 
the acquisition of GDI, £1.0m (2019 £1.0m) 
relating to the amortisation of acquired 
intangible assets, £0.2m (2019 £nil) relating 
to the write-off of certain assets, £0.2m 
(2019 £0.2m) relating to share-based 
payments and exceptional costs relating to 
Board succession of £0.3m (2019 £0.4m). 
The income tax credit on these non-
underlying costs was £0.1m (2019 £0.3m). 

Net finance expense
Finance costs net of finance income 
were £0.3m for the year (2019: £0.3m). 
In November 2020, we extended our 
revolving credit facility (RCF) from 
£1.0m to £6.0m and drew this down as 
part payment for the acquisition of GDI. 
Interest on the RCF is charged at LIBOR 
+3% and therefore interest costs increased 
accordingly from November 2020.

Profit before Tax
Underlying profit before tax reduced by 
£6.3m from £11.0 in 2019 to £4.7m in 2020 
reflecting the reduction in revenues and 
gross profit, as well as the increase in 
operating costs. Total profit before tax, 
after taking account of non-underlying and 
exceptional items reduced by £6.7m from 
£7.9m in 2019 to £1.2m in 2020.

Taxation
The Group has incurred a tax charge of 
£0.7m in the year ended 31 December 2020 
(2019 £1.7m). The effective rate of tax for 
2019 is 19.0%.

Earnings per share
Underlying basic earnings per share (EPS) 
reduced by 4.9% from 8.13 pence per share 
in 2019 to 3.47 pence per share in 2020, 
reflecting the reduction in profits. Total 
basic EPS, after taking account of non-
underlying and exceptional costs reduced 
by 5.91 pence from 7.12 pence in 2019 to 
1.21 pence in 2020.

“ Medica delivered 
a resilient 
performance in 
2020 with strong 
cash generation 
and a good 
performance in 
NightHawk. GDI 
is included in the 
results from its 
acquisition on 
3 November 2020.”

Richard Jones 
Chief Financial Officer

36
36

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPRefinance in May 2021

On 6 May 2021, the group entered into a 
new three year fully flexible £30m RCF 
facility with a syndicate of three banks, 
including previous lenders Lloyds, together 
with NatWest and Silicon Valley Bank. 
The facility is extendable for up to two 
years. Variable interest is calculated on 
utilised facilities based on leverage with 
initial interest at Sterling Overnight Index 
Average (SONIA) + 2% and non-utilisation 
fees of 35%. Key banking covenants remain 
the same with maximum net debt to 
EBITDA of 2.5x and interest cover of 4x.

Richard Jones 
Chief Financial Officer

10 May 2021

Post Balance sheet events
Joint Venture

On 22 February 2021, the group announced 
an equal joint venture (JV) partnership with 
Integral Diagnostics Limited, a leading 
provider of medical imaging services 
across Australia and New Zealand. The 
joint venture, MedX, aims to provide 
teleradiology reporting services and 
increased reporting capacity in Australia, 
New Zealand, the UK and Ireland. The 
initial equity investment by both parties 
into this joint venture was AUD 100,000 
each (£50,000). The joint venture will be 
reported on an equity accounting basis 
going forward.

Acquisition of RadMD

On 22 March 2021, the group acquired 
RadMD LLC, a company incorporated 
in the United States of America. RadMD 
is a leading Imaging Contract Research 
Organisation (“iCRO”) providing services 
to the fast-growing clinical trials market. 
The initial cash consideration paid was 
$16.3m (£11.7m) with total potential cash 
consideration after taking account of 
future potential deferred consideration of 
up to a maximum of USD 21.7 million (circa 
£15.6 million). 

Equity placing and subscription

On 23 March 2021, a total of £16.1m was 
successfully raised on the public market 
through a combined equity placing (£15.6m 
gross proceeds) and company subscription 
(£0.5m gross proceeds). Total costs in 
connection with the fundraise were £0.5m. 
A total of 11,111,110 Ordinary shares were 
issued including 10,727,666 Placing Shares 
and 383,444 subscription shares which 
represented, in aggregate, approximately 
9.98 per cent of the issued ordinary share 
capital of the Company.

Dividends
In 2019, due to uncertainty during the 
early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, 
the Board decided not to declare a final 
dividend for 2019. Total dividends for 2019 
were therefore 0.85 pence per share. In 
2020, an interim dividend of 0.85 pence 
per share was declared and the Board are 
proposing a final dividend for the year of 
1.7 pence per share with the total dividends 
of 2.55 pence representing a 13% increase 
on 2018, the last year when a final dividend 
was declared. The final dividend will be 
paid on 23rd July 2021 to shareholders on 
the register as at 25th June 2021.

Capex
Total capex for 2020 was £2.0m in 2020 
compared to £2.8m in 2019. This included 
£1.0m (2019 £0.7m) expenditure on 
equipment for contracted radiologists 
reflecting the significant increase in 
radiologist recruitment in 2020 compared 
to the prior year. Additionally, £0.9m of 
intangible assets that were acquired have 
been included in capex compared to 
£0.5m in 2019.

Cash and debt at 31 December 2020
Operating cash generation in 2020 
reduced slightly from £9.7m in 2019 to 
£8.6m in 2020 despite the significant 
reduction in revenues due to careful 
working capital management and control 
of costs. Free cashflow, after taking 
account of capex was £6.6m in 2020 
compared to £6.9m in 2019. 

After taking account of the acquisition of 
GDI, gross cash at 31 December 2020 was 
£13.9m (2019 £16.6m) and net debt was 
£3.9m (2019 net cash of £4.6m).

Gross bank borrowings at 31 December 
2020 were £17.8m (2019 £12m) and 
included term debt of £12m, in place 
since the IPO in 2017, together with the 
RCF which was extended from £1m to 
£6m of which £5.8m was utilised as at 
31 December 2020.

Acquisition of GDI
On 3 November 2020, the Company 
acquired GDI for an initial consideration 
including customary adjustments for 
working capital of €16.8m (£15.1m). The fair 
value of assets acquired was £11.1m and 
after taking account of the fair value of the 
deferred consideration of £3.5m, goodwill 
of £7.5m was attributed to the acquisition. 

37

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTRisks and Uncertainties

Managing risk is integral to 
the success of our business 
and is a differentiator in 
terms of offering a safe and 
compliant critical clinical 
service to customers. 
The Group reviewed 
its comprehensive risk 
management framework 
previously in 2019 to ensure 
that the processes in place 
support business and 
strategic decision-making 
and are clearly defined 
and quantified across our 
business. Through the risk 
management process, 
significant risks faced by 
the Group continue to be 
identified, assessed and 
managed appropriately. 

Although the Board of Directors 
is ultimately responsible for risk 
management within the Group, it has 
delegated responsibility for monitoring 
the effectiveness of the Group’s risk 
management and internal systems to the 
Audit Committee. The Board and Audit 
Committee receive a quarterly report and 
dashboard from the executive management 
on the principal risks and uncertainties 
and the steps being taken to manage 
them. This process is monitored and 
reviewed regularly to ensure it is fit for 
purpose and adequately reflects risks in 
an ever-changing business environment. 
An overview of the risk management 
framework is illustrated over:

Board  
of Directors

Audit  
Committee

Chief Executive 
Officer

Risk  
Moderator

Executive 
Management

The individual risk registers are gathered, 
quantified, and entered into the corporate 
risk register that is regularly reviewed 
by the executive management, Board 
and Audit Committee. The principle and 
emerging risks listed below are drawn from 
the risk registers and are interconnected 
with the Group’s strategic activities. The 
business regularly assesses progress 
against project plans and updates the 
risk register accordingly when risks are 
assessed to have changed as a result of 
progress implementing various quality and 
performance improvement projects.

Medica’s main strategic risks include the 
post-acquisition integration of GDI into 
the Group and also the ongoing risk of 
emerging technology, including AI which 
is being addressed through Medica’s 
FutureTech investment programme 
launched in 2020.

The Group’s risk management process 
continues to evolve and develop as the 
level of risk maturity increases within 
the Group.

Risk assessment process 
The risk management process is embedded 
within the Group and underpinned 
through the use of departmental risk 
registers. Each register is maintained by 
the relevant owner within the executive 
team and overseen by the risk moderator. 
The identification and evaluation of risks 
is carried out through collaboration of the 
senior management and executive teams. 

All emerging risks are identified, 
reviewed and assessed as part of the 
risk management framework process. 
Risks may also be identified through the 
use of industry and horizon scanning, 
internal forums and workshops with 
management teams. There is a process 
in place to identify emerging risks (and 
opportunities) on an ongoing basis with 
the operational teams communicating to 
senior management from interactions with 
clients and suppliers, as well as providing 
the executive team with regular updates 
on technology, compliance and global 
information. Any potential new risk is 
considered by the executive team and its 
impact and likelihood is assessed before 
inclusion in the main risk register as an 
emerging risk. 

The impact and likelihood of each risk are 
inherently identified and this generates the 
inherent risk score. Changes in risk profile 
are highlighted for additional consideration 
as an emerging risk. Existing controls are 
then identified and assessed with a residual 
risk score calculated. 

38

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP

The impact of and 
response to the COVID-19 
pandemic in 2020
The coronavirus outbreak had a material 
impact both on Medica’s operations and 
on its financial performance.

In terms of operational performance, 
Medica activated its contingency plans at 
the start of the pandemic in March 2020 
and demonstrated that the Company could 
continue to provide its operational service 
remotely from home. This did not impact 
on client facing service levels, which 
improved during the year. Medica’s entire 
business model is focused on reporters 
working from home and, as a result, we 
were and continue to be well-placed to 
deliver services efficiently despite the 
challenges that continue with the new 
lockdown measures introduced at the end 
of 2020, which are expected to continue 
through early 2021. 

In addition to Medica reacting quickly 
to the situation, we worked closely with 
our NHS clients to invoke contingency 
planning and offered a pro bono ‘pass 
through’ service to enable their radiologists 
to report from home. This allowed 
reporters to report hospital cases using 
their Medica systems during daytime 
hours, as well as to continue to fulfil their 
reporting sessions with Medica.

In terms of revenues, as previously 
announced, COVID-19 had a material initial 
impact on revenues as customers focused 
on managing the pandemic and hospital 
activity was severely curtailed. Following 
the initial lockdown, our UK NightHawk 
service in particular recovered quickly and 
now continues to trade above pre-Covid 
levels. Our UK Elective revenues were more 
heavily impacted but we are pleased to see 
continued month-on-month improvement 
in 2021 to date. We will continue to work 
with our clients and remain very well 
placed to capitalise on the strong recovery 

in demand expected later in 2021 as the 
impact of the pandemic recedes from 
normal hospital activity. 

Further details on the impact of COVID-19 
are included in the CEO’s report on page 32.

EU withdrawal (Brexit)
A detailed risk analysis of the UK withdrawal 
from the European Union was carried out 
by the Group in 2019 and further reviewed 
throughout 2020 including the recent 
acquisition in Ireland. Our view remains 
as very low impact.

Details of Medica’s key risks, how they have 
changed compared to the prior year and our 
mitigation strategy for each risk are set out 
below:

Strategic Risk

Description

Change

Commentary for 2020

Integration of GDI
In November 2020 the Group acquired GDI for 
initial consideration of €16m. There is a risk 
that the integration of GDI is more difficult 
than envisaged and that the performance of 
the business post acquisition does not meet 
expectations.

Advances in technology
There is a risk that technology advances 
reduce our ability to offer a market-leading and 
best in class service to our clients. This could 
be in areas such as PACS (the platform for the 
reading and reporting radiology scans), AI, 
client connectivity and other areas.

✚

New risk 
identified

➜➜

Improving risk 
environment

The initial trading results of GDI have been in line with 
expectations and the Group has completed the first stage of a 
full integration plan which reflects that GDI was relatively self-
sufficient prior to being acquired. 

The Group launched its FutureTech strategy in 2020 to upgrade its 
technology and systems to create a more efficient and advanced 
platform for future growth. We selected a new PACS provider 
in late 2020 and we expect this system to go live in early 2022. 
In addition, we have focused on Augmented Intelligence (AI) 
solutions and introduced the UK’s first live decision support tool 
for radiologists in partnership with QureAI that has already been 
used in over 10,000 live reporting cases.

Financial Risk

Description

Change

Commentary for 2020

Ongoing COVID‑19 pandemic
In FY 2020 we reported a reduction of 20.9% 
in our revenues as a result of COVID-19 and 
the impact continues into 2021. There remains 
a risk that the impact could be prolonged 
and the recovery in volume demand from our 
clients slower than we expect.

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

We were able to manage the business carefully through the 
impact of COVID-19 in 2020, with the group returning to 
profitability within three months of the initial impact in March 
2020. By mid-2020, Nighthawk revenues had recovered to pre-
COVID-19 levels and Elective revenues had also started to recover. 
Management continue to expect strong demand for its services as 
the impact of COVID-19 reduces on our clients and the NHS starts 
also to tackle the significant backlog in diagnostic testing and 
treatment. The recent success with the roll out of vaccinations in 
both the UK and Ireland should reduce the impact on healthcare 
systems from COVID-19 allowing focus to resume on Elective 
procedures requiring image reporting. Throughout 2020 the 
Group has continued to generate positive cashflow and enters 
2021 with a strong balance sheet and cash balances of £14m.

39

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTRisks and Uncertainties

continued

Financial Risk

Description

Loss of key contracts 
As an attractive sector, the growth and new 
appearance of competition who are prepared 
to undercut pricing on key service lines 
could adversely impact the Group’s business, 
financials, and future growth prospects. 
Disruptive technologies such as AI could also 
see other companies enter the sector with 
different business models.

Insurance 
The Group could become subject to litigation 
during the course of its business activities. This 
could lead to costs relating to defence and/or 
prosecution and damages.

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

Change

Commentary for 2020

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

Continued focus on cost improvements by our clients means 
that Medica needs to focus on delivering the highest quality 
service at a competitive price. The Group continues to employ 
pricing strategies that focus on its key strengths in quality, service 
offering and value. The Company creates and maintains good 
communication with clients through its business development 
function. Medica remains the market leader in both the UK 
and Ireland and continues to innovate and invest in factors that 
differentiate its service offering going forward.

The Group reviews and maintains insurance to mitigate the 
possibility of a major loss. The adequacy of its insurance cover is 
reviewed each year with insurance brokers. In addition, reporters 
who are independent contractors need to take out and maintain 
their own primary insurance policies to cover medical malpractice 
and the Group closely monitors this as part of their reporter 
oversight.

Compliance Risk

Description

Change

Commentary for 2020

Compliance and regulation 
The Group and its clients operate in a 
highly regulated landscape. This includes 
operating and complying to the standards and 
regulations set by CQC, NHS and the ICO (in 
particular UK & EU GDPR). Failure to comply 
could lead to reputational and financial loss.

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

The Group maintains internal processes, management systems, 
certifications and accreditations to ensure it operates within 
compliance of regulation. This includes QSI accredited status, a 
registered manager for CQC purposes, a certified ISO 9001 quality 
management system and appropriate internal data protection 
policy and process in relation to the ongoing requirements of UK 
and EU GDPR. The Group monitors changes in regulation on an 
ongoing basis.

Operational Risk

Description

Change

Commentary for 2020

Clinical quality 
The Group’s radiology reporting forms 
an integral and essential part of clinical 
management for patients. Inaccurate reporting 
could lead to patient harm and reputational 
damage to the Group. This risk will always 
remain very high, due to the inherent nature of 
the industry.

IT
The Group’s service offerings are founded 
on technology-driven workflow solutions. 
A major failure or disruption would result in 
reduced service levels and loss of revenue. 
Enhancements in reporting systems and 
workflows offer opportunity to further develop 
the Group’s services and reduce risk of failure 
and disruption.

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

➜

Improving risk 
environment

Medica continues to maintain and strengthen comprehensive 
clinical governance, quality assurance and continuous 
improvement processes including having a Medical Advisory 
Board. Our reporters hold personal indemnity insurance, and 
the Group maintains secondary insurance cover. As part of our 
ongoing management of clinical quality we regularly audit the 
work of our radiologists and develop and implement individual 
quality improvement plans where necessary.

The Group announced a major investment in its technology 
systems known as FutureTech that commenced in 2020 and is 
expected to deliver significant efficiency and capability benefits 
in the short to medium term. In addition, the group continued to 
invest in in-house technology, software development and project 
delivery capabilities. The FutureTech investment programme is 
expected to further reduce technology risk whilst enabling the 
Company to achieve its future ambitions and to remain at the 
leading edge with its clients. 
The Group also continues to maintain robust continuity plans 
and invest in its core data storage and transmission architecture. 
The continuity plan was effective in the initial response to the 
COVID-19 pandemic disruption and the switch to home working. 

40

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPOperational Risk

Description

Cyber threats
The Group’s business could be significantly 
disrupted, and security compromised if 
a cyber incident results in the loss of the 
confidentiality, integrity or availability of the 
information it processes. A successful cyber-
attack could expose the Group to litigation, 
commercial, financial, and reputational 
damage. In addition, our clients have several 
requirements in respect of data integrity. 

Reporter availability and capacity
The longer-term performance of the Group 
depends on its ability to grow reporting 
capacity in line with client demand. Failure to 
do so may result in reduced ability to provide 
timely reports, in particular for the critical 
NightHawk service line. Failure to deliver a 
timely service could result in loss of client(s). 
In addition, if reporters are not positively 
engaged and supported, the Group could 
see a decrease in the retention of reporters.

Change

Commentary for 2020

➜➜

Static risk 
environment

Cyber-attacks within the UK and on healthcare organisations have 
intensified during the pandemic with a focus on increased home 
working. The Group has increased its headcount in its information 
security team and continues to maintain an ISO 27001 certified 
management system. Recertification against Government 
approved Cyber Essentials was achieved along with further 
investment on internet security technologies. The information 
security team continues to deliver a human focused security 
awareness programme. 

➜

Improving risk 
environment

Despite the short-term reduction in demand due to COVID-19, 
the Group has continued to invest significantly in reporter 
capacity using its experienced in-house reporter recruitment 
team. This puts the Group in an excellent position when client 
demand fully returns. In addition, the Group continues to invest 
in overseas reporting capacity, albeit from a modest base, to add 
additional flexibility and capacity. This will be enhanced by the 
Australian JV that was announced in February 2021.

People
The Group’s executive and senior management 
team is critical to its continued performance. 
Loss of key personnel or lack of people 
investment may lead to failure of the Group’s 
strategic objectives.

➜

Improving risk 
environment

The Group remains committed to the ongoing support and 
development of its staff and leadership team including the new 
team acquired in November 2020 with GDI. Led by the chief 
executive officer, the Group ensures its strategic objectives are 
cascaded down and clearly communicated to the wider leadership 
team and to the rest of the business. The Group ensures that 
staff receive appropriate incentives and have employment 
packages in line with market conditions. A tailored leadership 
programme commenced in 2020 for its wider leadership team and 
demonstrated its commitment to develop the next generation of 
leaders. The launch of the Group’s new brand also included a set 
of values that were the result of significant internal consultation 
and which have been incorporated into the people strategy 
including annual assessments of performance.

41

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020STRATEGIC REPORTBoard of Directors

Roy Davis 
Independent Chairman

Dr Stuart Quin 
Chief Executive Officer

Roy is the Company’s Chairman (having joined at the 
IPO in 2017). He is also Chairman of Edinburgh Molecular 
Imaging, a cancer theragnostic imaging company, Foster 
& Freeman, a leading forensic imaging manufacturer and 
RAIR Health Ltd, an applied AI and health data company. 
Prior to these roles Roy served as the Chief Executive 
Officer of Optos plc, a leading ophthalmology medical 
device business, from 2008 until June 2016 when he 
stepped down following the company’s acquisition by 
Nikon Corporation. Before joining Optos, he served from 
2007 as Chief Executive Officer of Gyrus Group plc, a 
leading medical device company, prior to its acquisition 
by the Olympus Corporation of Japan in 2008, having 
previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Gyrus from 
2003 and a Non-Executive Director since flotation in 1997. 
Prior to this, Roy was CEO of NTERA, a nanotechnology 
company, and before that spent almost ten years with 
Arthur D Little, the global management consulting 
company, where he was Vice President and Global Head 
of its operations management business. His early career 
included experience in the connector, oil and automotive 
sectors. Roy holds a mechanical engineering degree from 
the University of Southampton and an MBA from the 
London Business School.

Stuart Quin joined Medica Group in September 2019 from 
Synlab, the international laboratory diagnostic services 
provider, where he was regional Chief Executive of Central 
and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Previously he 
was Synlab’s Group Chief Commercial Officer and Chief 
Executive of its operations in UK and Ireland. Stuart brings 
a track record of delivering significant growth both in 
the UK and internationally and has extensive experience 
of working in partnership with the NHS. During Stuart’s 
tenure in the UK he expanded the business by winning new 
diagnostic service contracts and through the acquisition 
of four companies that significantly diversified Synlab’s 
service offering into drug and alcohol, specialist food and 
veterinary testing.

Prior to joining Synlab, Stuart worked in private equity as 
a Director at August Equity and at 3i plc in Munich and 
London where he focused on investing in fast-growing 
healthcare businesses across Europe and the US. Stuart 
also spent four years at Accenture in the US, UK and 
Japan as a Manager in the health and life sciences 
strategy consulting practice. Stuart holds a BSc (Hons) in 
Immunology from the University of Edinburgh, a PhD in 
Immunology from Imperial College, London and an MBA 
from INSEAD.

Stuart is a member of the Investment Committee of 
Alta Semper Capital, a frontier markets private equity 
firm focused on investing in consumer and healthcare 
companies in Africa. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of 
Medicine and the Royal Geographical Society.

42

www.medicagroupplc.com l stock code: MGP

Steve Whittern  
Senior Independent  
Non-Executive Director

Jo Easton 
Independent  
Non-Executive Director

Steve joined at the IPO in 2017 and is the Group’s Senior 
Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of its Audit 
Committee.

He has many years of public company experience, having 
served as Dignity plc’s Finance Director for 11 years until 
December 2020.

Steve is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants 
in England and Wales and holds a mathematics degree 
from Warwick University.

Jo served as Group Director of HR for De La Rue PLC for 
six years until she stepped down in March 2020. De La 
Rue provides products and services in the supply of Cash 
and Product Authentication & Traceability and works 
with governments and commercial organisations across 
the world. Jo was a member of De La Rue’s Executive 
Leadership Team focused on driving growth and reshaping 
the business involving a significant level of change and 
including disposal and acquisition transactions. 

Prior to joining De La Rue, Jo spent six years at Associated 
British Foods PLC working in the Twinings business in an 
international HR role with responsibilities across the UK, 
Asia and Europe. 

Previous experience includes HR roles involving major 
change and business transformation with Aviva PLC and 
Zurich Insurance and in telecommunications at BT PLC 
where Jo started her career. 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

43

GOVERNANCEBoard of Directors 

continued

Richard Jones 
Chief Financial Officer

Richard Jones joined Medica on 3 August 2020. Richard 
has extensive experience in the healthcare sector, both 
from his more recent career as a CFO in two UK quoted 
companies and also from his prior experience in healthcare 
Investment Banking initially as a healthcare sector 
analyst and then in corporate finance latterly as Head of 
Healthcare at Investec.

Richard joined Medica from AIM listed Mereo BioPharma 
Group PLC, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company 
focused on oncology and rare diseases that dual listed in 
2019 where he was CFO from January 2017. 

Prior to Mereo, Richard was CFO and Company Secretary 
of AIM listed Shield Therapeutics plc from early 2011. At 
Shield he had a leading role establishing the finance and 
other operations and guiding Shield through its 2016 IPO.

Richard is also a non-executive Director and head of the 
Audit Committee at AIM listed Alliance Pharma PLC, 
having joined the board in January 2019. Richard qualified 
as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1991.

Dr Stephen Davies  
MA, FRCP, FRCR  
Medical Director and  
Responsible Officer

Stephen joined Medica in May 2013 as Medical Director 
and GMC Responsible Officer for Medica. He has 
responsibility for clinical governance and oversight of 
the Clinical Strategy. Stephen was a NHS consultant 
radiologist at Cwm Taf University Health Board from 
1991 until 2016. Stephen is a non-executive trustee of 
the College of Radiographers, a position which is non-
remunerated and which he has held since 2017. Stephen  
is retiring from the Board in May 2021

Stephen undertook pre-clinical studies at Cambridge and 
his clinical studies at The Royal London Hospital. He is a 
past president of both the British Institute of Radiology 
and the UK Radiology Congress. In October 2015, he was 
awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by The British 
Institute of Radiology. He has had educational leadership 
positions as Associate Dean in the Postgraduate Medical 
School, University of Wales and an Educational quality 
assurance role with the Royal College of Radiologists. He 
is an accredited Expert Witness and holds a Postgraduate 
Certificate in Medical Education.

44

www.medicagroupplc.com l stock code: MGP

Junaid Bajwa 
Independent  
Non-Executive Director

Junaid is a practising physician in the NHS, and the Chief 
Medical Scientist at Microsoft; having previously been 
the Global Lead for Strategic Alliances and Solutions for 
the Global Digital Centre of Excellence at Merck Sharp & 
Dohme (Merck & Co). Over the past 15 years, Junaid has 
worked across primary care, secondary care, and public 
health settings in addition to acting as a payer, and policy 
maker within the UK, where he specialised in informatics, 
digital transformation, and leadership.

Junaid is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of 
Public Health and attained his MBA from Imperial College 
Business School. He is a member of the Royal College of 
General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons, 
and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

45

GOVERNANCECorporate Governance Report

Introduction

Dear Shareholder
I am delighted to introduce 

this section on governance, 
which describes the 
activities of the Board 
and its Committees 
during 2020 and how 
we have ensured 
governance remains 
a pivotal part in the 
strategic development 
and day-to-day running of 

this business.

Compliance with the 
Corporate Governance 
Code (the “Code”)
As a main market quoted company, our 
governance framework is underpinned 
by the Corporate Governance Code (the 
‘Code’) further details of which can be 
found on our website at www.medica.
co.uk/investors/corporate-governance. 
During the year the Company complied 
fully with the code with the exception of a 
small number of provisions. Areas of non-
compliance are explained in more detail 
on page 48 and relate to remuneration 
matters that have been addressed in the 
three-yearly review of Remuneration policy 
as set out on page 55 of the Remuneration 
Report with proposed changes being 
put to shareholders for approval at the 
forthcoming 2021 Annual General Meeting 
(“AGM”). 

Changes to the Board 
during the year and since 
the year-end
During the year and since the year-end, 
we have seen a number of changes to the 
composition of the Board. I am confident 
the new Board will provide the leadership 
and oversight to help the Company in the 
next stage of its growth.

In August 2020 we were delighted to 
welcome Richard Jones as our new 
CFO. Richard joined Stuart Quin as 
an Executive Director creating a good 
balance with the non-Executive team 
who provide independence and who 
have greatly assisted with managing the 
Board’s activities through their careful 
and diligent approach to Board matters 
and their work Chairing and sitting on the 
Committees. In January 2021 Dr Stephen 
Davies announced his decision to retire 

from the Company and step down as 
an Executive Director from the Board at 
the 2021 AGM. As part of the succession 
process we decided to separate the day to 
day and Board responsibilities of Stephen’s 
role. We announced the appointment of 
Dr Robert Lavis to succeed Stephen as 
Group Medical Director responsible for 
day to day clinical business management. 
We were delighted to announce the 
appointment of Dr Junaid Bajwa on 1 April 
2021 as our fourth independent NED. 
Junaid is a practising clinician within the 
NHS and brings both clinical and digital 
healthcare experience to the Board. Junaid 
will also chair the newly created Clinical 
& Risk Governance Committee which will 
ensure the Board oversight of all aspects of 
Medica’s clinical activities. Finally as Steve 
Whittern has resigned from the Board, he 
will not be standing for re-election at the 
2021 AGM. The Nomination Committee 
are progressing well in the search for 
Steve’s replacement as Senior Independent 
Director and Chair of the Audit Committee 
and will provide an update in due course. 

Our 2021 AGM
Due to the continued situation 
with COVID-19 and in line with the 
Government’s guidance, the Board has 
taken the decision again to hold this 
year’s AGM on the 16 June 2021 at our 
offices in Priory Square, Hastings, with 
the Chairman, CEO and CFO and certain 
other Non-Executive Directors attending in 
person and the rest of the Board attending 
via video conference. Shareholders will 
not be permitted to attend the AGM in 
person. Your Board understands that many 
shareholders who would have liked to 
attend in person and ask questions of the 
Directors will not be able to. The Company 
has therefore arranged for a conference 
facility to allow shareholders to dial in to 
the meeting and to ask questions for which 
details are included in the notice of AGM. 
It should also be noted that all voting will 
be conducted on a poll. Only those votes 
received by proxy or cast in person will 
count and, as such, if you are planning on 
dialing in to the AGM then you should cast 
your votes by post or online for them to be 
validly counted.

Thank you for your continued support 
and the Board would like to thank all 
shareholders in advance for your co-
operation around the arrangements for 
this year’s AGM.

Roy Davis
Chairman

Key achievements  
in 2020
•  Review and recommendation to the 
Board of approval of the Annual 
Report for 2019 

•  Review and approval of the 2020 

audit plan and fees proposed by the 
auditors

•  Review and recommendation to 

the Board of approval of the 2020 
interim financial statements 

•  Review of the accounting treatment 

of the acquisition of GDI Ltd

•  Review of the group structure from a 

VAT and taxation perspective

•  Review of independence and 
effectiveness of auditors and 
recommendation of their re-
appointment for 2021

•  Regular of risk management, the risk 

register and internal contols

•  Background and scope of the 

Committee’s activities

46

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPOur Corporate Governance Framework

Shareholders
Our shareholders delegate to the Board collectively, the responsibility for the long-term success of the Company within a 
framework of good governance. The Board seeks to understand the investor base through regular dialogue and engagement.

The Board
The Board’s role is to set the vision and strategy of the Company. By putting in place the business model, the Board aims to deliver 
value to its shareholders. There is a collective responsibility for the Group’s corporate governance arrangements to achieve the 
Company’s purpose. This includes taking account of the risks and opportunities and building and maintaining on healthy relations 
with its stakeholders. To assist in discharging its duties, some areas of responsibility are delegated to the Committee of the Board.

More information on the activities of the Board can be found on pages 48 and 49.

The Nomination  
Committee
The Nomination Committee 
leads on succession planning the 
process for recruitment of new 
Board members; and evaluating 
composition and diversity to 
ensure Board effectiveness.

More information of the work of 
the Nomination Committee can 
be found on pages 52 and 53.

The Audit and Risk 
Committee
The Audit and Risk Committee 
leads on reviewing the Company’s 
integrity of the financial results 
and other reporting; challenging 
external auditors; and has 
oversight of the effectiveness of 
risk management and systems of 
internal control.

More information of the work of 
the Audit and Risk Committee can 
be found on page 50.

The Remuneration 
Committee
The Remuneration Committee 
leads on designing remuneration 
policy, determining Board and 
senior executive remuneration; 
and takes account of the wider 
Group pay and associated 
policies.

More information of the work of 
the Remuneration Committee can 
be found on pages 54 to 75.

The Clinical Quality and Governance 
Committee
This new Committee, formed in March 2021, provides 
oversight to all of our clinical activites across the Group.

Environmental, Social and Governance 
(“ESG”) Committee
This Committee, formed in December 2020, provides a focus 
for the Board’s oversight of all ESG matters across the Group.

Executive Leadership Team
The ELT meets on a regular basis. It is led by the Chief Executive; comprises the senior leadership who 
have management responsibility; and has responsibility for business operation and its support functions.

47

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCECorporate Governance Report 

continued

Compliance with the Code
The Company is committed to achieving 
and maintaining the highest standards 
of corporate governance. During 2020, 
the Group was compliant with the Code 
except for:

Provision 21 – as noted in more detail 
below, the formal external evaluation of 
the Board which, under the Code, should 
take place at least every three years, and 
was therefore due in 2021. The Board 
has decided to delay this formal external 
evaluation until the end of 2021 to give 
the new Board time to work together 
through 2021.

Provision 36 – the Group did not comply 
with the requirement to develop a formal 
policy for post-employment shareholding 
requirements. The Remuneration 
Committee have addressed this as part of 
their three yearly review of remuneration 
policy due for implementation in 2021 
subject to shareholder approval at the 
2021 AGM.

Provision 38 – the Group did not comply 
with the requirement that pension 
contribution rates for Executive Directors, 
or payments in lieu of pension, are aligned 
with those available to the workforce. 
Employer pension contributions for Medica 
staff range from 4% to 10% of base salary 
(dependent on seniority) and are set 
at 10% for the CEO. The remuneration 
committee recognises the importance 
of aligning pension contributions for 
Executive Directors with those of the wider 
workforce and it has proposed alignment 
as part of the revised remuneration policy 
due to be adopted in 2021.

Details and explanations of the application 
of the principles of corporate governance 
are set out in the following sections of this 
corporate governance statement.

The role of the Board
The Board is collectively responsible to 
shareholders for the overall direction 
of the Group. The Board’s primary aim 
is to promote the long-term success of 
the Group whilst ensuring the highest 
standards of corporate governance. 

The Board’s key responsibilities include:

•  Overall leadership of the Group;

•  Setting and reviewing strategic aims 

and objectives of the Group;

•  Oversight of the Group’s operations 

including management, planning and 
operating systems;

•  Monitoring and management of key 
business risks and internal controls;

•  Approving annual budgets and 

reviewing performance against aims 
and objectives; 

•  Approval of significant financial 

expenditure, including mergers and 
acquisitions;

•  Approval of structural changes to the 

Group;

•  Approval of Board membership 

and other senior management 
appointments or management 
structural changes;

•  Proposing and making dividend 
payments to shareholders.

To assist the Board in their responsibilities, 
there are three standing Committees 
of the Board: the Audit Committee, 
the Remuneration Committee and the 
Nominations Committee. The terms of 
reference for the Committees are available 
on the Medica Group website at https://
medicagroupplc.com/investors/corporate-
governance/.

The Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is responsible for 
monitoring and reviewing the integrity 
of the financial reporting process, risk 
management and internal control, ensuring 
compliance with UK reporting standards.

The Audit Committee’s report for 2020 
is set out on pages 50 to 51.

Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee is 
responsible for the development 
and implementation of the Group’s 
remuneration framework and policies for 
directors and to ensure that these support 
the strategic aims of the business while 
also complying with the requirements 
of regulation.

The Remuneration Committee report 
for 2020 is set out on pages 54 to 75.

Nomination Committee
The Nomination Committee is responsible 
for the structure of the Board, providing 
advice on Board and senior management 
appointments and succession planning and 
monitoring the composition of the Board 
and its Committees.

The Nomination Committee’s report for 
2020 is set out on page 52 to 53..

Clinical Governance 
Committee
The Clinical Quality and Governance 
Committee (CQG) was formed on 1st 
March 2021 and is Chaired by Dr Junaid 

Bajwa. The Committee provides oversight 
for clinical quality and governance at 
Medica, ensuring that the Clinical service 
is appropriately governed and is meeting 
expected regulatory standards in relation 
to the Responsible Officer regulation (2010 
rev. 2013) and Care Quality Commission. 
Furthermore, the committee provides 
oversight for the wider governance of 
clinical services, providing reassurance to 
the board that the service is well-governed 
with effective policies.

Environmental, Social 
and Governance (“ESG”) 
Committee
In December 2020, the Board formally 
established an ESG Committee to provide 
a greater focus of the Company’s initiatives 
and approach to ESG matters. The 
Committee currently consists of all Board 
members and is chaired by Dr Junaid 
Bajwa. Details of our approach to ESG and 
activity during the year is set out on pages 
26 to 30 of the Strategic Report. 

Board composition and 
independence
During the year, The Company regarded 
Roy Davis, Steve Whittern, Jo Easton 
and Dr Mike Bewick (until he stepped 
down at the AGM) as all having had no 
prior association with the Group, as 
“independent non-executive directors” 
within the meaning of the UK Corporate 
Governance Code, and free from any 
business or other relationship that could 
materially interfere with the exercise of 
their independent judgement.

The senior independent director has an 
important role on the Board in leading 
on corporate governance issues and 
being available to shareholders if they 
have concerns which contact through 
the normal channels of the chairman, 
chief executive officer or other executive 
directors has failed to resolve, or for 
which such contact is inappropriate. 
Steve Whittern was the Company’s senior 
independent director during the year.

Directors are subject to election or re-
election at each AGM. As set out in the 
Nomination Committee report on pages 
52 to 53 at the 201 AGM Dr Stephen 
Davies and Steve Whittern do not intend 
to stand for re-election and the Committee 
is proposing that Dr Junaid Bajwa as well 
as Richard Jones are elected to the Board 
with Roy Davies, Jo Easton and Dr Stuart 
Quin standing for re-election. 

48

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
Board and Committee attendance 
There were 10 Board meetings in 2020, including one meeting dedicated to the consideration of the Group’s strategy. In addition to 
scheduled Board meetings, there is a regular informal dialogue between all directors.

The attendance of Board members at Board and Committee meetings are shown below. The attendance of executive directors at 
committee meetings was by invitation. The company secretary is also secretary to each of the committees.

Total meetings
Roy Davis

Steve Whittern

Mike Bewick

Jo Easton

Stuart Quin

Stephen Davies

Tony Lee

Richard Jones

Board
10
10

10

4

10

10

8

4

4

Audit
3
3

3

1

3

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Rem
9
9

9

4

9

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Nom
4
4

4

2

4

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

(1) Tony Lee attended all relevant Board and Committee meetings until his resignation in May 2020 
(2) Dr Mike Bewick attended all relevant Board and Committee meetings until he stepped down at the AGM in May 2020 
(3) Richard Jones attended all relevant Board and Committee meetings following his appointment as director on 3 August 2020

are responsible for the identification and 
evaluation of significant risks applicable 
to their areas of business, together with 
the design and operation of suitable 
internal controls. 

The Audit Committee reviews the 
scope of audits, the half yearly and 
annual financial statements (including 
compliance with legal and regulatory 
requirements) and reports to the Board 
on financial issues raised by the audit 
reports. Financial control is exercised 
through an organisational structure which 
has clear management responsibilities 
with segregation of duties, authorisation 
procedures and appropriate information 
systems. The system of annual budgeting 
with monthly reporting and comparisons 
to budget is a key control over the 
business and in the preparation of 
consolidated accounts. The principal 
risks and uncertainties are included on 
pages 38 to 41.

Strategy and direction
During 2020 the Board reviewed and 
monitored the Group’s performance 
against the core strategy outlined in 
detail in the Group’s prospectus prior to 
admission and subsequent Annual Reports.

In November 2020 the Board, together 
with members of the senior management 
team, held a meeting to review and assess 
the business strategy and the wider 
opportunities and risks for the business. 
In December 2020, the Board reviewed 
and approved the budget for 2021 and in 
February 2021 approved the longer-term 
business plan.

Stakeholder engagement
The Group recognises the importance of 
clear communication with shareholders. 
Regular contact with institutional investors, 
fund managers and analysts is maintained 
by the chief executive and the chief 
financial officer to discuss information 
made public by the Group. The Board 
receives reports of these meetings and 
any significant issues raised are discussed 
by the Board. Where appropriate, or if 
requested, such meetings could include 
either or both of the chairman or senior 
independent director. 

The chairman is also available to discuss 
governance and strategy matters with 
the major shareholders and has met with 
a number of them during the course of 
the year.

The Board continued the process of 
engagement with other stakeholders 
through the work of Jo Easton, the 
non-executive responsible for workforce 
engagement.

Board evaluation
Due to the significant changes to the 
Board announced earlier in 2021 and 
due to be ratified by shareholders at 
the forthcoming AGM, the Nominations 
Committee postponed an independently 
commissioned review of board 
effectiveness which is now due to take 
place at the end of 2021 once the new 
Board has had a chance to work together. 
However in the meantime the Board 
did conduct an annual internal survey 
regarding board effectiveness to identify 
opportunities for improvement.

Risk management and 
internal controls
The Board is responsible for maintaining 
a sound system of internal controls, 
including financial, operational and 
compliance controls and risk management, 
and reviews the effectiveness of the 
system at least annually in order to 
safeguard shareholders’ investment and 
the Company’s assets. The system is 
designed to manage rather than eliminate 
risk and can provide only reasonable and 
not absolute assurance against material 
misstatement or loss.

The Board confirms that there is an 
ongoing process for identifying, evaluating 
and managing the significant risks faced 
by the Company and that this process 
is regularly reviewed by the Board. The 
Board has reviewed the effectiveness of 
the system of internal control and the 
process for identifying and evaluating the 
significant risks affecting the business, 
and the policies and procedures by which 
these risks are managed. Management 

49

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of Audit Committee

Dear Shareholder, 
I am delighted to present the 2020 Audit 
Committee report. This year, in addition 
to its usual activities, the Committee 

managed the transition process from the 
outgoing CFO, Tony Lee in May 2020 
with the new CFO, Richard Jones, who 
was appointed in time for the release 
of the Group’s 2020 Interim Financial 
Statements. 

The Committee works with the full Board 
to fulfil its oversight responsibilities. Its 
primary functions are to:

•  Monitor the integrity of the financial 
statements and other information 
provided to shareholders to ensure 
they represent a clear and accurate 
assessment of the Group’s position, 
performance, strategy and prospects;

•  Consider the financial statements 

Since his appointment, Richard has 
undertaken a number of specific 
projects to review the structure of 
the finance team and the Group’s 
financial controls, to review financial 
reporting and to consider the most 
effective Group structure to enable it 

to deliver its strategic objectives. The 
Committee has taken time to review and 
approve these activities as part of its 
regular oversight.

In addition to the approval of the regular 
financial reporting and audit process, 
this year the Committee also considered 
the impact of the acquisition of GDI 
in November 2020 and approved the 
accounting treatment for the transaction 
under IFRS as part of the approval of the 
2020 Annual Report. 

Background and scope of 
the Committee’s activities
The Audit Committee assists the Board in 
discharging its responsibilities in relation 
to financial reporting, risk management 
and external and internal controls. The 
ultimate responsibility for reviewing 
and approving the Annual Report and 
Accounts and the half-yearly reports 
remains with the Board. The Audit 
Committee gives due consideration to 
laws and regulations, the provisions of the 
UK Corporate Governance Code and the 
requirements of the Listing Rules. 

and recommend to the Board on 
whether the Annual Report and 
Accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, 
balanced, understandable and provides 
information necessary for shareholders 
to assess the performance, business 
model and strategy of the Group;

•  Review significant financial reporting 

issues and judgements contained in the 
financial statements;

•  Review the systems of accounting, 

internal control and risk management;

•  Monitor and review the significant risks 
identified by the Group as well as the 
management and mitigation of those 
risks;

•  Make recommendations in relation 
to the appointment of the external 
auditors, including their remuneration 
and the provision by them of any non-
audit services;

•  Oversee and maintain an appropriate 
relationship with the Group’s external 
auditors and review the effectiveness, 
independence and objectivity of the 
external audit process;

•  Monitor and review the arrangements 

by which employees can, in 
confidence, raise concerns about any 
possible improprieties in financial 
and other matters and consider 
internal processes to comply with UK 
legislation including the UK Bribery Act 
and The Criminal Finances Act 2017.

Membership and meetings
The Audit Committee is chaired by Steve 
Whittern, and its other members are Roy 
Davis and Jo Easton, all of whom are 
considered independent. The directors 
consider that Steve Whittern has recent 
and relevant financial experience. The 
Audit Committee typically meets three 
times per year in the ordinary course based 
around the Company’s reporting cycle and 
otherwise as circumstances require. 

The Committee met three times in 2020. 
The CFO and CEO attended all the 
Committee meetings in 2020 by invitation.

Key achievements  
in 2020
•  Review and recommendation 

to the Board of approval of the 
Annual Report for 2019 

•  Review and approval of the 2020 
audit plan and fees proposed by 
the auditors

•  Review and recommendation to 

the Board of approval of the 2020 
Interim Financial Statements 

•  Review of the accounting treatment 

of the acquisition of GDI Ltd

•  Review of the Group 
corporate structure 

•  Review of independence and 
effectiveness of auditors and 
recommendation of their  
re-appointment for 2021

•  Regular review of risk 

management, the risk register 
and internal controls.

50

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP5.  Committee feedback from the 
auditors without management 
present
The chair of the Committee meets 
with the external auditors without 
management present at least twice a 
year. There were no matters of concern 
raised during these meetings in 2020.

6. 

Internal audit function
The Committee noted that the Group 
had a well developed clinical audit 
function but concluded that there was 
no immediate requirement for the 
Group to have an internal financial 
audit function, due to its current size 
and complexity. The Committee will 
consider the need for an internal audit 
function on an annual basis.

Steve Whittern
Chairman of the Audit Committee

10 May 2021

Principal activities  
for the year
During 2020 the key activities of the 
Committee were as follows:

1.  Activities relating to the Group’s 

regular reporting cycle
Review and recommendation to 
the Board of approval of the 2019 
Annual Report including the Financial 
Statements. As part of this review the 
Committee received reports from the 
external auditors on their audit for 
2019. It also reviewed the Preliminary 
Announcement made to the London 
Stock Exchange and also reviewed 
and recommended for approval by the 
Board the going concern statement 
together with the supporting forecasts 
and assumptions.

Review of the effectiveness and 
independence of the external auditors, 
Grant Thornton following the 2019 
audit and the recommendation to the 
Board to propose their re-appointment 
at the 2020 Annual General Meeting.

Approval of the 2020 audit plan 
prepared by the external auditors. 

Approval of the audit fees for 2020. 
The Committee carefully considered 
the proposals from the auditors 
including a detailed review of the 
proposed scope, including the need to 
expand the scope to include the audit 
of the acquisition of GDI and also the 
expected time required to complete 
the work. The Committee approved the 
audit fees as set out in Note 6 which, 
whilst representing a significant uplift 
on 2019 reflect the increased scope 
both in respect of the acquisition but 
also in respect of going concern and 
other matters including more detailed 
review of management estimates 
and judgements. 

Review and recommendation to the 
Board the approval of the 2020 Interim 
Financial Statements including the 
going concern statement together 
with the supporting forecasts 
and assumptions.

2.  Activities relating to the acquisition 

of GDI in November 2020
Review and approval of the accounting 
treatment for the acquisition including 
detailed consideration of the estimates 
and judgements used in determining 
the accounting treatment for the 
transaction, its valuation of the initial and 
deferred consideration and appropriate 
disclosures in accordance with IFRS.

3.  Non-audit services provided 

by the external auditor

  Non-audit services provided by the 
Company’s auditor are kept under 
review by the Committee. Non-audit 
work is only awarded to the auditors 
after due consideration of matters 
of objectivity, independence, costs, 
quality of service and efficiency. 
In 2020 the auditor undertook limited 
non-audit services, as set out in Note 6 
of the Financial Statements..

4.  Effectiveness and independence 

of external auditor
The Committee is also responsible for 
advising the Board on the appointment 
of the auditor and assessing their 
independence. 

Independence:
There are no contractual obligations 
that restrict the Audit Committee’s 
choice of external auditor. Grant 
Thornton UK LLP has been external 
auditor to Medica Group PLC since 
2013. The Committee has considered 
the latest guidance from the Financial 
Reporting Council on auditor rotation. 
The Committee has also considered 
the tenure of the reporting audit 
partner, Chris Smith who has been 
audit partner since 1 January 2018. 

In addition, the report from Grant 
Thornton UK LLP confirming their 
independence and objectivity was 
reviewed by the Committee on 
11 December 2020.

The Committee is responsible for 
regularly reviewing the effectiveness 
and performance of the external 
auditors and considering and agreeing 
appropriate fees for the audit. At the 
end of the 2019 audit, the Committee 
reviewed and were satisfied with 
the performance of the external 
auditor and recommended their 
re-appointment for 2020 to the Board.

Following the review of the auditor’s 
activities as outlined above, the 
Committee has recommended to 
the Board that Grant Thornton LLP 
are reappointed as external auditors 
by shareholders for 2021 at the 2021 
Annual General Meeting.

51

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Report of Nominations Committee

Dear Shareholder, 
This was a busy year for the Committee, as we focused on succession for the Chief 
Financial Officer, recruitment of a new Non-Executive Director and the planned retirement 
of the Medical Director.

We were delighted to welcome Richard Jones as CFO and believe that with Dr Stuart 
Quin, CEO we now have a strong management team to drive the business forward. 

We were also pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Robert Lavis, as Group 
Medical Director in January 2021 to take over day to day clinical responsibilities 
from Dr Stephen Davies who is retiring from Medica and will be stepping down 
at this year’s AGM. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen for his 
outstanding service and contribution to Medica. During his tenure he has driven the 
implementation of the clinical standards and processes at Medica to support ‘best 
in class’ service delivery for patients and our NHS partners with an absolute focus on 
quality. We wish him well in his retirement!

We were also delighted to announce in March 2021 the appointment of Dr Junaid 
Bajwa as a Non Executive Director. Junaid will be joining the Board on 1st April and his 

clinical and digital healthcare experience will be particularly valuable as the business 

develops in the coming years.

The Committee also continued its broader work on succession planning, diversity and the 
mix of skills and experience on the Board, this will remain a key aspect of our focus in the 
year ahead.

Roy Davis
Chairman of Nominations Committee

10 May 2021

Introduction

The Nomination Committee’s 
role is to regularly review 
the structure, size and 
composition of the Board to 
ensure the skills, knowledge 
and experience matches the 
requirements of the business. 

The primary functions of the Committee are:

•  To review and make recommendations 

on any changes on the size, structure 
and composition of the Board;

•  To provide a formal, rigorous and 
transparent procedure for the 
identifying and nominating new 
directors to the Board;

•  To review the succession planning 

for the Group as a whole and for key 
Board positions in particular; and

•  To review and evaluate the 
performance of the Board.

The Committee has recognised the 
requirement of the new UK Corporate 
Governance Code 2018 (the ‘Code’) in its 
decision-making.

Membership and meetings
In line with the provisions of the UK 
Corporate Governance Code 2018 the 
Nomination Committee is made up of the 
Non-Executive Directors of the Company. 
Roy Davis is the chair of the Committee 

and the other members during the year 
were Stephen Whittern, Jo Easton and 
Mike Bewick until his retirement from the 
Board at the AGM. 

Only the members of the Nomination 
Committee have the right to attend 
meetings. Executive Directors, other Board 
members and advisers may be invited to 
contribute on specific agenda items as 
appropriate. The Company Secretary acts 
as secretary to the Nomination Committee. 
The Nomination Committee updates the 
Board following its meetings and invites 
contributions and views from the Board. 

The Nomination Committee meets once a 
year in the ordinary course of business and 
more frequently as circumstances require. 
During 2020 the Committee met formally 
four times and all members attended. 
In addition to the formal Nomination 
Committee meetings, ad hoc meetings and 
calls were held during the year between 
members of the Nomination Committee, 
and at times with contributions from other 
members of the Board. 

Role and responsibilities 
The Nomination Committee’s main 
priorities are to ensure that the Group has 
the best possible leadership and to plan for 
both Executive and Non-Executive Director 
succession. Its key focus is therefore on 
the composition of the Board, for which 
appointments will be made on merit 
against objective criteria. The Nomination 
Committee advises the Board on these 
appointments, oversees the recruitment 
processes, and also considers retirements 

Key achievements  
in 2020
•  Recruitment of Richard Jones as 

Chief Financial Officer

•  Succession planning for the 

retirement of Dr Stephen Davies, 
with Dr Robert Lavis appointed 
Medical post period-end

•  Recruitment of Dr Junaid Bajwa post 
period end as a replacement Non-
Executive Director following Dr Mike 
Bewick’s retirement from the Board 
in 2020

52

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPand resignations from the Board and 
its other committees. The Nomination 
Committee regularly examines succession 
planning based on the Board’s balance 
of experience, overall diversity and the 
leadership skills required to deliver the 
Company’s strategy. 

Process for Board 
appointments 
When considering a Board appointment, 
the Nomination Committee draw up a 
specification for the relevant position, 
taking into consideration the specific role 
as well as the balance of skills, knowledge 
and experience of its existing Board 
members, the diversity of the Board and 
the independence of continuing Board 
members, together with the ongoing 
requirements and strategic development 
of the Group. Care is taken to ensure that 
proposed appointees have sufficient time 
to devote to the role and that there are no 
conflicts of interest. 

The Nomination Committee utilises the 
services of an executive search firm to 
identify appropriate candidates, ensuring 
that the search firm appointed does not 
have any other conflicts with the Group. 
In addition, the Nomination Committee 
will only use those firms that have 
adopted the Voluntary Code of Conduct 
addressing gender diversity and best 
practice in search assignments. A long 
list of potential appointees is reviewed, 
followed by the shortlisting of candidates 
for interview based upon the objective 
criteria identified in the specification. 
Committee members interview the 
shortlisted candidates together with other 
Directors as appropriate, and identify 
a preferred candidate. Following these 
meetings, and subject to satisfactory 
references, the Nomination Committee 
make a formal recommendation to the 
Board on the appointment. 

Board induction 
and training
All Board members undertook relevant 
training on their responsibilities and duties 
as directors as part of their induction and 
onboarding to the company. Updates on 
changes in corporate governance as well as 
additional training is provided as required. 

Diversity policy 
The Company makes all Board 
appointments on individual merit, while 
recognising the benefits of Board diversity. 
Our diversity policy aims to ensure that 
we consider diversity in its broadest 
sense. A diverse Board has members with 
different skills, backgrounds, regional and 
industry experiences, races, genders and 
other qualities. 

Activities in 2020
The Committee reviewed the composition 
of the Board and the processes 
surrounding succession planning. The 
Committee concluded that the current 
Board size and structure was suitable for 
the business as it continues to develop. 

The Committee’s main task was to recruit 
a successor for Tony Lee who mutually 
agreed with the Board that he would 
step down as the Group’s Chief Financial 
Officer during the year. On behalf of 
the Board I would like to thank Tony for 
his contribution to Medica during his 
tenure. The recruitment process for his 
replacement was conducted by Spencer 
Stuart, who have no other connection with 
the Group or other individual directors. 
The search process identified Richard 
Jones as the outstanding candidate, 
based on his track record of financial 
management, previous experience in 
healthcare services and of operating at 
scale in listed international businesses 
as well as strong personal qualities. 
The Committee was therefore pleased 
to recommend to the Board that Richard 
should be appointed as Chief Financial 
Officer. The process was formally 
completed with Richard’s appointment 
on the 3 August 2020. 

The Committee undertook a succession 
planning process for Dr Stephen Davies, 
the Medical Director, who will be retiring 
from the company in 2021. As part of this 
process it was decided that the position 
would not be replaced as a main Board 
director but that the day to day clinical 
responsibilities would be undertaken by a 
newly appointed Group Medical Director, 
Dr Robert Lavis. This appointment was 
completed successfully and announced 
in January 2021 post the period close.

The Committee also undertook the 
recruitment process for a new non-
executive director to replace Dr Mike 
Bewick who stepped down at the 2020 
AGM. On behalf of the Board I would like 
to thank Mike for his contribution to the 
Board since IPO. The search process for a 
replacement was conducted by Ridgeway 
Partners, who have no other connection 
to the Group or to individual Directors. 
We were delighted to appoint Junaid 
who will join the Board from 1st April 
2021 and will stand for election at the 
upcoming AGM in June 2021. Junaid was 
the outstanding candidate for the role and 
brings both clinical and digital healthcare 
experience to the Board which are key to 
our future development. As part of his role, 
Junaid will also chair the Clinical & Risk 
Governance Committee which will oversee 
the medical and clinical aspects of Medica’s 
business from a Board perspective.

Post the period, on 10 May 2021, Stephen 
Whittern, Senior Independent Director and 
Chair of the Audit Committee, informed 
the Board of decision to step down from 
the Board and not seek re-election at 
this year’s AGM. The Committee has 
therefore instigated a search process for a 
replacement and will update the market in 
due course.

Performance evaluation
Given the changes to the makeup of the 
Board during the year we decided to 
undertake an internal Board evaluation and 
postpone the external evaluation until 2021 
when the new members of the Board will 
have been in post for a reasonable period. 

The Committee completed the 
performance evaluation which was 
designed to bring about debate on relevant 
issues and assist in identifying potential 
areas of improvement in the Board’s 
processes as well as ensuring the Board 
operates efficiently and effectively. 

The themes covered by the internal 
evaluation included: 

•  The role of directors and the board

•  Performance of the Non-executive 

directors

•  Performance of the Executive directors

•  Board meeting effectiveness

•  Performance and effectiveness of 

Committees

•  Effectiveness of monitoring 

performance

•  Leadership and culture

•  Corporate governance

A number of improvement opportunities 
were identified for implementation and 
the internal evaluation concluded that 
the Board, its Committees and each of its 
Directors continue to be effective. 

Re-election of Directors 
The Committee met in early 2021 to 
review the continuation in office and 
potential reappointment of all members 
of the Board. Following this review, the 
Committee recommended to the Board 
that all current and new Directors with 
the exception of the Dr Stephen Davies, 
Medical Director and Stephen Whittern 
be appointed or reappointed, and these 
Directors will seek election or re-election 
at the annual general meeting. 

Roy Davis

Chairman of Nominations Committee

10 May 2021

53

GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

Dear Shareholder,
As Chair of the Remuneration Committee, 
I am pleased to present the Director’s 
Remuneration report, approved by the 

Board for the year ended 31 December 
2020. This is my first report as Chair 
of the Committee, and I would like to 
extend my thanks to Mike Bewick, 
who stepped down from the role 
in May 2020, for his efforts and 
commitment during his tenure as 
Chair.

The report is focused on two 
key themes and is divided into 
two sections; the changes we are 
proposing to make to our remuneration 
policy which will apply for the next 
three years, including 2021, if approved 
by shareholders at the next AGM and the 
annual report on remuneration which sets 
out the remuneration paid to Directors in 
2020 including bonus payments and long-
term incentives. 

Two separate resolutions will be put to 
shareholders for their vote at the AGM on 
16 June 2021: 

(1)  the binding triennial vote on the 

Directors Remuneration Policy as set 
out on pages 57 to 66; and 

(2) an advisory vote on the Annual 

Report on Remuneration as set out 
on pages 67 to 75 detailing Directors 
remuneration for the performance 
period ending 31 December 2020. 

Corporate performance 
in 2020
As noted earlier in the annual report, 
Medica performed well in a very difficult 
year which was heavily impacted by the 
COVID-19 pandemic. Overall revenues 
declined 21% but UK NightHawk revenues 
increased 4% despite the challenges of 
COVID-19 and UK Elective revenues have 
seen strong month on month improvement 
so far in 2021. Adjusted operating profit 
declined 56% and EPS declined 57% 
reflecting the decline in revenues but also 
the investment in operating overheads 
towards future growth. However, operating 
cash generation in 2020 remained strong 
at £8.6m (compared to £9.7m in 2019) 
despite the reduction in adjusted operating 
profits due to careful working capital 
management. Operationally Medica 
significantly improved its operating 
metrics with a strong increase of 13% in 
rostered reporting hours and NightHawk 
has continued to maintain its strong 
operational performance with turnaround 
time of under 23 minutes and SLA 
performance increasing from 97% in 2019 
to 98% in 2020. Medica also launched its 

new FutureTech strategy and completed its 
first acquisition of Global Diagnostics (GDI) 
in November 2020.

Medica was fast to react and successfully 
completed a move to full homeworking 
in the early stages of the pandemic and 
has not needed to participate in any 
government funding schemes, taking 
advantage of the reduction in workload to 
accelerate progress on its new strategy. 
Medica has not furloughed any staff, 
made any reductions to pay or taken any 
government support and no jobs have 
been lost as a result of COVID-19. Having 
decided it prudent not to declare a final 
dividend in 2019, Medica paid an interim 
dividend of 0.85 pence per share for 2020 
which together with the proposed final 
dividend of 1.7 pence per share represents 
an increase of 13% on 2018, the last year 
both interim and final dividends were paid.

The Committee has taken overall 
performance into consideration when 
determining remuneration matters for 2020.

Remuneration Outcomes 
and awards made in 2020
For 2020, annual bonus was based on 
revenue, profit, free cash and operational 
objectives. All four components of the 
annual bonus were weighted equally at 
25%. Whilst neither the revenue nor profit 
financial performance met the threshold 
for payment, targets were met in relation to 
cash generation and operational objectives. 
The Committee used the formulaic 
outcome, did not apply any discretion and 
approved the payment of a bonus of 32% 
of basic salary for 2020 to Stuart Quin, 
Stephen Davies and Richard Jones, the 
latter pro-rata from his date of joining.

Awards under the 2017 PSP were subject 
to a three-year performance period and 
were based on EPS growth and growth in 
absolute TSR weighted equally at 50%. The 
growth in EPS over the performance period 
was c. 18% and therefore the portion of 
the Award subject to the EPS performance 
condition vested at c. 60%. The TSR 
increased over the performance period by c. 
4% and therefore the portion of the Award 
subject to the TSR performance condition 
did not vest. 

In 2020 the Committee granted an 
exceptional PSP award to Stuart Quin 
in accordance with the terms of his 
appointment in 2019 representing 200% of 
base salary. 

Key achievements  
in 2020
•  Approval of remuneration for the 

new CFO

•  Appointment of new remuneration 

advisers to the Committee following 
a selection exercise

•  Approval and introduction of a new 

annual activity cycle 

•  Completion of the triennial review of 
the Directors’ Remuneration Policy 
subject to shareholder vote at the 
2021 AGM

54

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPDetails of the proposed targets for 2021 
PSP awards are set out on page 62 of 
the remuneration report. The Committee 
is cognisant of the need to ensure the 
proposed increase in incentive quantum 
is accompanied by corresponding stretch 
in targets. We have taken care, therefore, 
to set challenging and stretching targets 
that carefully align the interests of the 
shareholders and Executive Directors 
towards delivering the strategic plan for the 
Group and thereby creating strong value 
creation for shareholders over the next 
three years and beyond. These principles 
of aligning shareholders and the Executive 
Team have also been applied in the tri-
annual review of the overall Remuneration 
Policy. We believe that we will achieve this 
aim though the changes we are proposing, 
and we hope that our shareholders will 
support the policy, and the Remuneration 
Report at the 2021 AGM. 

Ongoing dialogue with shareholders 
and other stakeholders is valued, and as 
always, we welcome your feedback on this 
Directors’ Remuneration Report. 

Jo Easton
Chair of the Remuneration Committee

10 May 2021

An exceptional award was also granted to 
Richard Jones representing 200% of base 
salary in accordance with the terms of his 
appointment in August 2020. 

Both awards were made under the terms of 
the current policy and were based on EPS 
and absolute TSR targets approved in 2018 
by shareholders and subsequently used as 
the basis for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 PSP 
awards. 

Review of Remuneration 
Policy from 2021 to 2023
During 2020 the Committee carried out the 
first triennial review of the policy since it 
was introduced in 2018. Whilst the review 
confirmed that there was no requirement 
for radical redesign, the Committee 
recognised that there was a need to 
provide a more competitive total package 
to ensure the retention of our executive 
directors; with an increase in quantum 
focused on variable pay to support the 
execution of the strategy, drive growth and 
create value for shareholders. We have 
also taken the opportunity to ensure that 
our policy reflects the changes to the UK 
Corporate Governance Code since 2018 
when the policy was first introduced. 

In addition to the changes related to 
compliance with the UK Corporate 
Governance Code as set out in the 
following paragraph, the key proposed 
changes to policy include an increase to 
the maximum bonus opportunity under the 
policy to 125% from the current 100% of 
base salary and an increase to the normal 
maximum PSP opportunity to 150% from 
the current 100% of base salary. Whilst 
the Committee intends to make a PSP 
award of 150% of base salary in 2021 to 
support the rapid alignment of interest 
with shareholders and retention of our 
executives, there is an expectation that 
after 2021 awards will be made equivalent 
to 125% of base salary. 

Further detail on changes to the policy and 
how it will be implemented is included in 
more detail on page 57. 

UK Corporate  
Governance Code
The Committee has reviewed the provisions 
of the Code and is proposing to make 
changes to ensure that executive pensions 
are aligned with the wider workforce by 
2023, and minimum shareholding guidelines 
and post-employment shareholding periods 
are put in place. Therefore, our new 
proposed Remuneration Policy will be fully 
compliant with the Code during the next 
three-year subject to shareholder approval 
at the 2021 AGM.

The Committee undertook a comprehensive 
and active consultation exercise on the 
proposed changes to the policy and there 
was a high level of engagement with the 
major shareholders we consulted with. 
We appreciate the constructive feedback 
and were pleased with the level of support 
received. We thank all the shareholders 
who put forward their views which have 
been taken into consideration in the final 
proposals. 

Looking ahead to 2021
For 2021, base salaries will be increased 
by 1% for Executive Directors to align with 
the increases for the wider UK workforce. 
Company pension contributions will remain 
unchanged from 2020 levels and will remain 
so during 2022 after which, contributions 
will be aligned to those of the wider UK 
workforce from 2023. In line with the 
proposed changes to our Remuneration 
Policy set out above, the maximum 2021 
annual bonus opportunity will be increased 
from 100% to 125% of base salary and 
the maximum 2021 LTIP opportunity will 
be increased from 100% to 150% of base 
salary with the expectation that the LTIP 
opportunity for subsequent years will be set 
at 125% of base salary. 

55

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Key committee activities in 2020

Triennial Remuneration 
Policy review

•  Conducted a thorough review of the policy and undertook consultation with our major 

shareholders 

•  Set out new three-year performance criteria for 2021 LTIP awards for consideration by 

shareholders at the 2021 AGM

Director’s remuneration

•  Approved remuneration for the new Chief Finance Officer

•  Reviewed the 2019 remuneration report prior to its approval at the 2020 AGM

•  Agreed Director’s remuneration for 2021

Executive remuneration

•  Approved the 2020 LTIP and CSOP awards 

•  Approved the bonus targets for 2021 

Governance

•  Conducted a tender process to appoint Willis Towers Watson as new independent remuneration 

advisors to the Committee

•  Established an annual Remuneration Committee activity cycle

•  Reviewed and updated the Remuneration Committee Terms of Reference

•  Reviewed market trends and latest developments in governance

•  Considered compliance with the Code in the three-year Remuneration Policy review

56

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPRemuneration Policy Report 

Changes to Remuneration Policy and implementation 
The table below summarises the main proposed changes to the Policy, the intended changes to implementation of the policy in 2021 and 
rationale for each change. 

The full policy that shareholders will be asked to approve is detailed in the following table:.

Element

Proposed change to policy

Implementation for 2021

Rationale for change

Base salary

No change

Pension

Any newly appointed Executive Directors 
will receive pension contributions in 
line with the majority of the wider UK 
workforce. From 1 January 2023 pension 
contributions for current Executive 
Directors will align with the majority of the 
wider UK workforce.

The pension contributions of the 
current Executive Directors will remain 
unchanged in 2021 and reduce from  
1 January 2023 to align with those of 
the wider UK workforce.

Aligns Executive Director 
pension contributions 
with the wider 
workforce.

Annual Bonus

Increase maximum opportunity from 100% 
to 125% of base salary.

Proportion of bonus earned deferred into 
shares increasing from at least 25% to 40%.

Maximum bonus opportunity for CEO 
and CFO for 2021 will be 125% of 
base salary.

Performance 
Share Plan 
(“PSP”)

Shareholding 
ownership 
guidelines

Increase normal maximum opportunity from 
100% to 150% of base salary.

Exceptional maximum unchanged at 200% 
of base salary.

Increase shareholding guideline from 100% 
to 125% of base salary.

Introduce post-employment shareholding 
guideline.

Recognise the need to 
retain recently recruited 
Executive Directors, 
provide meaningful 
alignment with 
shareholders, and ensure 
that they are incentivised 
competitively and 
appropriately to 
drive growth.

PSP award for CEO and CFO for 
2021 will be 150% of base salary, and 
thereafter expected to be 125% salary.

Increase shareholding requirement to 
mirror the expected normal annual PSP 
opportunity of 125% for CEO and CFO.

Ensures alignment with 
shareholders during and 
post-employment.

Executive Directors are required 
to hold 100% of their shareholding 
requirement for two years after leaving 
office.

57

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

2021 Remuneration Policy for Executive Directors 
This section of the report sets out the main elements of the proposed Policy for approval by shareholders at the Company’s AGM in 
2021.Subject to shareholder approval, the Policy is intended to remain in effect for three years from the 2021 AGM. The previous page 
summarises how the policy differs from the policy approved by shareholders in 2018. The table below also sets out how the main elements 
of the Policy link to the strategy and how each element will operate in practice. 

Other than the changes identified in the table and in the Notes to the Policy Table section, all other elements of the policy in relation to 
Exit Payments, the Treatment of Awards on Cessation of Employment/Change of Control, the Approach to Remuneration on Recruitment 
for both external and internal appointments, External Appointments held by Executive Directors, Consideration of Conditions Elsewhere in 
Medica and Consider of Shareholder Views remain unchanged.

Opportunity

of the individual.

Base salaries for the year under review and the following year, as well as the 

rationale for any increases, will be disclosed in the relevant year’s Directors’ 

Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report. 

Performance measures

Purpose and link to 
strategy

Operation

Set at levels to attract 
and retain talented 
Executive Directors with 
the skills and experience 
to deliver Medica’s 
strategy.

Base salaries and the 
implied total package 
informed but not led 
by market practice and 
competitive by reference 
to companies of a similar 
size and complexity.

Base salaries will be reviewed by the Committee annually and benchmarked periodically 
against relevant competitor companies.

There is no maximum salary payable to Executive Directors. Salaries will be set 

Not applicable.

on a case-by-case basis to reflect the role and the experience and qualifications 

The Executive Directors’ salary is positioned to reflect each individual’s professional 
experience and level of responsibility in their role.

In deciding base salary levels, the Committee considers personal performance including 
the individual’s contribution to the achievement of Medica’s strategic objectives. The 
Committee will also consider employment conditions and salary levels across Medica, 
and prevailing market conditions.

Base salary increases for the Executive Directors will normally be aligned with those of 
the wider workforce, but may be made above this level in exceptional circumstances 
such as a material change in responsibilities, size or complexity of the role, or if a 
Director was intentionally appointed on a below-market salary. 

The Committee will consider increasing salaries over time subject to strong personal 
and company performance and considering levels of salaries in the market.

To provide an 
appropriate level of post-
retirement benefit for 
Executive Directors.

Executive Directors may receive a contribution to a personal pension plan, a cash 
allowance in lieu, or a combination thereof equivalent to that received by the wider 
UK workforce. 

Salary is the only element of remuneration that is pensionable.

To provide market 
competitive non-cash 
benefits to attract and 
retain talented Executive 
Directors.

Medica provides death in service and private medical insurance benefits to its 
executive directors.

Medica may provide benefits in kind where the Remuneration Committee considers 
appropriate. Executive Directors may also be provided certain other benefits to 
take account of individual circumstances such as, but not limited to, payment of 
tax, financial, and/or legal adviser fees, relocation expenses and housing allowance 
(including associated interest, penalties or fees plus, in certain circumstances or where 
the Committee consider it appropriate, any tax incurred on such benefits). 

Executive Directors may also be offered any other future benefits made available to 
all senior employees. This may include participation in any Share Incentive Plan that is 
offered to all employees (or all employees who meet certain qualifying criteria) on the 
same terms.

Newly appointed Executive Directors will receive a contribution to a personal 

Not applicable.

pension plan, a cash allowance, or a combination thereof equivalent to that of 

the wider UK workforce at the date of appointment.

Details of the pension contributions made to Executive Directors during 

the year are disclosed in the Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the 

Annual Report. 

There is no maximum value of annual benefits which will be market competitive 

Not applicable.

and will take into account individual circumstances. It is not anticipated that 

the costs of benefits provided will increase significantly in the financial years 

over which this Policy will apply, although the Committee retains discretion 

to approve non-material increases in cost. In addition, the Committee retains 

discretion to approve a higher cost in exceptional circumstances (e.g. to 

facilitate recruitment, relocation, expatriation, etc.) or in circumstances 

where factors outside Medica’s control have changed (e.g. market increases in 

insurance costs). 

Benefits in respect of the year under review are disclosed in the Directors’ 

Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report.

Element

Base salary

Pension

Other 
benefits

58

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPElement

strategy

Operation

Purpose and link to 

Base salary

Set at levels to attract 

Base salaries will be reviewed by the Committee annually and benchmarked periodically 

and retain talented 

against relevant competitor companies.

Executive Directors with 

the skills and experience 

to deliver Medica’s 

strategy.

Base salaries and the 

implied total package 

informed but not led 

by market practice and 

competitive by reference 

to companies of a similar 

size and complexity.

The Executive Directors’ salary is positioned to reflect each individual’s professional 

experience and level of responsibility in their role.

In deciding base salary levels, the Committee considers personal performance including 

the individual’s contribution to the achievement of Medica’s strategic objectives. The 

Committee will also consider employment conditions and salary levels across Medica, 

and prevailing market conditions.

Base salary increases for the Executive Directors will normally be aligned with those of 

the wider workforce, but may be made above this level in exceptional circumstances 

such as a material change in responsibilities, size or complexity of the role, or if a 

Director was intentionally appointed on a below-market salary. 

The Committee will consider increasing salaries over time subject to strong personal 

and company performance and considering levels of salaries in the market.

Pension

To provide an 

Executive Directors may receive a contribution to a personal pension plan, a cash 

appropriate level of post-

allowance in lieu, or a combination thereof equivalent to that received by the wider 

retirement benefit for 

UK workforce. 

Executive Directors.

Salary is the only element of remuneration that is pensionable.

Other 

benefits

To provide market 

Medica provides death in service and private medical insurance benefits to its 

competitive non-cash 

executive directors.

benefits to attract and 

retain talented Executive 

Directors.

Medica may provide benefits in kind where the Remuneration Committee considers 

appropriate. Executive Directors may also be provided certain other benefits to 

take account of individual circumstances such as, but not limited to, payment of 

tax, financial, and/or legal adviser fees, relocation expenses and housing allowance 

(including associated interest, penalties or fees plus, in certain circumstances or where 

the Committee consider it appropriate, any tax incurred on such benefits). 

Executive Directors may also be offered any other future benefits made available to 

all senior employees. This may include participation in any Share Incentive Plan that is 

offered to all employees (or all employees who meet certain qualifying criteria) on the 

same terms.

Opportunity

There is no maximum salary payable to Executive Directors. Salaries will be set 
on a case-by-case basis to reflect the role and the experience and qualifications 
of the individual.

Base salaries for the year under review and the following year, as well as the 
rationale for any increases, will be disclosed in the relevant year’s Directors’ 
Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report. 

Performance measures

Not applicable.

Newly appointed Executive Directors will receive a contribution to a personal 
pension plan, a cash allowance, or a combination thereof equivalent to that of 
the wider UK workforce at the date of appointment.

Not applicable.

Details of the pension contributions made to Executive Directors during 
the year are disclosed in the Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the 
Annual Report. 

There is no maximum value of annual benefits which will be market competitive 
and will take into account individual circumstances. It is not anticipated that 
the costs of benefits provided will increase significantly in the financial years 
over which this Policy will apply, although the Committee retains discretion 
to approve non-material increases in cost. In addition, the Committee retains 
discretion to approve a higher cost in exceptional circumstances (e.g. to 
facilitate recruitment, relocation, expatriation, etc.) or in circumstances 
where factors outside Medica’s control have changed (e.g. market increases in 
insurance costs). 

Benefits in respect of the year under review are disclosed in the Directors’ 
Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report.

Not applicable.

59

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Purpose and link to 
strategy

Operation

Element

Annual 
Bonus

To incentivise Executive 
Directors to deliver 
strong financial and non-
financial performance 
on an annual basis and 
reward the delivery of 
Medica’s strategic aims 
that will underpin the 
longer-term health and 
growth of the business.

Deferral into shares 
enhances alignment with 
shareholders and aids 
retention of Executive 
Directors. 

Performance 
Share Plan 
(“PSP”)

To align the interests of 
Executive Directors and 
shareholders in growing 
the value of Medica over 
the long-term.

Performance measures, targets and weightings are set by the Committee at the 
start of the year. After the end of the financial year, the Committee determines the 
level of bonus to be paid, taking into account the extent to which these targets have 
been achieved.

To the extent that the performance criteria have been met, at least 40% of the annual 
bonus awards will be deferred into awards in shares in Medica under the Deferred Bonus 
Plan (“DBP”). The remainder of the bonus will be paid in cash.

Awards under the DBP are not subject to further performance conditions and vest after 
2 years, broadly subject to continued employment.

Dividend equivalents may be awarded in respect of DBP awards (as set out in the Notes 
to the Policy Table). 

Malus and clawback provisions apply to the annual bonus and DBP awards in certain 
circumstances (as set out in the Notes to the Policy Table).

The Committee may exercise discretion and make either upward or downward 
adjustments to the formulaic outcome to either short term or long-term bonus pay-outs 
in the event that there is misalignment with shareholder interests or strategy (as set out 
in the Notes to the Policy Table).

Executive Directors are eligible to receive annual awards of an option to acquire shares 
in Medica for nil consideration. 

Prior to awards being granted each year, the performance conditions and targets 
are agreed and set to ensure they remain appropriately stretching and aligned to 
Medica’s strategy.

Awards granted under the PSP to Executive Directors will normally have a performance 
period of not less than three years and a minimum normal vesting period of three years. 
They will normally be subject to an additional holding period of two years after the 
normal vesting period.

Dividend equivalents may be awarded in respect of PSP awards (as set out in the Notes 
to the Policy Table).

PSP awards granted to Executive Directors will be subject to malus and clawback 
provisions, as set out in the Notes to the Policy Table.

The Committee may also exercise discretion and make either upward or downward 
adjustments to the formulaic outcome to either short term or long-term bonus pay-outs 
in the event that there is misalignment with shareholder interests or strategy (as set out 
in the Notes to the Policy Table).

Company 
Share 
Option Plan 
(CSOP) 

To align the interests 
of employees and 
shareholders in growing 
the value of Medica over 
the long-term.

All employees, including Executive Directors, are eligible to receive annual awards of an 
option to acquire shares in Medica for an amount that is not less than the market value 
of the Medica shares at the date of grant. 

Awards granted under the CSOP will normally have a vesting period of not less than 
three years. Awards may, but do not need to be, subject to performance conditions and 
targets. 

Save‑As‑You‑
Earn (SAYE) 
plan

To align the interests 
of employees and 
shareholders by 
encouraging all 
employees to buy and 
own Medica shares

Executive Directors are entitled to participate in Medica’s all-employee SAYE plan 
on identical terms as other eligible employees. All employees, including Executive 
Directors, may make monthly savings over a period of three or five years (or other period 
set out in the relevant legislation). Each employee who participates is also granted 
an option to acquire shares at a price that is not less than 80% of the market value of 
the shares on the date that invitations to participate are issued. The number of Shares 
subject to each option will be the number of Shares which have an aggregate option 
exercise price as near to, but not exceeding, the projected proceeds of the SAYE savings 
contract (i.e. the accumulated savings plus any bonus/interest payable). 

The operation of the SAYE plan will be in line with the legislative requirements that 
apply to plans of this type. Executive Directors will not receive any preferential terms 
compared to the wider employee group.

60

Opportunity

Performance measures

The normal maximum annual bonus opportunity is 125% of base salary.

Bonuses are based on achievement against Company 

The pay-out for on-target performance is up to 50% of maximum; below 

threshold performance on any of the financial or strategic functional measures 

results in nil pay-out.

The current maximum bonus opportunities for each of the Executive Directors 

financial performance targets and strategic 

functional targets over the financial year.

Malus and clawback provisions apply to the annual 

bonus and DBP awards in certain circumstances

are disclosed in the Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report. 

Further details, including the performance targets, 

will be disclosed retrospectively in the relevant 

Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the Annual 

Report. 

The normal maximum annual PSP opportunity is 150% of base salary. 

Vesting of the PSP is subject to continued 

The Committee may determine not to make awards at this maximum level each 

year and anticipates that awards made will not normally exceed 125% of base 

salary after 2021. 

The Committee has discretion to award up to 200% of base salary in 

exceptional circumstances.

Return.

employment during the normal vesting period and 

the achievement of performance conditions aligned 

with Medica’s strategic plan and shareholder value 

creation. PSP awards granted in 2021 will be based on 

a combination of EPS growth and Total Shareholder 

Further details of the PSP awards granted to each of the Executive Directors 

will be disclosed in the relevant Directors’. Remuneration Report in the 

Annual Report. 

Regular reviews of the performance conditions and 

targets are undertaken to ensure alignment with the 

strategy and shareholder interest. The Committee 

retains discretion to make changes to the measures 

and their weightings to ensure continued alignment 

with strategic goals and shareholder interests.

Further details, including the performance targets 

attached to PSP awards in respect of each year, will 

be disclosed in the relevant Directors’. Remuneration 

Report in the Annual Report.

Approved CSOP options cannot be granted to any individual over shares 

Vesting of CSOP options may be (but does not need 

exceeding £30,000 market value as at the date of grant (or such other figure as 

to be) subject to the achievement of performance 

is permitted by the relevant legislation). 

conditions.

Employees are limited to saving a maximum in line with the maximum monthly 

Not applicable.

savings limit imposed by the Committee (which will not exceed the limits 

imposed by legislation, currently £500 per month) at the time they are invited 

to participate.

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPElement

strategy

Operation

Purpose and link to 

Annual 

Bonus

To incentivise Executive 

Performance measures, targets and weightings are set by the Committee at the 

Directors to deliver 

start of the year. After the end of the financial year, the Committee determines the 

strong financial and non-

level of bonus to be paid, taking into account the extent to which these targets have 

financial performance 

been achieved.

on an annual basis and 

reward the delivery of 

Medica’s strategic aims 

that will underpin the 

longer-term health and 

growth of the business.

Deferral into shares 

shareholders and aids 

retention of Executive 

Directors. 

To the extent that the performance criteria have been met, at least 40% of the annual 

bonus awards will be deferred into awards in shares in Medica under the Deferred Bonus 

Plan (“DBP”). The remainder of the bonus will be paid in cash.

Awards under the DBP are not subject to further performance conditions and vest after 

2 years, broadly subject to continued employment.

Dividend equivalents may be awarded in respect of DBP awards (as set out in the Notes 

Malus and clawback provisions apply to the annual bonus and DBP awards in certain 

circumstances (as set out in the Notes to the Policy Table).

The Committee may exercise discretion and make either upward or downward 

adjustments to the formulaic outcome to either short term or long-term bonus pay-outs 

in the event that there is misalignment with shareholder interests or strategy (as set out 

in the Notes to the Policy Table).

enhances alignment with 

to the Policy Table). 

Performance 

Share Plan 

(“PSP”)

Executive Directors and 

in Medica for nil consideration. 

shareholders in growing 

the value of Medica over 

the long-term.

Prior to awards being granted each year, the performance conditions and targets 

are agreed and set to ensure they remain appropriately stretching and aligned to 

Medica’s strategy.

Awards granted under the PSP to Executive Directors will normally have a performance 

period of not less than three years and a minimum normal vesting period of three years. 

They will normally be subject to an additional holding period of two years after the 

normal vesting period.

to the Policy Table).

Dividend equivalents may be awarded in respect of PSP awards (as set out in the Notes 

PSP awards granted to Executive Directors will be subject to malus and clawback 

provisions, as set out in the Notes to the Policy Table.

The Committee may also exercise discretion and make either upward or downward 

adjustments to the formulaic outcome to either short term or long-term bonus pay-outs 

in the event that there is misalignment with shareholder interests or strategy (as set out 

in the Notes to the Policy Table).

Company 

Share 

Option Plan 

(CSOP) 

Save‑As‑You‑

Earn (SAYE) 

plan

the value of Medica over 

the long-term.

targets. 

Awards granted under the CSOP will normally have a vesting period of not less than 

three years. Awards may, but do not need to be, subject to performance conditions and 

To align the interests 

Executive Directors are entitled to participate in Medica’s all-employee SAYE plan 

of employees and 

shareholders by 

encouraging all 

on identical terms as other eligible employees. All employees, including Executive 

Directors, may make monthly savings over a period of three or five years (or other period 

set out in the relevant legislation). Each employee who participates is also granted 

employees to buy and 

an option to acquire shares at a price that is not less than 80% of the market value of 

own Medica shares

the shares on the date that invitations to participate are issued. The number of Shares 

subject to each option will be the number of Shares which have an aggregate option 

exercise price as near to, but not exceeding, the projected proceeds of the SAYE savings 

contract (i.e. the accumulated savings plus any bonus/interest payable). 

The operation of the SAYE plan will be in line with the legislative requirements that 

apply to plans of this type. Executive Directors will not receive any preferential terms 

compared to the wider employee group.

Opportunity

Performance measures

The normal maximum annual bonus opportunity is 125% of base salary.

The pay-out for on-target performance is up to 50% of maximum; below 
threshold performance on any of the financial or strategic functional measures 
results in nil pay-out.

The current maximum bonus opportunities for each of the Executive Directors 
are disclosed in the Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the Annual Report. 

Bonuses are based on achievement against Company 
financial performance targets and strategic 
functional targets over the financial year.

Malus and clawback provisions apply to the annual 
bonus and DBP awards in certain circumstances

Further details, including the performance targets, 
will be disclosed retrospectively in the relevant 
Directors’ Report on Remuneration in the Annual 
Report. 

To align the interests of 

Executive Directors are eligible to receive annual awards of an option to acquire shares 

The normal maximum annual PSP opportunity is 150% of base salary. 

The Committee may determine not to make awards at this maximum level each 
year and anticipates that awards made will not normally exceed 125% of base 
salary after 2021. 

The Committee has discretion to award up to 200% of base salary in 
exceptional circumstances.

Further details of the PSP awards granted to each of the Executive Directors 
will be disclosed in the relevant Directors’. Remuneration Report in the 
Annual Report. 

Vesting of the PSP is subject to continued 
employment during the normal vesting period and 
the achievement of performance conditions aligned 
with Medica’s strategic plan and shareholder value 
creation. PSP awards granted in 2021 will be based on 
a combination of EPS growth and Total Shareholder 
Return.

Regular reviews of the performance conditions and 
targets are undertaken to ensure alignment with the 
strategy and shareholder interest. The Committee 
retains discretion to make changes to the measures 
and their weightings to ensure continued alignment 
with strategic goals and shareholder interests.

Further details, including the performance targets 
attached to PSP awards in respect of each year, will 
be disclosed in the relevant Directors’. Remuneration 
Report in the Annual Report.

To align the interests 

All employees, including Executive Directors, are eligible to receive annual awards of an 

of employees and 

option to acquire shares in Medica for an amount that is not less than the market value 

shareholders in growing 

of the Medica shares at the date of grant. 

Approved CSOP options cannot be granted to any individual over shares 
exceeding £30,000 market value as at the date of grant (or such other figure as 
is permitted by the relevant legislation). 

Vesting of CSOP options may be (but does not need 
to be) subject to the achievement of performance 
conditions.

Employees are limited to saving a maximum in line with the maximum monthly 
savings limit imposed by the Committee (which will not exceed the limits 
imposed by legislation, currently £500 per month) at the time they are invited 
to participate.

Not applicable.

61

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Notes to the Policy Table

Approach to target setting and 
performance measure selection.
The Committee considers carefully the 
selection of performance measures at the 
start of each performance cycle, taking into 
consideration Medica’s strategic objectives 
and the macroeconomic environment.

Annual bonus measures are selected to 
align with Medica’s short-term objectives. 
Measures may change from year to year 
(subject to the Policy), and the rationale 
for any changes to the bonus measures 
selected will therefore be disclosed in the 
relevant Directors’ Remuneration Report in 
the Annual Report.

PSP performance measures are selected 
to ensure they reward delivery of Medica’s 
strategy and growth and create value for 
shareholders over a multi-year period and 
are intended to align Executive Directors’ 
interests with those of shareholders. The 
performance measures applicable to the 
PSP awards to be granted in 2021 (subject 
to shareholder approval of the Policy) will 
be based as to 50% on EPS growth and 50% 
on Total Shareholder Return over a three 
year period. The Committee considers 
these measures align executive incentives to 
Medica’s strategy and shareholder interests.

PSP awards are expected to be granted in 
May 2021. The PSP award to be granted 
to Stuart Quin and Richard Jones will be 
equivalent to 100% of base salary. Subject 
to the approval of the policy changes and 

Directors’ Remuneration Report at Medica’s 
AGM on 16th June 2021, a further PSP 
award will be granted to both Stuart Quin 
and Richard Jones equivalent to 50% of 
base salary and using the same grant price 
as the May award, bringing the total PSP 
award for to 150% for 2021 only. 

Targets are set to be stretching but 
achievable over the three-year performance 
period. EPS targets are set taking account 
of multiple relevant reference points, 
including internal forecasts, external 
expectations for future performance at 
both Medica and its closest sector peers, 
and typical performance ranges for those 
measures at other FTSE companies of 
comparable size and complexity.

The Committee may also make 
discretionary adjustments, up and down, 
to the formulaic outcome of short and 
long term incentive plans if there is a lack 
of alignment with the Group’s strategic 
goals or shareholder interests. Any use of 
discretion will be carefully considered by 
the Committee and fully disclosed in the 
relevant Directors’ Remuneration Report in 
the Annual Report. 

Until an award in shares under the DBP 
or PSP has been exercised and the 
shares which are subject to the relevant 
award have been issued or transferred 
to the award holder, the award holder 
has no entitlement to dividends or other 
distributions payable by reference to a 
record date preceding the date of such issue 
or transfer. The Committee can, however, 
determine that dividend equivalents will 

Details of the Executive Directors’ current personal shareholdings are provided on page 74.

In developing these scenarios the following assumptions have 
been made
Minimum
•  Base pay that is applicable in 2021

•  Benefits as included in the single figure table for 2020

•  Pension based on % contribution of salary for 2021 

Target
•  Annual bonus is 62.5% of base salary (representing 50% of maximum award)

•  PSP share award vesting at 37.5% of base salary (representing 25% of the face value of 

the PSP award)

Maximum 
•  Annual bonus is 125% of base salary (representing 100% of maximum award)

•  PSP share award vesting at 150% (representing 100% of the face value of the 

PSP award)

Share price appreciation
•  The potential impact of share price appreciation on PSP award values is illustrated 

assuming a 50% increase on the share price at grant

be awarded. If dividend equivalents are 
awarded, whenever a dividend or other 
distribution is paid by Medica in respect of 
its shares and the vesting date of the DBP or 
PSP award (including any additional holding 
period that applies to the PSP award) has 
not passed, the number of shares which 
are subject to the DBP or PSP award will 
be increased to reflect the value of the 
dividend. The Committee can determine 
that dividend equivalents will be paid in 
either shares or in cash. 

Malus and clawback provisions apply to 
DBP and PSP awards:

• 

• 

If the Award Holder has engaged in 
misconduct which, in the sole opinion 
of the Committee, would or could 
justify the Award Holder’s summary 
dismissal; 

there has been a material misstatement 
and/or significant downward revision 
in the financial results of the Company 
announced to the public and/or its 
audited accounts in respect of any 
Financial Year; 

•  an error was made in assessing or 

calculating the extent to which any 
condition imposed on the Award has 
been satisfied which has resulted either 
directly or indirectly in the number of 
Shares in respect of which the Award 
was or is capable of exercise, being 
greater than it would have been but for 
such error; and

•  any other circumstances exist that 

in the sole opinion of the Committee 
have (or would have if made public) 
a sufficiently significant impact on 
the reputation of any member of 
the Group or the business in which 
the Award Holder is employed to 
justify Malus and Clawback applying. 
For the avoidance of doubt, such 
circumstances need not relate to any 
Financial Year during which the Award 
Holder held an Award under the Plan.

Share ownership guidelines

The Committee recognises the importance 
of aligning Executive Directors’ and 
shareholders’ interests through significant 
shareholdings in Medica. Medica’s 
shareholding policy is 125% of base salary 
for Executive Directors. The Executive 
Directors will have five years in which to 
build up the required ordinary shareholding 
after commencing employment. 

Post-employment shareholding guidelines 
will require Executive Directors to hold 
100% of their in-employment shareholding 
guideline, or shareholding at cessation 
if lower, for a period of two years post-
cessation.

62

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPPay-for-performance: scenario analysis
The charts below provide an estimate of the potential future reward opportunities for the Executive Directors, and the potential split 
between the different elements of remuneration under three different performance scenarios: “Maximum”, “On-target” and “Minimum”.

Potential reward opportunities are based on the forward-looking policy applied to 2021 base salaries and incentive opportunities. Note 
that the PSP awards granted to Executive Directors will not normally vest until the third anniversary of the date of grant, and will then be 
subject to an additional two-year holding period before the awards can be exercised.

£1,600k

£1,200k

£800k

£400k

£386

£729

29%

29%

£1,588

27%

£1,330

32%

32%

27%

100%

53%

29%

24%

£1,106

27%

27%

23%

£925

33%

33%

28%

£500

30%

30%

52%

£258

100%

£0k

Stuart Quin
Minimum

Stuart Quin
Target

Stuart Quin
Maximum

Stuart Quin
Maximum
with share
price growth

Richard
Jones
Minimum

Richard
Jones
On-Target

Richard
Jones
Maximum

Richard
Jones
Maximum
with share
price growth

Executive Director service contracts
In accordance with general market practice, each of the Executive Directors has a rolling service contract. The Executive Directors’ 
service contracts (copies of which are available to view at Medica’s registered office) are each terminable on 12 months’ notice from either 
party. This practice will also apply for any new Executive Directors. The following table shows the date of the service contract for each 
Executive Director:

Executive Director

Stuart Quin

Richard Jones

Stephen Davies

Position

CEO

CFO

Medical Director

Date of appointment

Date of service agreement

1 September 2019 

1 September 2019 

3 August 2020

14 May 2013

1 August 2020

15 March 2017 

Exit payments policy 
Medica’s policy on termination payments is to consider the circumstances on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the relevant 
contractual terms in the executive’s service contract and the circumstances of termination. executive directors’ contracts provide for the 
payment of a pre-determined sum in the event of termination of employment in certain circumstances (but excluding circumstances where 
Medica is entitled to dismiss without compensation), comprising base salary, pension allowance and benefits in respect of the unexpired 
portion of the notice period. Termination payments may take the form of payments in lieu of notice.

If the employment is terminated by Medica, the Committee retains the discretion to settle any other amount the Committee considers 
reasonable to the executive director including in settlement of claims, in respect of reasonable legal fees incurred in connection with the 
termination and fees for outplacement services and relocation costs. 

In additional to contractual provisions, the table below summarises how awards under each discretionary incentive plan are typically treated 
in specific circumstances, with (where relevant) the final treatment remaining subject to the Committee’s discretion as provided under the 
rules of the plan. In the event of termination, any outstanding options granted under the SAYE scheme and any awards made under a share 
Incentive plan that may be established by Medica will be treated in accordance with the rules of the scheme, which do not include discretion.

Disclosure in relation to any departing executive director, including details of any remuneration payment made to him after he ceases will be 
made in the relevant Annual Report on Remuneration.

63

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Treatment of awards on cessation of employment/change of control.

Reason for cessation

Calculation of vesting/payment

Annual bonus

Death or other 
circumstance as the 
Committee determines

The bonus will remain payable on the normal payment date, 
subject to the performance targets having been met and 
pro-rated for the proportion of the performance year worked 
(unless the Committee waives pro-rating). The bonus is paid 
wholly in cash (i.e. not subject to deferral) unless the Committee 
determines otherwise.

Timing of vesting/
payment

At the usual 
payment date.

All other reasons

No bonus will be paid for the financial year. Bonus lapses if 
employment ceases at any time prior to the payment date.

Not applicable.

Change of control

Deferred 
Bonus Plan

Death

Ill health, injury, 
disability, redundancy, 
or sale of the employing 
company or business

All other reasons 
(including resignation or 
dismissal for cause)

The Committee may determine the extent to which applicable 
performance targets have been met as at the date of the change 
of control, and calculate the bonus accordingly, pro-rated for the 
proportion of the performance year which has elapsed before 
the change of control event. The Committee has discretion to 
waive performance conditions and pro-rating. The bonus is paid 
wholly in cash (i.e. not subject to deferral).

On change of 
control.

The Committee may in its absolute discretion, permit exercise 
of awards within the twelve month period immediately following 
death. Awards will be pro-rated for the proportion of the vesting 
period worked (unless the Committee waives pro-rating).

On death.

Awards may be retained and exercised during the six months 
following the vesting date (or if later six months after the 
date of cessation). The Committee may, however, in its 
absolute discretion permit awards to be exercised within such 
period following cessation of employment as the Committee 
determines. Awards will be pro-rated for the proportion of the 
vesting period worked (unless the Committee waives pro-rating).

At the normal 
vesting date 
unless discretion is 
exercised (and then 
on cessation of 
employment).

Awards normally lapse on cessation of employment or if 
earlier when the employee gives or is given notice to cease 
employment, unless the Committee determines within three 
months of cessation of employment to permit the holder to keep 
his awards and exercise them on such terms and within such 
period following the vesting date as the Committee determines. 
The Committee can determine the extent to which the award 
will vest.

Not applicable, 
unless discretion is 
exercised (and then 
not earlier than 
the normal vesting 
date).

Change of control

DBP Awards may be exercised for a six month period following 
such event or immediately prior to such event. Awards will not 
be subject to pro-rating.

On change of 
control.

Performance 
Share Plan

Death

Ill health, injury, 
disability, redundancy, 
or sale of the employing 
company or business

The Committee may in its absolute discretion, permit exercise 
of awards within the twelve month period immediately following 
death. Awards will be pro-rated for the proportion of the normal 
vesting period (not including any additional holding period) 
worked, unless the Committee waives pro-rating.

On death.

Awards may be retained and exercised during the six months 
following the normal vesting date (not including any additional 
holding period), or if later six months after the date of cessation. 
The Committee may, however, in its absolute discretion permit 
awards to be exercised within such period following cessation 
of employment as the Committee determines. Awards will be 
pro-rated for the proportion of the normal vesting period (not 
including any additional holding period) worked, unless the 
Committee waives pro-rating.

At the normal 
vesting date 
unless discretion is 
exercised (and then 
on cessation of 
employment).

64

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPReason for cessation

Calculation of vesting/payment

All other reasons 
(including resignation or 
dismissal for cause)

Change of control

Awards normally lapse on cessation of employment or if 
earlier when the employee gives or is given notice to cease 
employment, unless the Committee determines within three 
months of cessation of employment to permit the holder to 
keep his awards and exercise them on such terms and within 
such period following the later of the normal vesting date 
(not including any additional holding period) or cessation of 
employment, as the Committee determines. The Committee can 
determine the extent to which the award will vest.

Awards may be exercised for a six month period following 
such event or immediately prior to such event to the extent 
that performance conditions have been met and pro-rated for 
the proportion of the normal vesting period (not including any 
additional holding period) that has elapsed as at the change 
of control event. The Committee has discretion to waive 
performance conditions and pro-rating.

Timing of vesting/
payment

Not applicable, 
unless discretion is 
exercised (and then 
not earlier than 
the normal vesting 
date).

On change of 
control.

Death

Company 
Share Option 
Plan

Options can be exercised within the twelve month period 
immediately following death (to the extent that any performance 
conditions have been satisfied and pro-rated for the proportion 
of the vesting period worked). The Committee has discretion to 
waive performance conditions and pro-rating.

On death.

Injury, disability, 
redundancy, retirement, 
or sale of the employing 
company or business

Options can be exercised within the six months following the 
date of cessation (to the extent that any performance conditions 
have been satisfied) and pro-rated for the proportion of the 
vesting period worked. The Committee has discretion to waive 
performance conditions and pro-rating.

On cessation of 
employment.

All other reasons 
(including resignation or 
dismissal for cause)

Change of control

Options normally lapse on cessation of employment or if 
earlier when the employee gives or is given notice to cease 
employment, unless the Committee determines within three 
months of cessation of employment to permit the holder to 
keep his options and exercise them on such terms and within 
such period as the Committee determines. The Committee can 
determine the extent to which the award will vest.

Not applicable, 
unless discretion 
is exercised (and 
then not earlier 
than cessation of 
employment).

Awards may be exercised for a six month period following such 
event to the extent that performance conditions have been met 
and pro-rated for the proportion of the vesting period that has 
elapsed as at the change of control event. The Committee has 
discretion to waive performance conditions and pro-rating. If 
the change of control event would stop the option qualifying for 
CSOP tax relief, options can only be exercised within 20 days 
after the takeover event.

On change of 
control.

Approach to remuneration on recruitment

External appointments
In cases of hiring or appointing a new executive director from outside Medica, the Committee may make use of all existing components 
of remuneration set out in the policy table, up to the disclosed maximum opportunities (where applicable). When determining the 
remuneration package for a new executive director, the Committee will take into account all relevant factors based on the circumstances 
at that time to ensure that arrangements are in the best interests of Medica and its shareholders. This may include factors such as the 
experience and skills of the individual, internal comparisons and relevant market data. The Committee may also make an award in respect 
of a new appointment to ‘buy out’ incentive arrangements forfeited on leaving a previous employer, i.e. over and above the maximum 
limits on incentive opportunities set out in the policy table. In doing so, the Committee will consider relevant factors, including any 
performance conditions attached to these awards, the likelihood of those conditions being met, and the time over which they would 
have vested. The intention is that the expected value of any buy-out award would be no higher than the expected value of the forfeited 
arrangements, and that the structure will replicate (as far as reasonably possible) that of the awards being forfeited. The Committee may 
consider it appropriate to structure ‘buy-out’ awards differently from the structure described in the policy table, exercising the discretion 
available under UKLA listing Rule 9.4.2R where necessary to make a one-off award to an executive director in this context. The Committee 
may also permit Medica to indemnify a new appointment as executive director for any claims that may be made against him by a previous 
employer in connection with a breach of restrictive covenants or similar restrictions that the new appointment may have breached by 
taking up employment with Medica.

65

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Internal promotion
Where a new executive director is appointed by way of internal promotion, the policy will be consistent with that for external appointees, 
as detailed above (other than in relation to ‘buy-out’ awards). Any commitments made prior to an individual’s promotion will continue to 
be honoured even if they would not otherwise be consistent with the policy prevailing when the commitment is fulfilled, although Medica 
may, where appropriate, seek to revise an individual’s existing service contract on promotion to ensure it aligns with other executive 
directors and good practice. 

Disclosure on the remuneration structure of any new executive director, including details of any ‘buy-out’ awards, will be disclosed in the 
RNS notification made at the time of appointment and in the Annual Report on Remuneration for the year in which recruitment occurred.

External appointments held by Executive Directors
Executive Directors may accept up to one external appointment subject to approval by the Board, there being no conflicts of interest and 
the appointment not leading to deterioration in the individual’s performance. 

Executive Directors may retain the fees paid for such roles. details of external appointments and the associated fees received will be 
included in the Annual Report on Remuneration.

Consideration of conditions elsewhere in Medica
The Committee seeks to promote and maintain good relations with employees as part of its broader employee engagement strategy, 
considers pay practices across Medica and is mindful of the salary increases applying across the rest of the business in relevant markets 
when considering any increases to salaries for executive directors. However, the committee does not currently consult with employees on 
its executive remuneration policy.

Consideration of shareholder views
The Committee will take into consideration all shareholder views received during the year and at the Annual General Meeting each year, 
as well as guidance from shareholder representative bodies more broadly, in shaping Medica’s implementation of its policy, as well as any 
future changes to policy. It is the committee’s intention to consult with major shareholders in advance of making any material changes to 
remuneration arrangements.

Remuneration policy for the Non-Executive Directors
Details of the Policy on fees paid to our Non-Executive Directors are set out in the table below:

Purpose and link to 
strategy

Operation

Non‑Executive 
Director fees

To attract and retain 
Non-Executive Directors 
of the highest calibre 
with broad commercial 
and other experience 
relevant to Medica.

The fees of the Chairman are determined by 
the Committee. The fees paid to Non-Executive 
Directors are determined by the Chairman and 
Executive Directors. 

Fee levels are reviewed annually taking into 
account external advice on best practice and 
competitive levels, in particular at other FTSE 
companies of comparable size and complexity. 
Time commitment, committee participation 
and chairing are also taken into account when 
reviewing fees.

Chairman and Non-Executive Director fees are 
paid in cash.

The Committee reimburses the Chairman 
and Non-Executive Directors for reasonable 
expenses in performing their duties and may 
settle any tax incurred in relation to these 
expenses. For any Non-Executive Director that 
is based overseas, Medica will meet travel and 
accommodation expenditure as required to fulfil 
their Non-Executive duties.

The fees paid to the Chairman and Non-
Executive Directors are disclosed in the Annual 
Report on Remuneration.

Opportunity

Performance 
measures

Current fees are as 
follows:

n/a

Gordon Roy Davis: 
£100,000

Stephen Lee 
Whittern: £60,000

Joanne Mary 
Easton £50,000

Fee increases will 
be applied taking 
into account the 
outcome of the 
annual review. 

Level of any fees to 
be reviewed by the 
Board.

Non-Executive Directors are not eligible to join Medica’s pension, incentives or share schemes or to participate in any of Medica’s other 
benefit arrangements. 

In recruiting a new Non-Executive Director, the Committee will use the Policy set out above.

66

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPNon-Executive Director letters of appointment
None of the Non-Executive Directors has a service contract with Medica. They do have letters of appointment for an initial period of three 
years, subject to retirement and re-election at the 2021 AGM and continuing thereafter subject to termination upon at least three months’ 
notice (six months’ notice in respect of Gordon Roy Davis). The dates relating to the appointments of the Chairman and Non-Executive 
Directors who served during the reporting period are as follows:

Director

Role

Date of appointment

Date of letter of appointment

Gordon Roy Davis

Independent Chairman

Stephen Lee Whittern

Senior Independent Non-Executive Director

Professor Michael Bewick

Independent Non-Executive Director

Joanne Mary Easton

Non-Executive Director

1 March 2017

1 March 2017

1 March 2017

 22 April 2019

15 March 2017

15 March 2017

15 March 2017

2 April 2019

Annual Report on Remuneration
This section of the report provides details of how our Policy was implemented during the period ending 31st December 2020.

Single total figure of remuneration for Executive Directors (Audited)
The table below sets out a single figure for total remuneration received by each Executive Director for the year ended 31 December 2020 
and the prior year. This includes the vesting of PSP awards from 2017 following the three year performance period. In respect of Stephen 
Davies these were subject to a further two-year holding period. The element of PSP awards relating to TSR was not met and therefore £Nil 
of total pay was attributable to share price appreciation:

2019 & 2020 
£000

Stuart Quin 
2020
2019

Stephen Davies 
2020
2019

Richard Jones 
2020

Former Directors
Anthony Lee 
2020

2019

John Graham 
2020

2019

Base 
salary1

Taxable 
Benefits2

Annual 
bonus 

£340

£121

£200

£200

£100

£63

£140

–

£133

£8

£3

£nil

£nil

£1

£nil

£nil

–

£nil

£94

£11

£55

£20

£28

£nil

£14

–

£nil

PSP

–

–

£85

–

–

£59

–

–

–

Pension
benefit 

Other

Total

£34

£3

£12      

£nil

£6      

£4

£8

–

£9

£nil

£nil

£nil

£nil

£nil

£nil

£nil

–

£nil

£476

£138

£352

£232

£135

£283

£162

–

£143

Total
fixed

£382

£127

£212

£212

£107

£224

£148

–

£143

Total
variable

£94

£11

£140

£20

£28

£59

£14

–

£nil

1. 

John Graham salary shown until departure date of 31 August 2019.  Stuart Quin salary shown from commencement date of 1 September 2019. Anthony Lee resigned as a Director 
on 31 May 2020. Richard Jones salary shown from commencement date of 3 August 2020.

2.  Medica provides death in service benefits to its executive directors. Stuart Quin and Richard Jones receive private medical insurance.

Incentive outcomes for the year ended 31 December 2020 (Audited) 

Bonus awards for 2020 

67

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

2020

Bonus for the financial year to 31 Dec 20

Maximum 
opportunity

Bonus outcome 
(% of max)

100% of salary

100% of salary

100% of salary

100% of salary

32%

32%

32%

0%

Salary earned 
for the financial 
year to  
31 Dec 2020

£340

£200

£100

£140

Bonus payable 
in cash

Bonus deferred 
into shares

Total bonus 
awarded 
(% of maximum)

£82

£48

£24

-

£27

£16

£8

-

£109

£64

£32

Stuart Quin

Stephen Davies

Richard Jones

Anthony Lee

Disclosure of 2020 Annual Bonus targets 
The Executive directors’ bonuses for the year ended 31 December 2020 were based on a maximum payment of up to 100% of base salary 
for maximum achievement of financial and operational targets. Executive Directors were awarded bonuses of 32% of maximum. The table 
below shows the outcome.

For the financial targets, 75% of the available 100% of annual bonus was based on three financial targets each worth 25% at maximum as 
per the table below. The remaining 25% of the available 100% of annual bonus was based on the achievement of operational measures. 

Bonus outturn

Revenue

Adjusted net operating profit

Free cash

Sub-total for financial measures

Sub-total operational measures

Total

Weighting 

25%

25%

25%

75%

25%

100%

Target

£53m

£11m

£7m

See table below

Maximum 

Actual 
performance

Bonus 
received

£58m

£13m

£9m

£37m

£5m

£7m

0%

0%

12.5%

12.5%

19.5%

32%

Following a review of achievements against the financial targets, the Committee concluded that Stuart Quin, Richard Jones and Stephen 
Davies should receive a payment of 12.5% of the maximum bonus opportunity of 75%. 

The remaining 25% of the available 100% of annual bonus was based on the achievement of operational measures as follows: 

Outcomes

Partially met

Operational Measures

Commentary 

Growth

Efficiency

Strategy development

Sales growth was adversely affected with opportunities limited to those 
tendered in the market and the deployment of new contracts won was 
delayed due to COVID-19. Despite these pressures, a net increase in 
NightHawk clients was achieved in the year. 

A 13% increase in rostered reporting hours of capacity were delivered 
for routine reporting through the recruitment of radiologists ready for 
deployment ahead of the recovery of Elective volumes. 

Changes to process and systems contributed to the improvements in SLA 
achievement across both NightHawk and Elective service lines. SLA targets 
were achieved with a 98% average for NightHawk.

The first augmented intelligence (AI) pilot was successfully completed and 
introduced into mainstream clinical flow. A new corporate partner, IDX in 
Australia, was selected and a formal agreement entered into to form a joint 
venture to deliver reporting services via a different model. 

Met

Met

Met

Following a review of achievements against the operational targets, the Committee concluded that Stuart Quin, Richard Jones and 
Stephen Davies should receive a payment of 19.5% of the maximum bonus opportunity of 25% for operational measures. 

In accordance with the directors’ remuneration policy approved in 2018, 25% of the total bonus awarded to Stuart Quin and Richard Jones 
will be deferred in Medica shares under the Deferred Bonus Plan (DBP) to be granted during 2021. Awards under the DBP are not subject 
to further performance conditions and vest after two years, subject to continued employment. Dividend equivalents will be awarded in 
respect of the DBP awards on vesting.

68

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
 
Deferred Bonus Plan (“DBP”) 

Director

Stuart Quin 

Date of grant

Vehicle

Number 
awarded

15-Apr-20

DBP – nil cost share options

Dr Stephen Davies

15-Apr-20

DBP – nil cost share options

Anthony Lee

15-Apr-20

DBP – nil cost share options

25-Apr-19

DBP – nil cost share options

25-Apr-19

DBP – nil cost share options

John Graham

25-Apr-19

DBP – nil cost share options

Face 
value2

£2,833

£5,000

£2,500

£3,500

£1,750

£2,500

Vesting 
date

14-Apr-22

14-Apr-22

24-Apr-21

14-Apr-22

24-Apr-21

24-Apr-21

Expiry 
date

15-Apr-30

15-Apr-30

25-Apr-21

15-Apr-30

25-Apr-21

25-Apr-21

2,564

4,525

1,610

3,167

1,127

1,610

1. 

2. 

The awards are structured as nil cost options, for which no exercise price is payable.
The face value of the 2020 awards has been calculated using the share price at the date of grant, being the average closing share price for a Share as derived from the Official List 
for the three consecutive Dealing Days immediately preceding 15 April 2020 (110.50p). The face value of the 2019 awards has been calculated using the share price at the date of 
grant, being the average closing share price for a Share as derived from the Official List for the three consecutive Dealing Days immediately preceding 25 April 2019 (155.25p).

PSP vesting in 2020
On 21 March 2021, options granted under the 2017 PSP vested as follows:

Executive Director

Stephen Davies

Anthony Lee

2017 options 
granted

2017 options 
vesting in 20201

222,222

155,555

68,828

48,179

Value of 
vested shares
£’000

£85

£59

% vested

3%

3%

¹  The Growth in EPS over the performance period was 17.75% and therefore the portion of the Award subject to the performance condition vested at 59.87%. The TSR increased over the 

performance period by 3.78% and therefore the portion of the Award subject to the TSR performance condition did not vest. 

Other Executive Directors did not have any options vesting in 2020 as they were not in position at the time of the 2017 awards.

PSP awards in 2020
On 15 April 2020, Executive Directors were granted awards under the PSP, comprising a grant of options to acquire shares at nil cost. The 
following awards were granted under the PSP. 

Awards granted to Stephen Davies under the PSP were granted in respect of shares with a market value equal to 100% of base salary, 
determined using the average closing price of Medica’s shares for the three dealing days immediately preceding 15 April 2020 (110.50p). 

Awards granted to Stuart Quin under the PSP were granted in respect of shares with a market value equal to 200% of base salary, 
determined using the average closing price of Medica’s shares for the three dealing days immediately preceding 15 April 2020 (110.50p). 

On 10 November 2020, Richard Jones was granted an award under the PSP, comprising a grant of options to acquire shares at nil cost. 
The award granted under the PSP was granted in respect of shares with a market value equal to 200% of base salary, determined using the 
average closing price of Medica’s shares for the three dealing days immediately preceding 10 November 2020 (108.33p). This award was 
agreed as part of the arrangements for recruiting Richard Jones to align his variable pay with interests of shareholders’ via a link between 
a material level of reward and the performance of the Company’s shares over the medium term. These awards will vest after a three year 
period, broadly subject to continued employment and the achievement of performance measures and will also be subject to a further two 
year holding period after the end of the normal vesting period.

A summary of the performance conditions for the 2020 awards is included below (these were not disclosed prospectively in our 2019 
Annual Report and Accounts): 

Measure

Absolute TSR
(share price plus rolled up 
dividends)

Weighting

50%

Growth in Adjusted Earnings 
per Share

50%

Targets

Performance measurement period

0% vesting below 8% growth per annum 
12.5% vesting for 8% growth per annum 
50% vesting for 16% growth per annum 
Straight-line vesting between these points

Three-month average at the end 
of the three year performance 
period

0% vesting below 10% growth per annum 
12.5% vesting for 10% growth per annum 
35% vesting for 20% growth per annum
50% vesting for 30% growth per annum or greater 
Straight-line vesting between these points

Cumulative three years

69

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEReport of the Remuneration Committee

continued

LTIP awards 2020 (with 2019 comparative) for Executive Directors

Director

Stuart Quin

Dr Stephen Davies

Richard Jones

Date of grant

Vehicle

15-Apr-20  PSP – nil cost 
share options

16-Sep-19  PSP – nil cost 
share options

15-Apr-20

25-Apr-19

10-Nov-20

PSP – nil cost 
share options

PSP – nil cost 
share options

PSP – nil cost 
share options

Number 
awarded

615,385 

Exercise 
price1

Face 
value2

Vesting 
date3

Expiry 
date

Nil 

£680,000 

15-Apr-23 

15-Apr-30 

533,682 

Nil 

£680,000 

16-Sep-22 

16-Sep-29 

180,995 

 Nil 

£200,000 

15-Apr-23 

15-Apr-30 

193,236 

 Nil 

£300,000 

25-Apr-22 

25-Apr-29 

443,077 

Nil 

£480,000 

10-Nov-23 

10-Nov-30 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The awards are performance share awards, for which no exercise price is payable.
The face value of the awards has been calculated using the share price at the date of grant, being the average closing share price for a Share as derived from the Official List for 
the three consecutive Dealing Days immediately preceding 15 April 2020 (110.50p ), 10 November 2020 (108.33p), 16 September 2019 (127.42p) and 25 April 2019 (155.25p). This 
assumes that the performance targets are met in full. Actual value at vesting will depend on the extent to which the awards vest, the share price at the date of vesting, and any 
dividend equivalents payable on vested shares.
There will be a two year holding period following the normal vesting period for PSP awards granted in 2020.

Single total figure of remuneration for Non-executive Directors (Audited)
The table below sets out a single figure for total remuneration received by each Non-Executive Director for the year ended 31 December 
2020 and the prior year:

Single total figure for remuneration for NEDs

Director 

Gordon Roy Davis

Stephen Lee Whittern
Dr Mike Bewick1
Joanne Mary Easton2

1. 

2. 

Dr Mike Bewick resigned on 20 May 2020

Joanne Easton appointed on 22 April 2019.

2020

£100

£60

£31.8

£50

2019

£100

£60

£50

£34.7

Percentage change in Remuneration 
The table below shows the percentage change in remuneration for the role of chief executive between 2019 and 2020 (and the table 
encompasses part year figures for the departing and new chief executive) and other directors compared to the average for all employees 
of Medica Group PLC:

Executive Directors
Chief Executive Officer¹

Chief Financial Officer²

Medical Director and Responsible Officer

Non-Executive Directors
Gordon Roy Davis

Stephen Lee Whittern

Dr Mike Bewick³

Joanne Mary Easton⁴

Average of other Medica employees 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

A new chief executive was appointed in September 2019
A new CFO was appointed in August 2020 with the previous CFO leaving in May 2020.
Dr Mike Bewick resigned on20 May 2020
Joanne Mary Easton was appointed on 22 April 2019

% change from 2019 to 2020

Salary/fees

Benefits

Annual Bonus

33%

16%

0%

0%

0%

-36%

44%

24%

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

754%

200%

176%

–

–

–

–

14%

40%

70

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPCEO Pay Ratio 
The table below sets out the ratio between the pay of the chief executive and that of the Company’s employees.

Year

2020
20191

Method2

Option A

Option A

25th percentile 
ratio

Median 
ratio

75th percentile 
ratio

8.7:1

7.6:1

15.7:1

12.4:1

18.4:1

16.4:1

1. 

The total remuneration figure for the chief executive is based on the total pay (as disclosed in the single total figure table) for John Graham and Stuart Quin for 2019.

2.  Option A was used (ranking employees by their year end annual pay, benefits and annual bonus) because it is the most transparent method available.

The salary and total pay for employee ranked at the 25th, median and 75th percentile used to calculate the above ratios were:

25th percentile

Median

75th percentile

2020

2019

Salary

£41,769

£23,172

£19,754

Total pay

£44,840

£25,344

£21,410

Salary

£37,080

£22,660

£17,112

Total pay

£41,316

£25,011

£18,758

•  The increase in the pay ratio from 2019 to 2020 reflects the hiring of the new CEO in September 2019.

•  There was no change to the Company’s general policy on pay and in 2020 no staff were placed on Furlough and the Company did not 

take advantage of any other COVID-19 related government schemes.

•  The company believes the median pay ratio for the relevant financial year is consistent with the pay, reward and progression policies 

for the company’s UK employees taken as a whole.

Relative importance of spend on pay
There were no share buybacks implemented or other significant distributions, payments or other uses of profit or cashflow in the 2020 
financial year which the directors consider relevant in assisting an understanding of the relative importance of spend on pay. Total staff 
costs – disclosed in the notes to the financial statements – were £7,336,000 for the same period (2019: £5,177).

FY20

FY19

% change

Distributions to
shareholders
£’000

Total employee 
pay
£’000

946

2,612

-64%

7,336

5,177

42%

Leaving arrangements for Stephen Davies (Audited)
On 18 January 2021 the company announced that Dr. Stephen Davies has decided to retire and to step down from his position as Group 
Medical Director and as an Executive Director on the Board effective 31 May 2021. Any payments made to Stephen Davies will be in 
line with the shareholder approved remuneration policy and the terms of his service agreement and will be disclosed in the Directors 
Remuneration Report for year end 31 December 2021. 

Leaving arrangements for Anthony Lee (Audited)
The Company announced on 11 March 2020 and subsequently that Anthony Lee would remain as the Company’s CFO and on its Board of 
Directors until 31 May 2020.

All payments made to Anthony Lee were in line with the Company’s shareholder approved remuneration policy and the terms of his 
service agreement. 

His leaving arrangements included the following:

•  A payment of 12 months’ salary and the value of benefits in accordance with Anthony Lee’s contractual terms was paid monthly from 

June 2020 with the last payment to be made in May 2021. 

•  There was no eligibility for bonus for 2020.

•  The PSP option award over 135,265 shares granted on 25 April 2019 under the Company’s share incentive plans forfeited on 31 May. 

71

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCE 
Report of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Appointment of Richard Jones 
The new chief financial officer was recruited on the following package: 

•  A salary of £240,000 per annum of which a part was paid from August 2020 to 31 December 2020;

 − A performance linked bonus of up to 100% of salary - with a corresponding proportion paid out subject to performance for 2020. 

25% of any bonus earned is deferred into shares under the Company’s deferred bonus plan

 − An award of PSP options representing 200% of basic salary on joining under the same terms as the existing directors and subject 

to performance targets as described above

 − A contribution of 6% of salary to the CFO for pension arrangements

•  No awards were made relating to the buy out of previous employment benefits or options.

Payments for loss of office (Audited)
A payment in lieu of notice for Anthony Lee on his departure in May 2020 of £157k was agreed, of which £87k was paid in 2020.

Payments for past directors 
Other than as disclosed in respect of Anthony Lee, no payments were made to past directors in the year.

External appointments
Richard Jones, CFO holds an external appointment as NED and Audit Chair of Alliance Pharma PLC.

Review of past performance 
This graph shows Medica’s Total Shareholder Return (TSR) compared to the FTSE Small Cap index. The comparison is made between the 
date of Listing (21 March 2017) and 31 December 2020. The FTSE Small Cap index was chosen as the comparator because Medica is part 
of this group and it is the most comparable group of peer companies.

Historical TSR performance
Growth in the value of a hypothetical £100 holding since listing 21 March 2017 to 31 December 2020

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

7
1
0
2
h
c
r
a
M

1
2
n
o
d
e
t
s
e
v
n

i

0
0
1
£
f
o
e
u
a
V

l

0
Mar 17

72

Dec 17

Dec 18

Dec 19

Dec 20

Medica Group

SmallCap

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The table below details the CEO’s single total figure of remuneration and incentive outcomes over the same period. The Total 
remuneration includes base salary, annual performance bonus and other benefits. The annual bonus percentage is relating to that years 
performance and is also shown below.

Stuart Quin (From 1 September 2019)
Total remuneration (£’000)

Annual Bonus (% of maximum)

LTIP vesting (% of maximum)

John Graham (Retired 30 August 2019)
Total remuneration (£’000)

Annual Bonus (% of maximum)

LTIP vesting (% of maximum)

2017

n/a

n/a

n/a

205

0%

n/a

2018

n/a

n/a

n/a

224

5%

n/a

2019

139

10%

n/a

143

n/a

n/a

2020

476

32%

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Implementation of remuneration policy for 2021
This section of the report provides details of how our Policy will be implemented in 2021

Base salary
Executive Directors have been awarded an annual increase in basic pay of 1% from April 2021 in line with the wider workforce as shown below: 

£’000

Stuart Quin

Stephen Davies

Richard Jones

1 April 2021 
base salary

1 April 2020 
base salary

Change vs April 
2020

£343

£202

£242

£340

£200

£240

1%

1%

1%

Pension
Stuart Quin receives pension contributions of 10% of his salary. Richard Jones receives pension contributions of 6% of his salary. 
Dr Stephen Davies receives a cash allowance equal to 6% of his salary in lieu of pension contributions. The pension contributions of the 
current Executive Directors will remain unchanged in 2021 and reduce from 1 January 2023 to align with those of the wider UK workforce 
which is currently 4%.

Annual Bonus
For 2021, the executive directors will have a maximum bonus opportunity of 125% of salary. 

No more than 60% of any annual bonus will be payable in cash and the balance will be made in the form of a Deferred Bonus Plan (‘DBP’) 
award over Shares, which will then vest after a period of not less than two years, broadly subject to continued employment. Cash bonuses 
will be subject to clawback provisions as will DBP awards, as set out in the rules of the annual bonus plan and DBP. The level of deferral 
and period for deferral may change in relation to future financial years. 

The annual bonus for 2021 will be based 75% on achievement of Company financial targets and 25% on achievement of functional targets. 
The financial targets are attributed in equal part to revenue, adjusted operating profit and free cash. 

The pay-out for on-target performance is up to 50% of maximum; below threshold performance on any of the financial or strategic 
functional measures results in nil pay-out.

The functional targets are directly aligned to the Company’s strategy and KPIs and represent 25% of the maximum annual bonus. 

There will be Committee discretion to adjust the formula driven outturn to ensure that the bonus payments also reflect performance more 
broadly and the experience of other stakeholders in the business. 

The financial target range is deemed to be commercially sensitive and have not been disclosed prospectively. However, full retrospective 
disclosure of the targets and performance against them will be provided in next year’s remuneration report. The Committee will disclose 
the annual bonus targets retrospectively in next year’s Annual Report on Remuneration. Targets have been disclosed for the 2017, 2018, 
2019 and 2020 awards.

73

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCE 
Report of the Remuneration Committee

continued

Performance Share Plan (“PSP”)
In 2021, the executive directors will receive nil cost options under the Medica Group PSP, with face values of 150% of salary in two 
tranches, the first tranche representing 100% of salary in May 2021 following publication of the 2020 preliminary results and the second 
tranche respresenting 50% of salary in June 2021 following approval of the new remuneration policy at the 2021 AGM. The 2021 PSP 
awards will vest after three years, subject to the following performance measures and will be subject to a further two year holding period 
following the end of the normal vesting period:

Measure

Weighting

Targets

50%

50%

Absolute TSR 
CAGR over three years 
to 31 December 2023

Cumulative Growth 
in Adjusted
Earnings per Share
over the three-year period
to 31 December 2023

0% vesting below 17% growth per annum
25% vesting for 17% CAGR growth
50% vesting for 19% CAGR
75% vesting for 22% CAGR
100% vesting for 26% CAGR
Straight-line vesting between these points

0% vesting below 27 pence per share
25% vesting at 27 pence per share
50% vesting at 28 pence per share
100% vesting at 32 pence per share Straight-line vesting 
between these points

Vesting of awards is subject to overall Committee discretion to 
reduce or eliminate the awards if deemed necessary

Performance measurement period

Three-month average at the
 end of the three year 
performance period

Cumulative 
three years

The performance target ranges have been set at stretching levels taking into account both internal and external forecasts. The maximum 
vesting level represents very stretching performance.

In line with our Policy, PSP awards will also be subject to Medica’s malus and clawback provisions.

Implementation of Non-Executive remuneration policy for 2021
The current fees payable to the non-executive directors are set out below and no changes to Non-Executive remuneration for 2021 have 
been proposed: 

Role

Chairman

Senior independent non-executive director

Independent non-executive director

Director’s Interests (Audited)

Fee

£100,000

£60,000

£50,000

Director’s Interests in shares as at 31/12/20
The table below sets out details of the current shareholdings of each director (and any relevant connected persons) as at 31 December 
2020 and, for executive directors, compares this to their shareholding guideline as set out below. The executive directors are subject to 
shareholding guidelines of 100% of salary. 

Shares

Options

Beneficial 
ownership 2020
- Owned 
outright or
vested

Beneficial 
ownership 2019
- Owned 
outright or
vested

Unvested 
deferred bonus 
awards not 
subject to 
performance

Vested PSP 
awards but not
exercised 

Unvested PSP 
awards subject 
to performance 

Current
shareholding
(% salary)1

Shareholding 
guideline
 (% salary) 

Stuart Quin

Richard Jones

Stephen Davies

Gordon Roy Davis

Stephen Whittern

Jo Easton

67,042

18,260

576,634

112,037

37,037

19,047

nil

nil

1,546,392

37,037

37,037

nil

2,564

0

6,135

–

–

–

nil

nil

68,828

–

–

–

1,149,067

443,077

739,489

–

–

–

24%

9%

357%

–

–

–

100%

100%

100%

–

–

–

1. 

2. 

Current holding measured by reference to the shareholding at 31 March 2021 multiplied by the closing share price of 152p on that date expressed as a percentage of base salary at 
31 December 2020.
Since the year end, on 25th March Stuart Quin, Richard Jones Stephen Davies, Roy Davis, Jo Easton and Steve Whittern participated in a direct subscription for new shares as part 
of the equity placing to support the acquisition of RadMD LLC. The total subscription raised £0.5m (gross).

74

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPGovernance

Summary of shareholder voting at the 2020 AGM
There was a vote on the Director’s remuneration report at the AGM in 2020. Of the 78,764,488 votes cast 73,062,937 (93%) were for the 
resolution with 5,701,551 (7%) against and 8,101,302 were withheld. The results of the AGM were published on the Company’s website 
after the meeting.

The Remuneration Committee
The Committee is responsible for assisting the Board in determining its responsibilities in relation to remuneration, including making 
recommendations to the Board on Medica’s policy on executive remuneration (including setting the over-arching principles, parameters 
and governance framework of Medica’s remuneration policy) and determining the individual remuneration and benefits packages of each 
of the executive directors, the company secretary and the senior management team. In carrying out its duties the Committee ensures 
compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code in relation to remuneration wherever possible.

Details of the Remuneration Committee’s terms of reference can be found on our website at https://medicagroupplc.com/investors/
corporate-governance/.

Remuneration Committee membership
Jo Easton  
Roy Davis  
Steve Whittern  

Committee Chair (since May 2020*)
Non-Executive Chairman (independent)
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director (independent)

* Dr Mike Bewick was committee Chairman until May 2020 when he resigned from the Board and the Committee

Meetings in 2020
The Committee met 9 times during the year. All of the Committee members attended the meetings. The CEO and CFO also attended a 
number of the Committee meetings during the year by invitation. The Committee’s independent advisor also attended meetings during 
the year.

Advisers
Mercer Limited supported Medica on remuneration-related matters up to June 2020 at which point and following a selection exercise, the 
Committee formally appointed Willis Towers Watson as its independent adviser. During the remainder of 2020, the Committee received 
advice on the proposed changes to the Remuneration Policy, Committee terms of reference, measures and target setting for incentive 
plans, executive remuneration levels, developments in corporate governance and the preparation of the policy and implementation for 
inclusion in the Director’s remuneration report. 

Both Mercer Limited and Willis Towers Watson are members of the Remuneration Consultants’ Group and, as such, voluntarily operate 
under the Code of Conduct in relation to executive remuneration consulting in the UK (www.remunerationconsultantsgroup.com). 
Mercer Limited and Willis Towers Watson do not have any other connection with Medica and are considered to be independent by the 
Committee. Total fees paid to Mercer and Willis Towers Watson totalled £87k, (excluding expenses and VAT) for the year to 31 December 
2020 in their capacity as advisers to the Committee.

Jo Easton 
Chair of the Remuneration Committee

10 May 2021

75

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCE 
 
 
Directors’ Report

The directors are pleased to present their 
report to shareholders and the audited 
financial statements for Medica Group 
PLC and its subsidiaries for the year 
ended 31 December 2020. The company 
registration number of Medica Group 
PLC is 08497963. The company is listed 
on the main market of the London Stock 
Exchange under the ticker symbol MGP. 

The Group’s principal activity is the 
provision of teleradiology reporting and is 
the leading independent provider in both 
the UK and Ireland. The Group’s business 
activities, together with the factors 
likely to affect its future development, 
performance and position are set out in the 
chairman’s and chief executive’s reports on 
pages 32 to 35, and 36 to 37.

76

Directors’ responsibilities 
statement
The directors are responsible for preparing 
the Annual Report and the financial 
statements in accordance with applicable 
law and regulations.

Company law requires the Directors to 
prepare Group and Parent Company 
financial statements for each financial year.

The directors have prepared the 
consolidated financial statements of the 
Group in accordance with international 
accounting standards in conformity with 
the requirements of the Companies Act 
2006 and international financial reporting 
standards adopted pursuant to Regulation 
(EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the 
European Union and are additionally 
required under the Listing Rules of the 
Financial Conduct Authority to prepare the 
Group financial statements in accordance 
with International Financial Reporting 
Standards adopted pursuant to Regulation 
(EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the 
European Union.

The Directors prepared the Parent 
Company financial statements in 
accordance with United Kingdom 
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice 
(United Kingdom Accounting Standards 
and applicable law), including Financial 

Reporting Standard 101 ‘Reduced 
Disclosure Framework’ (FRS 101).

Under company law the directors 
must not approve the financial 
statements unless they are satisfied 
that they give a true and fair view 
of the state of affairs of the Group 
and the Company and of the profit 
or loss of the Group for that period.

In preparing each of the Group 
and Company financial statements, 
the directors are required to:

• 

 select suitable accounting 
policies and then apply them 
consistently; 

• 

 make judgements and accounting 
estimates that are reasonable and 
prudent; 

•  for the Group financial statements, 

state whether they have been prepared 
in accordance with international 
accounting standards in conformity 
with the requirements of the 
Companies Act 2006 and international 
financial reporting standards 
adopted pursuant to Regulation (EC) 
No 1606/2002 as it applies in the 
European Union;

• 

for the Parent Company financial 
statements, state whether applicable 
UK accounting standards have been 
followed, subject to any material 
departures disclosed and explained in 
the company financial statements;

•  prepare the financial statements on 
the going concern basis unless it is 
inappropriate to presume that the 
Group and the Company will continue 
in business;

•  prepare a Strategic Report, Director’s 
Report, Director’s Remuneration 
Report and Corporate Governance 
Statement under applicable law and 
regulation.

The directors are responsible for keeping 
adequate accounting records that are 
sufficient to show and explain the Group’s 
and the Company’s transactions and 
disclose with reasonable accuracy at any 
time the financial position of the Group 
and the Company and enable them to 
ensure that the financial statements and 
the remuneration report comply with the 
Companies Act 2006 and, as regards the 
Group financial statements, Article 4 of the 
IAS Regulation. They are also responsible 
for safeguarding the assets of the Group 
and the Company and hence for taking 
reasonable steps for the prevention and 
detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The directors holding office at 10 May 2021 
confirm that:

• 

• 

so far as each director is aware, there is 
no relevant audit information of which 
the Company’s auditor is unaware; and 

the directors have taken all the steps 
that they ought to have taken as 
directors in order to make themselves 
aware of any relevant audit information 
and to establish that the Company’s 
auditor is aware of that information. 

The directors are responsible for preparing 
the Annual Report in accordance with 
applicable law and regulations. Having 
taken advice from the Audit Committee, 
the directors consider the Annual Report 
and the financial statements, taken as a 
whole, provides the information necessary 
to assess the Company’s performance, 
business model and strategy and is fair, 
balanced and understandable.

The directors are responsible for the 
maintenance and integrity of the corporate 
and financial information included on the 
Company’s website. Legislation in the 
United Kingdom governing the preparation 
and dissemination of financial statements 
may differ from legislation in other 
jurisdictions.

To the best of their knowledge the 
Director’s confirm:

• 

the Group financial statements, 
prepared in accordance with 
international accounting standards 
in conformity with the requirements 
of the Companies Act 2006 and 
international financial reporting 
standards adopted pursuant to 
Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 as it 

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP

part of a refinance of the Group’s debt 
facilities with £12m of a new £30m 
RCF drawn down on the same date. 
The new facility has a three-year term, 
extendable by up to two years, a 
margin above SONIA on drawn funds 
in the range of 2% to 3% depending 
on leverage and non-utilisation fees 
of 35%. Security has been granted to 
the new banking syndicate of three 
banks comprising Lloyds, Nat West 
and Silicon Valley Bank over the UK 
companies and limited security over 
non-UK entities.

Capital structure
As set out in Note 23 on page 116, the 
Company’s share capital is divided into 
111,279,650 ordinary shares of £0.002 
each with voting rights.

Subsidiaries and branches
Details of the group structure including its 
subsidiaries are set out in Note 25 on page 
116. Medica Group PLC is the ultimate 
holding company.

• 

• 

applies in the European Union give 
a true and fair view of the assets, 
liabilities, financial position and 
profit or loss of the Company and 
the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole; 

the Parent Company financial 
statements, prepared in accordance 
with applicable accounting standards 
including Financial Reporting Standard 
101, ‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’ 
(FRS 101) and the Companies Act 2006, 
give a true and fair view of the assets, 
liabilities, financial position and profit 
or loss of the Company; and 

the Annual Report, including the 
strategic report, the Director’s Report, 
the Director’s Remuneration Report 
and the Corporate Governance 
Statement includes a fair review of 
the development and performance 
of the business and the position of 
the Company and the undertakings 
included in the consolidation taken as 
a whole, together with a description 
of the principal risks and uncertainties 
that they face. 

Engagement with suppliers 
and customers
The directors have considered the need to 
continue to foster business relationships 
with suppliers and customers throughout 
the year. There have been no significant 
decisions that have changed the 
relationships with suppliers or customers, 
and the strategic plan has had input from 
our reporters as we engage with them to 
improve workflow, and from clients as we 
engage with them to continue to focus on 
turnaround times and quality. Medica’s 
operational teams are in contact with 
clients and reporters every day. In addition, 
we have a dedicated account management 
team that discuss performance with clients 
and hold regular review meetings. Our 
service delivery team include a dedicated 
reporter team that adopt a similar 
approach with our reporters. Our other 
key suppliers are technology, and this is 
managed through regular dialogue with our 
technical team. Information relevant to our 
strategy on engagement with suppliers and 
customers are detailed in the CEO report 
in the strategic report on pages 32 to 35.

Principal and emerging 
risks and uncertainties
The principal and emerging corporate 
risks and uncertainties are set out on 
pages 26 to 29 of the strategic report. 
The principal financial risks faced by the 
Group are liquidity, credit and interest rate 
risks details of which are set out in note 27.1 
to the financial statements on page 117.

Results and dividends
The results for 2020 are set out in the 
financial statements on pages 92 to 125.

An interim dividend of 0.85 pence (2019; 
0.85 pence) per Ordinary Share was paid 
to shareholders on 23 October 2020. The 
Board are recommending a final dividend 
for 2020 of 1.7 pence per share taking the 
total dividends for the year to 2.55 pence 
(2019: 0.85 pence).

Review of the period
A comprehensive analysis of the Group’s 
progress and development is set out 
in the strategic report on pages 2 to 41 
including detailed commentary on the 
position of the group as at 31 December 
2020. This analysis includes comments on 
the position of the Group at the end of the 
financial period.

Significant events after the 
balance sheet date
As set out in Note 31 on page 119:

•  On 22 February 2021 the group 

announced an equal joint venture (JV) 
partnership with Integral Diagnostics 
Limited, a leading provider of medical 
imaging services across Australia and 
New Zealand. 

•  On 22 March 2021 the group 
acquired RadMD LLC, a 
company incorporated in the 
United States of America, a 
leading Imaging Contract 
Research Organisation 
(“iCRO”) providing 
services to the fast-
growing clinical 
trials market.

•  On 23 March 

2021 a total 
of 10,727,666 
Placing Shares 
were placed by 
Investec Bank 
plc and Liberum 
Capital Limited 
at a price of 
145 pence per 
Placing Share. 
In conjunction 
with the Placing, a 
direct subscription 
for 383,444 new 
Ordinary Shares at 
the Placing Price raised 
gross proceeds for the 
Company of £556,000 
in aggregate.

•  On 23 April 2021 the RCF 

balance of £5.9m was repaid in 
full. On 23rd April 2021 the £12m 
term debt was also repaid in full as 

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

77

GOVERNANCEDirectors’ Report

continued

Significant shareholdings
As at 31 December 2020 and 30 April 2021, this being the latest practical date prior to publication of the Annual Report, the directors were 
aware of the following interests in 3% or more of the voting rights of the issued Ordinary Share capital. These shareholdings are as notified 
to the Company through a TR-1.

Aberforth Partners

Liontrust Asset Mgt

Gresham House

Artemis Investment Mgt

BGF Investments

GVQ Investment Mgt

Revera Asset Mgt

Independent Investment Trust

Aberdeen Standard Life

As at 31 December 2020

As at 31 March 2021

 Number of 
Ordinary 
Shares in  
issue held 

15,956,981

13,525,864

12,189,339

11,189,654

4,561,000

4,149,000

3,700,000

4,000,000

3,837,553

 Percentage 
of Ordinary 
Shares in issue 

 Number of 
Ordinary Shares 
in issue held 

 Percentage of 
Ordinary Shares 
in issue 

14.3

12.2

11.0

10.1

4.1

3.7

3.3

3.6

3.51

18,026,981

13,525,864

14,506,275

11,819,654

5,074,894

4,563,272

4,060,000

4,000,000

4,174,219

14.73

11.1

11.9

9.7

4.2

3.7

3.3

3.3

3.4

Related party transactions
There were no related party transactions 
in the year.

CO2 Emissions
The Group’s CO2 emissions are disclosed 
on pages 26 to 27 of the corporate social 
responsibility report within the strategic 
report.

Directors’ insurance
The Group maintains appropriate 
insurance cover in respect of any legal 
action against its directors including 
in respect of the prospectus issued for 
the initial public offering. In addition, as 
contemplated in the Company’s Articles 
of Association by resolution of the board 
on 16 December 2020, the Company 
agreed to enter into deeds of indemnity 
with the Directors in relation to certain 
specific liabilities incurred by them in the 
performance of their duties as directors of 
the Company. The Deeds were entered into 
in January 2021.

Corporate governance
The Directors’ Statement on corporate 
governance is set out on pages 46 to 49 
and forms part of this report.

Viability statement
The Directors have assessed the viability 
of the Group by considering the strategic 
plan and preparing financial forecasts 
over a three-year period from 1 January 
2021 to 31 December 2023, so that 30 
months remain at the time of approval of 
this year’s annual report. The first year of 
the financial forecasts form the group’s 
operating budget and is subject to rolling 

re-forecasting from April 2021, taking into 
account actual performance in the year to 
date. The second year is a further detailed 
forecast and third year is extrapolated 
from the second year, based on the overall 
content of the strategic plan. 

The key assumptions in the financial 
forecasts, reflecting the overall strategy, 
include:

•  Recovery in UK teleradiology Elective 
volumes during 2021 followed by a 
return to core growth in 2022 and 2023

•  Continued low double-digit growth in 
UK teleradiology NightHawk revenues 
during the forecast period as a result 
of increased activity from existing 
customers and net new contract wins

•  Continued growth in the Irish 

teleradiology, managed services and 
diabetic retinopathy screening and 
surveillance both from increased 
activity from existing customers and 
net new contract wins

• 

Investment in the Group’s FutureTech 
programme commencing in 2021

•  The refinance of the debt facilities 
completed in early May 2021.

Although the strategic plan reflects the 
directors’ best estimate of the future 
prospects of the business, they have also 
tested the potential impact on the group 
of a number of scenarios over and above 
those included in the plan, by quantifying 
their financial impact and overlaying 
this on the detailed financial forecasts 
in the plan. These scenarios, which are 
based on aspects of principal risks 3, 4 
and 5, represent ‘severe but plausible’ 
circumstances that the group could 
experience and in particular considering 
the impact of no further recovery in 
UK Elective teleradiology volumes. In 

considering these scenarios the Directors 
have considered the potential for 
continued impact of COVID-19 on future 
performance. 

Based on their assessment of prospects 
and viability above, the directors confirm 
that they have a reasonable expectation 
that the group will be able to continue in 
operation and meet its liabilities as they 
fall due over the three year period ending 
31 December 2023.

Going concern assessment
As noted above, as part of their longer 
term review, the Directors have prepared 
detailed forecasts for the period to 
December 31, 2022. These forecasts 
indicate that the group has sufficient funds 
to meet its liabilities as they fall due for at 
least the next 12 months. 

In preparing these forecasts the directors 
have considered the potential for further 
and prolonged negative impact of 
COVID-19 going forward following the 
significant impact on Medica’s revenue 
reported in 2020 due to the impact on 
Elective volumes and revenue as the NHS 
focused its efforts away from elective 
activity to focus on treating patients in the 
pandemic and also the negative impact 
on NightHawk volumes and revenue 
due to the impact of the lockdowns and 
other restrictions. The Directors have also 
considered the impact of the recently 
announced acquisition of RadMD LLC 
with the associated 9.9% equity placing 
as well as the refinancing of its existing 
debt facilities that was completed in early 
May 2021 that provided a new 3 year fully 
flexible £30m RCF facility as set out in 
Note 31 on page 119.

78

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPFuture outlook
The outlook for the Group for 2021 and 
beyond is set out in the CEO review on 
pages 32 to 35.

Annual General Meeting
Medica’s Annual General Meeting is 
scheduled to take place on 16th June 2021.

Directors
The directors who served during the year 
were as follows:

Roy Davis 

Steve Whittern

Professor Michael Bewick
(Resigned 20 May 2020)

Jo Easton

Stuart Quin

Dr Stephen Davies

Anthony Lee
(Resigned 31 May 2020)

Richard Jones
(Appointed 3 August 2020)

Seven of the above directors are male, 
one is female.

Strategic Report 
The Group has chosen in accordance with 
Companies Act 2006, s. 414C(11) to set 
out in the Group’s Strategic Report and/
or in the financial statements information 
required by Large and Medium-sized 
Companies and Groups (Accounts and 
Reports) Regulations 2008, Sch. 7 to be 
contained in the Directors’ Report. It has 
done so in respect of:

•  an indication of financial risk 

management objectives and policies 
required by paragraph 6(1)(a);

•  an indication of exposure to price risk, 
credit risk, liquidity risk and cash flow 
risk required by paragraph 6(1)(b);

•  details of any events affecting 
the Company and Group since 
the reporting date as required by 
paragraph 7(1)(a);

•  an indication of likely future 

developments in the business of the 
Group required by paragraph 7(1)(b);

•  an indication of activities of the 

Group in the field of research and 
development required by paragraph 
7(1)(c);

•  an indication of the existence of 

branches outside of the United 
Kingdom required by paragraph 7(1)(d);

•  a statement describing the Group’s 

policy regarding the hiring, continuing 
employment and training, career 
development and promotion of 
disabled persons required by 
paragraph 10(3);

• 

the statements relating to employee 
engagement required by paragraph 
11(1);

•  a statement summarising how the 
Directors have had regard for the 
need to foster the Group’s business 
relationships with suppliers, customers 
and others, and the effect of that 
regard, including on the principal 
decisions taken by the company 
during the financial year required by 
paragraph 11B(1);

• 

• 

the various disclosures relating to the 
structure, restrictions over, holdings 
of, and agreements relating to the 
Company’s share capital required by 
paragraphs 13(2) and 14;

the disclosures relating to carbon 
dioxide emissions required by 
paragraphs 15, to 18.

Employee Benefit Trust
The Company operates an Employee 
Benefit Trust (EBT) to facilitate its share-
based payment schemes detailed in note 
28 of the financial statements. When 
an employee chooses to exercise their 
options, the EBT purchases shares of 
the Company to issue to the employee. 
During the year, the EBT purchased 
168,536 Ordinary shares of 0.2p each 
(2019: Nil Ordinary shares of 0.2p each), 
of which 113,568 (2019: Nil) were still held 
at the reporting date.

Auditors 
The auditors Grant Thornton UK LLP 
will be proposed for reappointment 
in accordance with section 485 of the 
Companies Act 2006.

This report was approved by the Board 
on 10 May 2021 and signed on its behalf by

Richard Jones
Chief Financial Officer

10 May 2021

79

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCESection 172 statement

The Directors of Medica Group PLC (the 
“Company”) are aware of their duty under 
section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 
to act in the way they consider, in good 
faith, would be most likely to promote the 
success of the Company and in doing so 
have regard (amongst other matters) to:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

the likely consequences of any 
decision in the long term; 

the interests of the Company’s 
employees; 

the need to foster the Company’s 
business relationships with suppliers, 
customers and others;

the impact of the Company’s 
operations on the community and the 
environment;

the desirability of the Company 
to maintain a reputation for high 
standards of business conduct; and

the need to act fairly between 
shareholders of the Company.

The Company is listed on the London 

Stock Exchange (under the Ticker symbol 

MGP) and is the parent of various 

subsidiary undertakings (together, 

“Medica”).

We work tirelessly to make 
a positive impact. Whilst 
we are a business run 
for the benefit of our 
shareholders, we are 
committed to acting 
ethically, with integrity, 
and with consideration 
to the communities 
and environment 
where we operate. The 
Directors fully believe 
the Company’s success 
depends on this.

Long term 
decisions  
and actions

The Directors are 

committed to developing 
and maintaining a governance 

framework that is appropriate 

to the business and supports 
effective decision making coupled 

with robust oversight of risks and 

internal controls.

The Directors monitor the performance of 
the subsidiaries to ensure they are meeting 
the requirements of the wider business. 
This requires a long term view so that the 
Directors can structure the business in a 
manner that enables it to most efficiently 
respond to changes in the market place 
and return value to Medica’s shareholders.

The Directors consider the possible 
long-term consequences of any material 
proposed course of action, including safety 
and financial impacts and reputation with 
all stakeholders.

For more details of how the business 
develops and evaluates its strategy, 
please see page 12.

The interests of our 
employees
For details of how the Directors have 
considered the impact of their decisions on 
our employees, please refer to category 3 
‘Our people & standards’ of the CSR & ESG 
report on page 28. 

We understand that a work life balance is 
important to our employees, and that they 
each have personal and family demands 
on their time. That is why we have flexible 
working arrangements and working from 
home options for the vast majority of our 
staff. More information on this can be 
found in the ‘ESG Spotlight’ section of the 
CSR & ESG report on page 30.

The board continued the process of 
engagement with other stakeholders 
through the work of Jo Easton, Non-
Executive Director responsible for 
workforce engagement. During 2020, 
we conducted employee engagement 
workshops and considered feedback and 
actions resulting from the consultation. 
Following these workshops, we have 
developed and are currently consulting 
employees on a revised homeworking 
policy to be implemented post-lockdown 
and have increased the frequency of all-
company town hall meetings.

Relationships with 
suppliers and customers
At Medica, we truly believe that the 
services we provide to our clients will 
benefit their patients. In the case of 
our emergency reporting service called 
NightHawk our response times can make 
the difference between a hospital being 
able to provide appropriate lifesaving 
treatment or not. The Managing Director 
of our recently acquired Irish subsidiary, 
Global Diagnostics Ireland, Caroline Byrne, 
highlights the significant difference we 
can make to our clients in her interview 
on page 18, “average time between 
examination and report for all A&E cases 
fell from 20 days to 45 minutes with urgent 
cases reported within 15 minutes. The 
hospital also noted the cost of running 
the radiology department fell by 29% 
whilst the hours of consultant radiologist 
support more than doubled (45 to 96 hours 
per week).”

80

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP

Acting fairly between 
members 
All shareholders of Medica are welcome to 
join the six-monthly investors conference 
calls and can also anonymously contact 
members of the Board directly, which gives 
all our shareholders equal ability to have 
their voices heard.

This year, there will be additional 
challenges in holding our AGM because 
of the coronavirus restrictions in place 
in the UK. Our AGM is a key opportunity 
for our shareholders to have their voices 
heard and we have put special provisions in 
place to ensure that this remains the case. 
The details of our AGM are discussed on 
page 74.

Business Conduct 
Our Group’s core business model relies on 
us to continually ‘“do well by doing good”. 
Medica’s aim is to offer the highest quality 
service to our doctors, customers and in 
turn, their patients. By doing this we will 
positively impact people and the Group 
will continue to grow.

The Directors are committed to 
maximising long-term shareholder value 
while supporting management in the 
operations of the business, observing 
ethical standards and adhering to all 
applicable laws. 

The conduct of the Board of Directors 
is monitored in accordance with the 
UK Corporate Governance Code. This 
is discussed in detail in the Corporate 
Governance Report on pages 46 to 49. 

We provide various channels (local and 
global) for employees to obtain answers to 
questions or to report potential or actual 
violations of law, regulation, or policy 
freely and without fear of retaliation.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has 
been felt in all sectors and our customers, 
primarily being doctors in hospitals and 
other settings, have been at the forefront 
of the battle against the virus. They have 
needed to maintain high levels of service 
through this demanding period, whilst 
doing their best to keep themselves and 
patients safe, and comply with government 
guidelines. We are pleased to have been 
able to assist our NHS customers during 
the difficult period of the first national 
lockdown in March, by providing a pro 
bono “pass through” service to assist the 
hospitals with their own home-based 
reporting of radiology usually reported 
within the hospital, and further details on 
this are included in the ‘ESG Spotlight’ 
section of the CSR & ESG report on 
page 30.

Impact on the community 
and the environment
Medica is mindful of its impact on the 
environment and seeks to minimise this 
whenever possible. More information 
on this is within the category 1 ‘Climate 
Change’ section of the CSR & ESG report 
on page 27.

We are proud of our work and how it can 
ultimately help to save lives. We are keen 
to add something back to the community 
and have partnered up with a charity, 
RefuAid, to support refugee doctors. 

More detail on these areas can be found in 
category 5 ‘Social impact & responsibility’ 
of the CSR & ESG report on page 29, and 
the ‘ESG Spotlight’ section on page 30.

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020

81

GOVERNANCEIndependent Auditor’s Report

TO THE MEMBERS OF MEDICA GROUP PLC

Opinion

Our opinion on the financial statements is unmodified
We have audited the financial statements of Medica Group Plc (the ‘parent company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year 
ended 31 December 2020, which comprise the Consolidated Income Statement and Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive 
Income, the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, the Consolidated Statement 
of Changes in Equity, the Company Statement of Financial Position, the Company Statement of Changes in Equity and notes to the 
financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied 
in the preparation of the group financial statements is applicable law and international financial reporting standards adopted pursuant 
to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the European Union and international accounting standards in conformity with the 
requirements of the Companies Act 2006. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the parent 
company financial statements is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 
101 ‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion:

• 

• 

• 

• 

the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at 31 December 
2020 and of the group’s profit for the year then ended;

the group financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards adopted 
pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the European Union and international accounting standards in conformity 
with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006;

the parent company financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted 
Accounting Practice; and

the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, and as regards the 
group financial statements, Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. 

Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities 
under those standards are further described in the ‘Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements’ section of our report. 
We are independent of the group and the parent company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of 
the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard as applied to listed public interest entities, and we have fulfilled 
our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient 
and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern
We are responsible for concluding on the appropriateness of the directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on 
the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the 
group’s and the parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required 
to draw attention in our report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify 
the auditor’s opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our report. However, future events or 
conditions may cause the group or the parent company to cease to continue as a going concern.

A description of our evaluation of management’s assessment of the ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting, and 
the key observations arising with respect to that evaluation is included in the Key Audit Matters section of our report.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually 
or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s and the parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at 
least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation 
of the financial statements is appropriate. 

In relation to the group’s and the parent company’s reporting on how they have applied the UK Corporate Governance Code, we have 
nothing material to add or draw attention to in relation to the directors’ statement in the financial statements about whether the directors 
considered it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting. 

The responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the ‘Responsibilities of directors for the financial 
statements’ section of this report.

82

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPOur approach to the audit

Materiality

Key audit 
matters

Scoping

Overview of our audit approach 
Overall materiality: 

Group: £0.35 million which represents 5% of the group’s average profit before 
taxation for the past three years.

Parent company: £0.18 million, which represents 0.5%% of the parent company’s 
total assets.

Key audit matters were identified as:

•  Business combination accounting

•  Going concern

• 

Improper revenue recognition

Our auditor’s report for the year ended 31 December 2019 did not include any key 
audit matters that have not been reported as key audit matters in our current year’s 
audit report. 

We performed an audit of the financial information of the parent company and 
Medica Reporting Limited using component materiality (full-scope). We performed 
analytical procedures on the financial information on the remaining seven 
components in the Group during the year.

Key audit matters

Description

Audit response

KAM

Disclosures

Our results

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgement, were of most significance 
in our audit of the financial statements of the current period and include the most significant 
assessed risks of material misstatement (whether or not due to fraud) that we identified. These 
matters included those that had the greatest effect on: the overall audit strategy; the allocation 
of resources in the audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team. These matters were 
addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our 
opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters. 

In the graph below, we have presented the key audit matters, significant risks and other risks 
relevant to the audit.

High

t
c
a
p
m

i

t
n
e
m
e
t
a
t
s

l

i

a
c
n
a
n
fi

l

a
i
t
n
e
t
o
P

Low

Low

Business 
combination

Management 
override of 
controls

Going 
concern

Revenue recognition – 
occurrence of revenue 
recognised in the year but 
has not been settled by the 
hospital

Share-based 
payments

Payables and 
accruals

Trade 
receivables

Revenue recognition – 
occurrence of revenue 
recognised in the year in 
respect of settled invoices

Extent of management judgement

High

Key: 

 Key audit matter 

 Significant risk 

 Other risk

83

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCE 
 
 
Independent Auditor’s Report continued

TO THE MEMBERS OF MEDICA GROUP PLC

Key Audit Matter – Group

How the matter was addressed in the audit – Group

Business Combination
We identified the accounting for business combinations as one of 
the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement due to 
error.

During the period on 2 November 2020, the Group acquired 
100% of the ordinary share capital of Global Diagnostics (Ireland) 
Limited and Global Retinopathy Screening Limited. This business 
combination has had a material impact on the financial statements, 
resulting in the recognition of goodwill and intangible assets upon 
consolidation of these entities. 

Goodwill of £7.5m and other identifiable intangible assets of 
£10.7m were recognised on the date of the acquisition to reflect the 
provisional fair value of the acquired assets and liabilities. 

The other identifiable intangible assets were valued using 
discounted cash flow forecasts, which require judgement by 
the Directors around key assumptions such as revenue growth, 
discount rates, and long term growth rates. On initial recognition, 
the assets and liabilities acquired in a business combination are 
included in the consolidated statement of financial position at 
their fair values, which are also used as the basis for subsequent 
measurement in accordance with the Group’s accounting policies. 
Determining the fair value of certain assets and liabilities requires 
judgement to be exercised by the Directors. The financial impact 
of the acquisition was significant and there was a high level of 
judgement and estimation uncertainty required to measure the fair 
value of contingent consideration and the fair value of intangible 
assets acquired. We therefore identified the acquisition accounting 
as a significant risk, which was one of the most significant assessed 
risks of material misstatement. 
Relevant disclosures in the Annual Report and Accounts 
2020
The Group’s accounting policy on business combinations is shown 
in note 3.5 within ‘Principal accounting policies – Group’ to the 
financial statements on pages 96 to 125 and related disclosures are 
included in note 18. 

The Audit Committee considered the accounting for the business 
combination as part of its principal activities for the year in its 
report on page 51.

In responding to the key audit matter, we performed the following 
audit procedures:

•  documented an understanding of management’s process 

for evaluating the valuation of goodwill and intangibles and 
assessed the design effectiveness of relevant controls;

•  assessed whether the accounting policies adopted by the 

directors are in accordance with the requirements of IFRS 3 
‘Business Combinations’;

•  considered for appropriateness management’s acquisition 

accounting calculations, verifying key inputs to the acquisition 
agreement and completion accounts and testing the material 
underlying assets and liabilities acquired;

•  considered the appropriateness and completeness of 

management’s adjustments to the acquisition balance sheet;

•  used an auditor’s expert to consider the work of management’s 
valuation expert and to evaluate and challenge the assumptions 
used in the valuation of intangible assets acquired and the 
assumptions used in estimating in the fair value of contingent 
consideration, including discount rates, growth rates and 
forecast future trading performance; and

•  obtained an understanding of, and challenged the basis for, 

management’s estimate of the probability of certain contingent 
events related to the valuation of contingent consideration, 
including giving consideration to the acquired entities’ historic 
performance and to the status of the acquired entities’ 
discussions and negotiations with key clients.

Our results
Based on our audit work, we found that the assumptions and 
judgements used in management’s measurement of acquired 
intangibles and contingent consideration were reasonable and that 
the associated amounts recognised were materially accurate. We 
found no material errors in the underlying calculations. 

84

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPGoing concern
We identified going concern as a significant risk, which was one of 
the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement.

COVID-19 is one of the most significant economic global events, 
and its effects are subject to unprecedented levels of uncertainty. 
This event could adversely impact the future trading performance 
of the Group and as such it increases the extent of judgement and 
estimation uncertainty associated with management’s decision to 
adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of 
the financial statements. 

In undertaking their assessment of going concern for the Group, 
the Directors considered the impact of COVID-19 related events in 
the forecast future performance and anticipated future cash flows 
of the Group and concluded, based on the forecasts prepared 
together with the results of downside scenarios and a reverse 
stress test that were considered, that the Group has sufficient 
resources available to meet its liabilities as they fall due and that 
there are no material uncertainties that cast significant doubt over 
the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Relevant disclosures in the Annual Report and Accounts 
2020
The Group’s accounting policy on going concern is shown in note 
2.2 within ‘Principal accounting policies – Group’ to the financial 
statements on page 96.
Improper revenue recognition
We identified improper revenue recognition as one of the most 
significant assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud.

Revenue is recognised throughout the group at the point at which 
the radiology report is submitted to the hospital’s Radiology 
Information System (RIS) and, as such, revenue is recognised once 
the service has been provided and delivered to the customer. 

As part of our audit risk assessment, we distinguished between 
revenue transactions that had been settled in cash by the reporting 
date and those that had not been settled by the reporting date. 
Unsettled revenue transactions have not been reconciled and 
approved by the customers, and as such present a higher risk that 
the revenue transaction has not occurred. 

Relevant disclosures in the Annual Report and Accounts 
2020
The Group’s accounting policy on revenue recognition is shown 
in note 3.2 within ‘Principal accounting policies – Group’ to the 
financial statements on pages 96 to 125 and related disclosures are 
included in note 5.

No key audit matters were identified in respect of the parent company.

In responding to the key audit matter, we performed the following 
audit procedures:

•  obtained and evaluated management’s assessment of going 

concern and considered the assumptions used in the cash flow 
forecasts, which have been approved by the Board;

•  considered the policies and disclosures in respect of going 
concern in the financial statements for appropriateness

•  with the assistance of internal Transaction Advisory specialists, 
tested the adequacy of the supporting evidence for the cash 
flow forecasts used in the going concern assessment, including 
the assumptions in respect of key events after the reporting 
date including the refinancing and a further acquisition

•  with the assistance of internal Transaction Advisory specialists, 
considered the appropriateness of management’s sensitivity 
analysis, including management’s reverse stress testing

•  considering management’s historic forecasting accuracy and 
the extent to which this impacts the forecasts produced;

In our evaluation of the Directors’ conclusions, we considered the 
inherent risks associated with the Group’s model including effects 
arising from macro-economic uncertainties such as the United 
Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union and COVID-19. We 
assessed and challenged the reasonableness of the forecasts made 
by the Directors and the related disclosures and analysed how those 
risks might affect the Group’s and the Company’s financial resources 
or ability to continue operations over the going concern period. 

Our results
We have nothing to report in addition to that stated in the 
‘Conclusions relating to going concern’ section of our report. 

In responding to the key audit matters, we performed the following 
audit procedures: 

•  gained an understanding of the processes and controls 

implemented by the Group to identify, measure and recognise 
revenue, and assessed the design effectiveness of controls, 
particularly in relation to the accurate extraction of billing 
data from the Picture Archiving and Communications System 
(‘PACS’), which records details of radiology reports submitted 
to customers, as relevant to the recognition of revenue; 

•  considered the appropriateness of the group’s revenue 

recognition policy in accordance with International Financial 
reporting Standard 15: ‘Revenue from Contracts with 
Customers’;

• 

tested a sample of revenue items recognised during the year 
to determine the occurrence of that revenue by agreeing 
each item to an underlying customer contract or relationship, 
confirming that the underlying diagnostic report had been 
prepared and submitted to the hospital’s RIS through 
confirmations by radiologists or through direct inspection, and 
considering the amount of cash received in remittance of those 
items subsequent to the reporting date; and 

•  analysed the journal entries and credit notes within the revenue 
accounting process for significant reversals of revenue during 
the year or subsequent to the reporting date

Our results
Our audit testing did not identify any material deficiencies in 
relation to revenue that would have required us to expand the 
nature or scope of our planned detailed testing work.

85

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEIndependent Auditor’s Report continued

TO THE MEMBERS OF MEDICA GROUP PLC

Our application of materiality
We apply the concept of materiality both in planning and performing the audit, and in evaluating the effect of identified misstatements on 
the audit and of uncorrected misstatements, if any, on the financial statements and in forming the opinion in the auditor’s report.

Materiality was determined as follows:

Materiality measure

Group

Parent company

Materiality for financial 
statements as a whole

We define materiality as the magnitude of misstatement in the financial statements that, individually 
or in the aggregate, could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of the users of 
these financial statements. We use materiality in determining the nature, timing and extent of our audit 
work.

Materiality threshold

£0.35 million which is 5% of average profit before 
taxation for the past three years.

£0.18 million which represents 0.5% of the parent 
company’s total assets.

Significant judgements made 
by auditor in determining the 
materiality

This benchmark is considered the most 
appropriate because this is a key measure used by 
the Directors to report to investors on the financial 
performance of the Group. An average of profit 
before tax for the past three years was applied to 
reflect a normalised result due to the impact of 
Covid19. Materiality for the current year is lower 
than the level that we determined for the year 
ended 31 December 2019 to reflect the lower profit 
before tax and to reflect an average profit before 
tax being applied in the current year.

This benchmark is considered the most 
appropriate because its principal activity is that of 
a holding Company. 

Materiality for the current year is lower than 
the level that we determined for the year ended 
31 December 2019 to reflect the allocation of 
component materiality as part of the Group audit. 

Performance materiality used 
to drive the extent of our 
testing

We set performance materiality at an amount less than materiality for the financial statements as a 
whole to reduce to an appropriately low level the probability that the aggregate of uncorrected and 
undetected misstatements exceeds materiality for the financial statements as a whole.

Performance materiality 
threshold

£0.26 million which is 75% of financial statement 
materiality

£0.14 million which is 75% of financial statement 
materiality

Significant judgements made 
by auditor in determining the 
performance materiality

Specific materiality

In determining performance materiality, we made 
the following significant judgements:

In determining performance materiality, we made 
the following significant judgements:

•  Whether there were any significant 

•  Whether there were any significant 

adjustments made to the financial statements 
in prior years

adjustments made to the financial statements 
in prior years

•  Whether there were any significant control 

•  Whether there were any significant control 

deficiencies identified in prior years

deficiencies identified in prior years

•  Whether there were any changes in senior 

•  Whether there were any changes in senior 

management during the period

management during the period

•  Whether there were any significant changes in 

business objectives/strategy

Whether there were any significant changes in 
business objectives/strategy

We determine specific materiality for one or more particular classes of transactions, account balances 
or disclosures for which misstatements of lesser amounts than materiality for the financial statements 
as a whole could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the 
basis of the financial statements.

Specific materiality 

We determined a lower level of specific materiality 
for the following areas such as directors’ 
remuneration and related party transactions

We determined a lower level of specific materiality 
for the following areas such as directors’ 
remuneration and related party transactions

Communication of 
misstatements to the audit 
committee

Threshold for communication

We determine a threshold for reporting unadjusted differences to the audit committee.

£17,600 and misstatements below that threshold 
that, in our view, warrant reporting on qualitative 
grounds.

£9,100 and misstatements below that threshold 
that, in our view, warrant reporting on qualitative 
grounds.

86

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPThe graph below illustrates how performance materiality interacts with our overall materiality and the tolerance for potential uncorrected 
misstatements.

Overall materiality – Group

Overall materiality – Parent company

Profit before tax
£6.94m (average of
prior three periods)

FSM
£0.35m
5%

PM
£0.26m
75%

TFPUM
£0.09m
25%

Total assets
£39.77m

FSM
£0.18m
0.54%

PM
£0.14m
75%

TFPUM
£0.05m
25%

FSM: Financial statements materiality, PM: Performance materiality, TFPUM: Tolerance for potential uncorrected misstatements

An overview of the scope of our audit
The consolidated Group, including the Parent Company and Medica Reporting Ltd, were subject to statutory audit under a comprehensive 
audit approach. Having assessed the significance of the Group’s components by reference to the percentage of Group revenue, profit 
before tax, total assets and other relevant benchmarks represented by the individual components, none of the Group’s other components, 
Medica Reporting Services Ltd, Medica Reporting Finance Ltd, Medica Australia Pty Ltd, Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Global 
Retinopathy Screening Limited; MED-IDX Pty Ltd and Medica IT Services Ltd were assessed as being significant to the Group as a whole. 
Our audit approach was a risk-based approach founded on a thorough understanding of the Group’s business, its environment and risk 
profile, and in particular included: 

•  performing an evaluation of the design effectiveness of controls over key financial statement risks identified as part of our risk 

assessment process

•  gaining an understanding of the financial reporting and accounts production process;

•  undertaking substantive testing on significant classes of transactions, account balances and disclosures, the extent of which was 
based on various factors such as our overall assessment of the control environment, the effectiveness of controls over individual 
systems and the management of specific risks;

•  performing substantive procedures over 96% of Group’s revenue, 92% of Group’s profit before tax and 92% of Group’s total assets; and 

•  performing analytical reviews over the non-significant components of the Group: Medica Reporting Services Limited, Medica 

Reporting Finance Limited Medica Australia Pty Ltd, Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Global Retinopathy Screening Limited, 
MED-IDX Pty Ltd and Medica IT Services Ltd . The scope of the current year audit has remained consistent with that of the prior year, 
with the exception that Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited and Global Retinopathy Screening Limited were acquired on 2 November 
and MED-IDX Pty Ltd and Medica IT Services Ltd were incorporated during 2020 and were not in existence in the prior year.

This, together with additional procedures performed at the Group level, gave us the evidence we needed for our opinion on the Group 
financial statements as a whole. All work was performed by the Group audit team.

Audit approach

Full-scope audit

Specified audit procedures

Analytical procedures

No. of 
components

% coverage 
total assets

% coverage 
revenue

% coverage 
PBT

2

0

7

92%

0%

8%

96%

0%

4%

92%

0%

8%

87

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEIndependent Auditor’s Report continued

TO THE MEMBERS OF MEDICA GROUP PLC

Other information
The directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, 
other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other 
information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion 
thereon. 

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider 
whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise 
appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to 
determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, 
based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to 
report that fact. 

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Our opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006 are unmodified 
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• 

• 

the information given in the strategic report and the directors’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements are 
prepared is consistent with the financial statements and those reports have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal 
requirements; 

the information about internal control and risk management systems in relation to financial reporting processes and about share 
capital structures, given in compliance with rules 7.2.5 and 7.2.6 in the Disclosure Rules and Transparency Rules sourcebook 
made by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA Rules), is consistent with the financial statements and has been prepared in 
accordance with applicable legal requirements; and

• 

information about the company’s corporate governance code and practices and about its administrative, management and 
supervisory bodies and their committees complies with rules 7.2.2, 7.2.3 and 7.2.7 of the FCA Rules.

Matter on which we are required to report under the Companies Act 2006
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent company and its environment obtained in the course of the 
audit, we have not identified material misstatements in:

• 

• 

the strategic report or the directors’ report; or

the information about internal control and risk management systems in relation to financial reporting processes and about share 
capital structures, given in compliance with rules 7.2.5 and 7.2.6 of the FCA Rules.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, 
in our opinion:

•  adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received 

from branches not visited by us; or

• 

the parent company financial statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited are not in agreement with 
the accounting records and returns; or

•  certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

•  we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

•  a corporate governance statement has not been prepared by the parent company. 

88

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPCorporate governance statement
The Listing Rules require us to review the directors’ statement in relation to going concern, longer-term viability and that part of the 
Corporate Governance Statement relating to the group’s and the parent company’s compliance with the provisions of the UK Corporate 
Governance Statement specified for our review.

Based on the work undertaken as part of our audit, we have concluded that each of the following elements of the Corporate Governance 
Statement is materially consistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained during the audit:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

the directors’ statement in the financial statements about whether the directors considered it appropriate to adopt the going concern 
basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements and the directors’ identification of any material uncertainties to the group’s 
and the parent company’s ability to continue to do so over a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of the financial 
statements;

the directors’ explanation in the annual report as to how they have assessed the prospects of the group and the parent company, over 
what period they have done so and why they consider that period to be appropriate, and their statement as to whether they have a 
reasonable expectation that the group and the parent company will be able to continue in operation and meet their liabilities as they 
fall due over the period of their assessment, including any related disclosures drawing attention to any necessary qualifications or 
assumptions;

the directors’ statement that they consider the annual report and financial statements taken as a whole is fair, balanced and 
understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the group’s and the parent company’s performance, 
business model and strategy; 

the directors’ confirmation in the annual report that they have carried out a robust assessment of the principal and emerging risks 
facing the group and the parent company including the impact of Brexit and COVID-19 and the disclosures in the annual report that 
describe the principal risks, procedures to identify emerging risks and an explanation of how they are being managed or mitigated 
including the impact of Brexit and COVID-19; 

the section of the annual report that describes the review of the effectiveness of group’s and the parent company’s risk management 
and internal control systems, covering all material controls, including financial, operational and compliance controls; and

the section of the annual report describing the work of the audit committee, including significant issues that the audit committee 
considered relating to the financial statements and how these issues were addressed. 

Responsibilities of directors for the financial statements
As explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial 
statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary 
to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent company’s ability to continue 
as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the 
directors either intend to liquidate the group or the parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

89

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEIndependent Auditor’s Report continued

TO THE MEMBERS OF MEDICA GROUP PLC

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, 
whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance 
but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. 
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be 
expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website 
at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting 
irregularities, including fraud
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our 
responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. Owing to the inherent 
limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that material misstatements in the financial statements may not be detected, even 
though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK). 

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below: 

•  We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the Company and the Group and sector in which 
they operate. We determined that the following laws and regulations were most significant: IFRSs as adopted by the EU, FRS 101 
‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’ (UK GAAP), Companies Act 2006, UK Corporate governance code, Listing Rules, and relevant UK 
taxation laws. 

•  We understood how the Group is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks by making inquiries to the management, 

those responsible for legal and compliance procedures and the company secretary. We corroborated our inquiries through our review 
of Board minutes and papers provided to the Audit Committee.

•  We assessed the susceptibility of the Company’s and Group’s financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud 

might occur. Audit procedures performed by the Group engagement team included:

 − identifying and assessing the design effectiveness of controls management has in place to prevent and detect fraud;

 − understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of controls or other 

inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;

 − challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in its significant accounting estimates;

 − identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries posted with unusual account combinations;

 − assessing the extent of compliance with the relevant laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial 

statement item; and 

 − assessing matters reported through the Group’s whistleblowing programme and the results of management’s investigation of such 

matters.

•  The engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence and capabilities to identify or recognize non-compliance with 

laws and regulations. 

90

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPOther matters which we are required to address
We were appointed by the board of directors on 6 August 2013 to audit the financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2013 and 
subsequent financial periods. 

The period of total uninterrupted engagement including previous renewals and reappointments of the firm is 8 years, covering the periods 
ending 31 December 2013 to 31 December 2020.

The non-audit services prohibited by the FRC’s Ethical Standard were not provided to the group or the parent company and we remain 
independent of the group and the parent company in conducting our audit.

Our audit opinion is consistent with the additional report to the audit committee.

Use of our report
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. 
Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in 
an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone 
other than the company and the company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Christopher Smith BA(Hons) ACA 
Senior Statutory Auditor

for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP 
Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants 
London

10 May 2021

91

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020GOVERNANCEConsolidated income statement and consolidated  
statement of comprehensive income

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

31 December 2019
£000

Non- 
Underlying
(Note 7)
£’000

–

–

–

(1,074)

(1,074) 

(362)

(1,436)

–

–

(1,436)

273

(1,163) 

Underlying
£’000

46,542 

(24,292)

22,250 

(10,953)

11,297 

–

11,297 

93 

(360)

11,030 

(1,960)

9,070 

31 December 2020
£000

Non-
Underlying
(Note 7)
£’000

Note

Underlying
£’000

36,814 

(19,362)

17,452 

(12,449)

5,003 

–

5,003 

73 

(339)

4,737 

(876)

3,861 

–

–

–

(2,309)

(2,309) 

(324)

(2,633)

–

(30)

(2,663)

147

(2,516) 

6 

8

9

10

11

11

Revenue
Cost of sales

Gross profit
Administration expenses 

Operating profit before 
exceptional items
Exceptional items

Operating profit
Finance income

Finance costs

Profit before tax

Income tax charge

Profit for the year attributable 
to equity shareholders

Basic profit per ordinary share 
(pence)

Diluted profit per ordinary share 
(pence)

Statement of Comprehensive 
Income
Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income

Items that will not be reclassified 
to profit or loss
Foreign exchange translation 
differences

Total comprehensive income for 
the year

Total
£’000

36,814 

(19,362)

17,452 

(14,758)

2,694 

(324)

2,370 

73 

(369)

2,074 

(729)

1,345  

1.21

1.21

1,345 

– 

1,345 

The notes and accounting policies on pages 96 to 125 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Total
£’000

46,542 

(24,292)

22,250 

(12,027)

10,223 

(362)

9,861 

93 

(360)

9,594 

(1,687)

7,907  

7.12

7.09

7,907 

2 

7,909  

92

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
 
 
 
 
 
Consolidated statement of financial position

COMPANY REGISTRATION 08497963

Note

31 December 2020
£000

31 December 2019
£000

(Restated)

ASSETS

Non-current assets
Goodwill

Other intangible assets

Property, plant and equipment

Deferred tax

Current assets
Trade and other receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Total assets

LIABILITIES

Current liabilities
Trade and other payables

Borrowings

Lease liabilities

Contingent consideration

Current tax

Net current assets

Total assets less current liabilities

Non-current liabilities
Borrowings

Lease liabilities

Contingent consideration 

Deferred tax

Net assets

EQUITY
Issued capital

Share premium

Foreign exchange reserve

Retained earnings

Total equity

14

15

16

23

19

20

21

22

22

22

22

22

22

23

24

24

24

24

23,473 

17,150 

4,146 

163

44,932

8,333

13,934 

22,267

67,199 

(5,803)

(5,881)

(299)

(1,753)

(387)

(14,123)

8,144

53,076 

(11,960)

(475)

(1,778)

(2,410)

(16,623)

36,453 

223 

14,721 

2

21,507 

36,453 

15,948 

7,384 

3,783 

–

27,115

10,168 

16,576 

26,744 

53,859 

(3,804)

-

(109)

–

(890)

(4,803)

21,941

49,056 

(11,936)

(398)

–

(880)

(13,214)

35,842 

222 

14,721 

2 

20,897 

35,842 

The notes and accounting policies on pages 96 to 125 form an integral part of these financial statements.

The financial statements on pages 92 to 95 were authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 10 May 2021 and were signed on its 
behalf by:

Stuart Quin 
Director 

Richard Jones
Director

93

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSConsolidated statement of cash flows

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

12 months ended 31 December 2020
£000

12 months ended 31 December 2019
£000

Operating activities
Profit for the year

Add back taxation

Profit before tax

Adjustments for:

Depreciation

Amortisation

Loss on disposal of tangible and  
intangible assets

Share based payments

Finance income

Finance costs

Changes in:

Decrease/(increase) in trade and  
other receivables

Decrease in trade and other payables

Tax paid

Cash inflow from operating activities

Investing activities
Purchase of subsidiary net of cash acquired

Purchase of property, plant and equipment

Purchase of software intangibles

Interest received

Cash outflow from investing activities

Cash flows from financing activities
Repayment of lease liability

Proceeds from borrowings

Repayment of borrowings

Issue of ordinary share capital

Dividends paid to ordinary shareholders

Interest paid

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from  
financing activities

Net change in cash and cash equivalents

Movement in net cash
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

(Decrease)/Increase in cash and  
cash equivalents

Foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

1,345

729

2,074

1,449

1,429

219 

210

(73)

375

4,201 

56

(1,299)

8,641

(13,813)

(1,475)

(533)

73

(15,748)

(152)

5,963

(54)

1

(945)

(345)

4,468 

(2,639)

16,576

(2,639)

(3)

13,934

7,907

1,687

9,594

1,249

1,354

– 

204

(93)

360

(1,534) 

753

(2,180)

9,707

–

(2,360)

(467)

93

(2,734)

(50)

–

–

–

(2,612)

(323)

(2,985) 

3,988

12,588

3,988 

–

16,576

The notes and accounting policies on pages 96 to 125 form an integral part of these financial statements.

94

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPConsolidated statement of changes in equity

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

At 1 January 2019
Dividends paid

Share based payments

Transactions with owners

Profit for the year

Foreign exchange translation differences

Total comprehensive income for the year

At 31 December 2019
Issue of share capital

Dividends paid

Share based payments

Transactions with owners
Profit for the year

Other comprehensive income
Foreign exchange translation differences

Total comprehensive income for the year

At 31 December 2020

Note

12

12

Issued 
capital
£’000

222 

Share  
premium
£’000

14,721 

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

222 
1 

14,721 
–

–

–

1 

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

223 

14,721 

Translation
reserve
£’000

Retained 
earnings
£’000

Total equity
£’000

–

–

–

–

–

2 

2 

2 
–

–

–

–

–

–

–

2

15,398

(2,612)

204

(2,408)

7,907 

–

7,907 

20,897
–

(945)

210

(735)

1,345 

–

1,345 

21,507 

30,341 

(2,612)

204 

(2,408)

7,907 

2 

7,909 

35,842 
1 

(945)

210 

(734)

1,345 

–

1,345 

36,453 

The notes and accounting policies on pages 96 to 125 form an integral part of these financial statements.

95

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

1 Medica Group PLC
Medica Group PLC (“the Company”) was incorporated in England and Wales on 22 April 2013 under the Companies Act 2006 (registration 
number 08497963) and is domiciled in the United Kingdom. Its registered office and principal place of business is One Priory Square, 
Priory Street, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1EA.

The consolidated financial statements of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2020 (including comparatives) comprise the 
Company and its subsidiaries (together referred to as “the Group”). The Group’s principal activity is the provision of teleradiology 
reporting and is the leading independent provider in both the UK and Ireland. The Group’s business activities, together with the factors 
likely to affect its future development, performance and position are set out in the chairman’s and chief executive’s reports on pages 4 to 
5, and 32 to 35. In addition, Note 27 to the financial statements includes the Group’s objectives, policies and processes for managing its 
capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of its financial instruments and its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk.

2 Basis of preparation

2.1. Basis of preparation
The Consolidated financial statements of Medica Group PLC and its subsidiary undertakings (together “the Group”) for the 12 months 
ended 31 December 2020 have been prepared by the directors of Medica Group PLC.

The consolidated financial statements of the Group have been prepared in accordance with international accounting standards in 
conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and international financial reporting standards adopted pursuant to 
Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 as it applies in the European Union. 

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. 
It also requires management to exercise its judgement in the process of applying the Group’s accounting policies. The areas involving 
a higher degree of judgement or complexity, or areas where assumptions and estimates are significant to the consolidated financial 
statements are disclosed in Note 4 to the financial statements.

The consolidated financial statements are presented in £ (Sterling), the presentational and functional currency of the Company, rounded 
to the nearest £’000.

2.2. Going concern
As at 31 December 2020 the group had net cash of £13.9m, a term loan of £12m due for repayment in full in March 2022 and £5.9m RCF 
also due for repayment in March 2022 Net debt at 31 December 2020 was therefore £3.9m. The Directors have prepared detailed cashflow 
forecasts for the 21-month period to December 31, 2022. These forecasts indicate that the group has sufficient funds to meet its liabilities 
as they fall due for at least the next 12 months. In preparing these forecasts the directors have considered the potential for further and 
prolonged negative impact of COVID-19 going forward following the significant impact on Medica’s revenue reported in 2020 due to the 
impact on Elective volumes and revenue as the NHS focused its efforts away from elective activity to focus on treating patients in the 
pandemic and also the negative impact on NightHawk volumes and revenue due to the impact of the lockdowns and other restrictions. The 
Directors have also considered the impact of the recently announced acquisition of RadMD LLC with the associated 9.9% equity placing as 
well as the refinancing of its existing debt facilities that was completed in early May 2021. The refinancing provided a new 3 year fully flexible 
£30m RCF facility as set out in Note 22 at which time the term debt was repaid in full and £12m of the new RCF was utilised (see note 31) . 

The Directors have considered a severe yet plausible downside scenario assuming no improvement in Elective volumes and revenue from 
current levels, further and material reductions in margins in new and existing NightHawk contracts and increased cost relating to the 
FutureTech programme.  Under these scenarios the forecasts also indicate that the group will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as 
they fall due for at least the next 20 months. The Director’s also considered a reverse stress test considering the conditions that would be 
required for the Group to breach its banking covenants which did not indicate a material uncertainty relating to going concern. 

96

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP2.3. Standards in issue which have not yet been adopted
A number of IFRS and IFRIC interpretations are currently in issue which are not relevant for the Group’s activities and which have not 
therefore been adopted in preparing these financial statements.

Standards

IFRS 17 ‘Insurance Contracts’ – mandatory adoption for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2023.

Amendments

•  Amendments to IFRS 1 ‘First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards’ in respect of subsidiaries adopting IFRS for 

the first time. Mandatory adoption of these changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2022.

•  Amendments to IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’ updating a reference to the conceptual framework. Mandatory adoption of these 

changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2022.

•  Amendments to IFRS 9 ‘Financial Instruments’ affecting costs included in the ‘10% test’. Mandatory adoption of these changes is for 

accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2022.

•  Amendments to IAS 16 ‘Property, Plant and Equipment’ prohibiting a company from deducting from the cost of property, plant and 

equipment amounts received from selling items produced while the company is preparing the asset for its intended use. Mandatory 
adoption of these changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2022.

•  Amendments to IAS 37 ‘Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets’ regarding the costs to include when assessing 

whether a contract is onerous. Mandatory adoption of these changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2022.

•  Amendments to IAS 8 ‘Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors’ regarding the definition of accounting 

estimates. Mandatory adoption of these changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.

•  Amendments to IFRS 4 ‘Insurance Contracts’ changing the fixed expiry date for the temporary exemption in IFRS 4 from applying IFRS 

9 to 1 January 2023.

•  Amendments to IAS 1 ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ regarding the classification of liabilities and the disclosure of accounting 

policies. Mandatory adoption of both sets of changes is for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.

3 Summary of accounting policies
These accounting policies have been used throughout all periods presented in the financial statements, except where the Group has 
applied certain accounting policies and exemptions upon transition to IFRS.

3.1. Basis of consolidation
The Group financial statements consolidate those of the Parent Company and all of its subsidiary undertakings drawn up to 31 December 
2020. All subsidiaries have the same reporting date and use accounting policies consistent with those of the Parent Company. Medica 
Group PLC (“the Group”) controls an entity when the Group is exposed to, or has rights to, variable returns from its involvement with the 
subsidiary and has the ability to affect those returns through its power over the entity. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on 
which control is transferred to the Group.

Unrealised gains and losses on transactions between Group companies are eliminated. Amounts reported in the financial statements of 
subsidiaries have been adjusted where necessary to ensure consistency with the accounting policies adopted by the Group.

3.2. Revenue
The Group’s revenue recognition policy is as follows:

The Group recognises revenue in accordance with the requirement of IFRS 15 and in the five-step model set out within the standard.

STEP 1 Identifying the contract with the customer

The Group accounts for contracts with customers within the scope of IFRS 15 only when all of the following criteria are met:

a.  The Group and the customer have approved the outline contract (in writing, orally or in accordance with other customary business 

practices) and are committed to perform their respective obligations; 

b.  The Group can identify each party’s rights regarding the services to be transferred; 

c.  The Group receives an order or request to deliver a radiology report;

d.  The Group can identify the payment terms for services to be transferred; 

e.  The contract has commercial substance (i.e. the risk, timing or amount of the Group’s future cash flows is expected to change as a 

result of the contract); and 

f. 

It is probable that the Group will collect the consideration to which it will be entitled in exchange for the services that will be 
transferred to the customer. In evaluating whether collectability of an amount of consideration is probable, the Group considers only 
the customer’s ability and intention to pay that amount of consideration when it is due.

97

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

STEP 2 Identifying the performance obligations

At contract inception, the Group assesses the services promised within the contract and identifies as a performance obligation each 
promise to transfer to the customer either:

a.  A good service (or a bundle of services) that is distinct; or 

b.  A series of distinct services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer to the customer.

The only identifiable performance obligation is the delivery of a radiology report which diagnoses a patient using images provided by the 
client into the client’s Radiology Information System (RIS) by a suitable radiologist in an agreed timescale based upon an order received 
from the customer under the agreed contract. This is a teleradiology service.

In the UK, the Group’s customers are responsible for producing the image for the radiologist’s review and the Group is responsible 
for arranging for the review by the radiologist. In Ireland, some contracts are ‘fully managed’ and the Group provides the staff and/or 
the equipment required to produce the image. In management’s view, these additional services are not separable from the overriding 
performance obligation discussed above.

The contracts provide structure around the IT set up and transition methodology to be used. The contracts also detail the required clinical 
competences of the radiologists and other clinical staff the Group uses. Both of these points describe the method and standard of the 
service but are not distinct to the service provided.

The contracts also provide agreement on certain other matters such as the quality assurance standards that the Group adheres to such 
as those on information governance, confidentiality, maintenance of indemnity insurance and clinical audit procedures. The contracts 
may also provide for progress reports and/or quarterly or annual meetings. None of these are distinct performance obligations providing 
services to the client but form part of the criteria that demonstrates that the Group is a suitable provider of a teleradiology service. 

STEP 3 Determining the transaction price

Each contract has a detailed schedule of prices for each different type of radiology report. The pricing is based on the type of images 
diagnosed, the complexity of the report and the nature of the report (for example whether it is emergency or elective).

Some contracts are subject to minimum usage over a given period of time, providing Medica with a minimum expected revenue stream for 
those contracts.

STEP 4 Allocating the transaction price to the separate performance obligations

There is only one performance obligation and accordingly the transaction price is allocated to the delivery of the individual report.

STEP 5 Recognising revenue when performance obligations are satisfied

Revenue is recognised when the performance obligation is satisfied, which is when the report is delivered to the client’s Radiology 
Information System (RIS). Each transaction is recognised as a separate chargeable event. Control passes to the customer once the report is 
submitted, at which point Group becomes entitled to consideration for the services provided. The client is charged for services provided at 
the end of the month and typically debtors are recovered 69 days later.

All revenue recognised in the income statement is from contracts with customers and no other revenue has been recognised. No provision for 
expected credit losses have been recognised on any receivables or contract assets arising from a contract with a customer as past experience 
indicates that expected losses are minimal.

A disaggregation of revenue is shown in Note 5 as part of the segmental analysis. There are no other relevant categories of revenue other 
than reporting modalities which are monitored by the directors.

In the UK, due to the nature of the Group’s contractual relationship with customers and the nature of the services provided, there are no timing 
differences between revenue recognised in the income statement and trade receivables being recognised in the statement of financial position.

As at 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2019 in the UK there were no remaining performance obligations for revenue recognised in the 
year. All obligations pertaining to revenue recognised have been met. No revenue was recognised relating to obligations not yet performed. 
No revenue has been recognised in the period relating to obligations met in the preceding period.

In Ireland there are different arrangements around billing for work performed by the Group. In some cases, customers pay in advance for 
a specified number of reviewed images in a specified time period. As in the UK, revenue is recognised at the point each image is reviewed. 
Timing differences in respect of the dates of invoicing and payment with the dates of the scan reviews creates timing differences which 
appear in accrued or deferred revenue as appropriate. 

There have been no significant judgements regarding the timing of transactions or price.

Transaction price is set out in individual contractual agreements and there is a range of prices based on the types of service offered. 
There are no variable pricing considerations.

No assets were recognised from costs to obtain or fulfil a contract with any customer.

98

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP3.3. Interest income/Interest expense
Interest income and expenses are reported on an accrual basis using the effective interest method.

3.4. Segment reporting
IFRS 8 requires operating segments to be identified on the same basis as is used internally for the review of performance and allocation 
of resources by the Group chief executive (chief operating decision maker – CODM).

The Board has reviewed the Group and all revenues are functional activities of teleradiology reporting and these activities take place on 
an integrated basis. Prior to the acquisition of GDI in November 2020, the senior executive team reviewed the financial information on an 
integrated basis for the Group as a whole. Following the acquisition of GDI, the senior executive team review the financial information for 
the two new Irish entities as a separate segment from the rest of the Group.

3.5 Business combinations 
Business combinations are dealt with by the acquisition method. The acquisition method involves the recognition at fair value of all 
identifiable assets and liabilities, including contingent liabilities of the subsidiary, at the acquisition date, regardless of whether or not 
they were recorded in the financial statements of the subsidiary prior to acquisition. On initial recognition, the assets and liabilities of the 
subsidiary are included in the consolidated statement of financial position at their provisional fair values which are then finalised within 
a 12 month period and, which are also used as the basis for subsequent measurement in accordance with the Group accounting policies. 
Goodwill is stated after separating out identifiable intangible assets. 

Profit or loss and other comprehensive income of subsidiaries acquired or disposed of during the year are recognised from the effective 
date of acquisition, or up to the effective date of disposal, as applicable.

Where the settlement of any part of cash consideration is deferred, the amounts payable in the future are discounted to their present 
value using a probability weighted expected value approach. Contingent consideration is classified either as equity or as a financial 
liability and is recognised at fair value on the acquisition date. Amounts classified as a financial liability are subsequently re-measured 
to fair value in accordance with IFRS 9 (Financial Instruments), with changes in fair value recognised in the consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income as an administrative expense. 

Directly attributable acquisition costs are expensed as incurred within the consolidated statement of comprehensive income as non-
underlying administrative expenses. 

3.6. Leasing
The right of use asset is initially measured at the amount of the lease liability plus any lease payments made at or before the 
commencement date (less any lease incentives received), plus any initial direct costs incurred in agreeing the lease, plus an estimate of 
future dismantling, removal and restoration costs. Subsequent to the initial measurement the right of use asset is accounted for using the 
cost model set out in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment, which is based on depreciating the asset over the estimated useful economic 
life. The lease terms of all lease agreements historically entered into by the Group are 5 years or less and the associated assets are 
depreciated on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

In connection with the Group’s right of use assets as at 31 December 2020 there were no lease payments that had been made prior to the 
commencement of the lease, nor any lease incentives, nor has the Group made any structural or other changes to any right of use assets 
that would require material costs in respect of dismantling, removal or restoration.

The initial recognition of the lease liability has been based on discounting the cashflows associated with the lease using the rate implicit 
in the lease agreement, or where this is not available, the Group’s incremental borrowing rate, which the directors consider to be similar 
to the Group’s bank borrowing rate, currently 2.6% in the UK and 5.9% in Ireland. After initial measurement the Group charges the lease 
liability with the interest cost to unwind the discount factor and reduces the liability by the amount of contractual payments made annually.

In reviewing the leases, the directors took into consideration those which were long term leases, those which were short term leases, the 
underlying asset value and the lease and non-lease components.

Leases of low value assets and short-term leases with a term of twelve months or less, have continued to be recognised as an operating 
expense and it was determined that all of these short term leases (mostly for reporting centres) had termination clauses of three months or 
less and therefore could be readily terminated if required. 

The directors have set a guideline of £5,000 or less lease value as the threshold for determining the value of a potential lease asset. All the 
short-term leases are therefore also considered low value assets and have been excluded from right of use assets. Further details on these 
leases are contained in Note 16.

Low value and short-term leases

Where the Group is a lessee, payments on low value and short-term operating lease agreements are recognised as an expense on a 
straight-line basis over the lease term. Associated costs, such as maintenance and insurance, are expensed as incurred. Benefits received 
and receivable as an incentive to enter an operating lease are also spread on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Change in accounting policy relating to presentation of lease liabilities

Management have decided to change the presentation of lease liabilities on the Statement of Financial Position in 2020 due to the 
increased use of leasing arrangements following the acquisition of the two Irish companies. The comparative period has been restated to 
aid comparability. The restatement of comparative period figures has had no effect on the Group’s profit for the year ended 31 December 
2019, nor on the amounts of current liabilities and non-current liabilities, as previously reported at 31 December 2019.

99

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

3.7. Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment. Depreciation is calculated to 
write down the cost less estimated residual value of all property, plant and equipment by equal annual instalments over their expected 
useful lives less estimated residual values, using the straight-line method. The rates generally applicable are:

Computer equipment

– 20% to 33% per annum

Leasehold improvements

– Over the life of the lease term

Medical equipment

– 20% per annum

The gain or loss arising on the disposal or retirement of an item of property, plant and equipment is determined as the difference between 
the sales proceeds and the carrying amount of the asset and is recognised in profit or loss.

The assets’ residual value and useful lives are reviewed, and adjusted if required, at each reporting date. The carrying amount of an asset 
is written down to its recoverable amount if the carrying amount is greater than its estimated recoverable amount.

3.8. Impairment of property, plant and equipment
At each balance sheet date, the Group reviews the carrying amounts of its property, plant and equipment to determine whether there 
is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is 
estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any). Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of 
an individual asset, the Group estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.

Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs of disposal and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash 
flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of 
money and the risks specific to the asset.

If the recoverable amount of an asset (or cash-generating unit) is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the 
asset (or cash-generating unit) is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless 
the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.

Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is increased to the revised 
estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been 
determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset (cash-generating unit) in prior years.

A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant assets are carried at a revalued amount, in 
which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase.

3.9. Goodwill and other intangible assets
An intangible asset, which is an identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance, is recognised to the extent that it is probable 
that the expected future economic benefits attributable to the asset will flow to the Group and that its cost can be measured reliably. The 
asset is deemed to be identifiable when it is separable or when it arises from contractual or other legal rights.

Intangible assets acquired as part of a business combination, are shown at fair value at the date of the acquisition less accumulated 
amortisation. Amortisation is charged on a straight-line basis through the profit or loss. The rates applicable, which represent the 
directors’ best estimate of the useful economic life, are:

•  Customer relationships – 15 years

•  Software and technology – 10 years for assets purchased as part of the acquisition of Medica Reporting Limited in 2013, software 

licences purchased since then are amortised over their term

•  Brands – 20 years.

Internal development costs

Expenditure on the research phase of projects to develop new projects is recognised as an expense as incurred.

Costs that are directly attributable to a project’s development phase are recognised as intangible assets, provided they meet the following 
recognition requirements:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

the development costs can be measured reliably

the project is technically and commercially feasible

the Group intends to and has sufficient resources to complete the project

the Group has the ability to use or sell the software

the software will generate probable future economic benefits.

Development costs not meeting these criteria for capitalisation are expensed as incurred.

Directly attributable costs include employee costs incurred on software development along with an appropriate portion of relevant 
overheads and borrowing costs.

100

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP3.10. Impairment of intangible assets
Goodwill

Goodwill is stated at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. Goodwill is allocated to cash-generating units and is not amortised but 
tested annually for impairment. Impairment losses in respect of goodwill cannot be subsequently reversed.

At each balance sheet date, the Group performs an annual impairment review of goodwill and any intangible assets with an indefinite useful 
economic life. The recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any). Where it is 
not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, the Group estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating 
unit to which the asset belongs.

Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use.

If the recoverable amount of an asset (or cash-generating unit) is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the 
asset (or cash-generating unit) is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss.

An impairment loss is reversed if the asset’s or cash-generating unit’s recoverable amount exceeds its carrying amount.

Other intangible assets

Other intangible assets are not tested for impairment annually, only when there is an objective indicator of impairment. Where an 
impairment indicator is identified, an impairment test is carried out by comparing the carrying of the assets with its recoverable amount. 
If the recoverable amount of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount is reduced to its recoverable 
amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss.

3.11. Taxation
Tax expenses recognised in profit or loss comprise the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax not recognised in other 
comprehensive income or directly in equity.

Current tax

The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from profit as reported in the statement of 
comprehensive income because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further 
excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The Group’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been 
enacted or substantively enacted by the balance sheet date.

Deferred tax

Deferred tax is recognised on differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities in the financial statements and the 
corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable profit and are accounted for using the liability method. Deferred tax liabilities 
are generally recognised for all taxable temporary differences, and deferred tax assets are generally recognised for all deductible temporary 
differences to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which those deductible temporary differences can be 
recognised. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the temporary difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition (other 
than in a business combination) of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the taxable profit nor the accounting profit.

Deferred tax liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary differences associated with investments in subsidiaries except where 
the Group can control the reversal of the temporary difference and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in 
the foreseeable future. Deferred tax assets arising from deductible temporary differences associated with such investments are only 
recognised to the extent that it is probable that there will be sufficient taxable profits against which to recognise the benefits of the 
temporary differences and they are expected to reverse in the foreseeable future.

The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that 
sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured 
at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period in which the liability is settled or the asset recognised based on tax rates (and tax 
laws) that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the balance sheet date. The measurement of deferred tax liabilities and assets 
reflects the tax consequences that would follow from the manner in which the Group expects, at the reporting date, to recover or settle 
the carrying amount of its assets and liabilities.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is a legally enforceable right to set off current tax assets against current tax 
liabilities and when they relate to income taxes levied by the same taxation authority and the Group intends to settle its current tax assets 
and liabilities on a net basis.

Change in accounting policy relating to presentation of current tax

Management have decided to present the liability for current tax separately on the Statement of Financial Position in 2020 to provide 
better disclosure. The comparative period has been restated to aid comparability. The restatement of comparative period figures has had 
no effect on the Group’s profit for the year ended 31 December 2019, nor on the amounts of current liabilities and non-current liabilities, as 
previously reported at 31 December 2019.

3.12. Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand.

101

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

3.13. Financial instruments
Recognition, initial measurement and derecognition

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the Group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the financial 
instrument and are measured initially at fair value adjusted for transaction costs, except for those carried at fair value through profit or loss 
which are measured initially at fair value. Subsequent measurement of financial assets and financial liabilities is described below.

Financial assets are derecognised when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the financial asset expire, or when the financial asset 
and substantially all the risks and rewards are transferred.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the obligation specified in the contract is discharged, cancelled or expires. An exchange 
between an existing borrower and lender of debt instruments with substantially different terms shall be accounted for as an 
extinguishment of the original financial liability and the recognition of a new financial liability. Similarly, substantial modification of the 
terms of an existing financial liability shall be accounted for as an extinguishment of the original liability and the recognition of a financial 
liability. A substantial modification of terms occurs when the discounted present value of the cash flows under the new terms is at least 
10% different from the discounted present value of the remaining cash flows of the original facility.

The only types of financial assets held by the Group are loans, receivables and derivative financial instruments.

Financial assets at amortised cost

Financial assets at amortised cost are non-derivative financial assets with fixed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an active 
market. After initial recognition, these are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less provision for impairment. 
Discounting is omitted where the effect of discounting is immaterial. The Group’s cash and cash equivalents, trade and most other 
receivables fall into this category of financial instruments.

The Group applies the IFRS 9 simplified approach to measuring expected credit losses which uses a lifetime expected loss allowance for 
all receivables. The Group’s customers are mostly state-owned entities such as hospitals, as such credit loss is not significant. 

The expected loss rates are based on the payment profile of sales over 36 months before 31 December 2020 or 1 January 2020 
respectively. The Group then considers future expected credit losses due to any other expected circumstances in addition to applying 
historical loss rates.

On that basis no loss allowance was identified as at 31 December 2020 or 1 January 2020.

Classification and subsequent measurement of financial liabilities

The Group’s financial liabilities include borrowings, trade and other payables and lease liabilities. Financial liabilities are measured 
subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method except for derivatives. Financial liabilities designated at FVTPL, 
which are carried subsequently at fair value with gains or losses recognised in profit or loss. Please see Note 26 for the fair value hierarchy.

3.14. Equity, reserves and dividend payments
Share capital represents the nominal value of shares that have been issued.

Share premium includes any premiums received on issue of share capital. Any transaction costs associated with the issuing of shares are 
deducted from share premium, net of any related income tax benefits.

Retained earnings include all current and prior period retained profits or losses.

Dividend distributions payable to equity shareholders are included in ‘other liabilities’ when the dividends have been approved in a general 
meeting prior to the reporting date.

3.15. Exceptional items
Exceptional items are items that are unusual because of their size, nature or incidence and which the directors consider should be 
disclosed separately to enable a full understanding of the Group’s results.

3.16. Non‑underlying items
The Group has applied an income statement format which seeks to highlight significant items within Group results for the year such as 
one-off acquisition costs, and other non-operating costs such as the amortisation of acquired intangibles and share-based payments. The 
Group exercises judgement in assessing the particular items which, by virtue of their scale and nature should be disclosed in the income 
statement and related notes as non-underlying items. The Group believes that such a presentation is useful for the users of the financial 
statements in helping to provide a balanced view of, and relevant information on, the Group’s underlying financial performance. Details 
are included in note 32.

3.17. Employee benefits
Short-term employee benefits and contributions to defined contribution plans are recognised as an expense in the period in which they 
are incurred.

3.18. Share based payments
The Group has applied the requirements of IFRS 2 share based payments.

The Group issues share based payments to certain employees. The fair value determined at the grant date is expensed on a straight 
line basis over the vesting period, based on the Group’s estimate of shares that will eventually vest. Fair value is measured by use of an 
appropriate valuation model. A Binomial option pricing model has been used to value the performance share plan. 

102

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP4 Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
The preparation of financial statements under IFRS requires the Group to make estimates and assumptions that affect the application 
of policies and reported amounts. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other 
factors including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from 
these estimates. The estimates and assumptions which have a risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and 
liabilities are discussed below.

4.1. Key judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty
The following are the judgements and estimates made by management in applying the accounting policies of the Group. The directors do 
not believe that any of these judgements are significant or of material value. 

Fair value of assets acquired on business combination

In accordance with IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’, on the acquisition of GDI discussed in note 18 the Group measured the identifiable 
assets acquired and the liabilities assumed at their acquisition-date fair values. In most cases the fair value was not materially different from 
the carrying values; however, €11.9 million (£10.7 million) of intangible assets other than goodwill were recognised and included in note 14.

The valuation was undertaken using an ‘excess earnings’ or ‘income approach’ and the key estimates which underly this valuation are: 

Required rate of return

13.8%

Long term growth rate

1.0% - 2.0%

EBIT margin for FY23 onwards

16.8% - 31.8%

Corporate tax rate

12.5%

A deferred tax liability of €1.5 million (£1.3 million) was recognised in connection with these valued assets at the Irish corporate tax rate 
of 12.5%.

Under the terms of the acquisition deferred cash consideration of up to €4m is payable subject to the realisation of future events including 
the successful commencement and renewal of contracts. In accordance with IFRS 9 ‘Financial Instruments’ the fair value of contingent 
consideration was assessed based on applying a time value of money discount to the probability weighted expected future values under 
the various possible outcomes to these future contract events.

The useful life of acquired intangible assets

The Group recognises the intangible assets acquired as part of business combinations at fair value at the date of acquisition. These fair 
values were determined by experts engaged by management and based upon management’s and the directors’ judgement and includes 
assumptions on the timing and amount of future incremental cash flows generated by the assets and selection of an appropriate discount 
rate. Furthermore, management have estimated the expected useful lives of intangible assets and charged amortisation on these assets 
accordingly. At the reporting date no impairments to other intangible assets were recognised in the period.

The directors considered the estimates of the useful economic life of intangible assets acquired in May 2013 as part of the purchase of 
Medica Reporting Limited and November 2020 as part of the purchase of Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited and Global Retinopathy 
Screening Limited. 

Brand

The directors considered the strength of the Medica brand in the teleradiology and wider healthcare sector and noted that the transaction 
was limited to a change of equity ownership. In their judgement, the directors consider that the brand is expected to continue to be used for 
the foreseeable future and have therefore estimated a useful life of 20 years. 

Customer relationships

In assessing the useful economic life of customer relationships, the directors considered the importance of long term relationships. In their 
judgement the directors consider that given the limited number of NHS Trusts and the fact that the majority of revenue came from long 
standing, government funded clients that the useful economic life for customer relationships is estimated at 15 years. 

103

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Software and technology

In assessing the useful economic life of the technology purchased the directors judgement was that the technology was core to the 
business and whilst requiring ongoing investment was not expected to fundamentally change for a considerable period. Therefore, the 
directors have estimated the useful economic life as 10 years for software and technology.

The table below sets out the carrying amounts of the separately identifiable intangible assets acquired in May 2013, together with the 
estimated useful lives assessed by the directors and the resultant amortisation charges recognised in the year

Intangible asset

Customer relationships – May 2013 acquisition

Customer relationships – November 2020 acquisitions

Software and technology*

Brand

Directors’ estimate of 
useful economic life
(years)

Carrying amount 
as at  
31 December  
2020
£000

Amortisation charge 
for the year ended  
31 December  
2020
£000

15

15

10

20

3,156

10,568

757

1,431

15,912

431

140

324

115

1,010

*excludes software and technology assets that do not relate to the 2013 acquisition. 

The Group’s reported profit is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives of the acquisition intangibles, owing to the 
amortisation charges for the year which are calculated by reference to the estimated useful lives. The table below demonstrates the 
impact on reported profits before tax of applying different values to the estimated useful lives

Intangible asset

Customer relationships – May 2013 
acquisition

Customer relationships – 
November 2020 acquisitions

Software and technology*

Brand

Directors’ estimate of 
useful economic life
(years)

-50% change in 
estimate
(years)

Decrease in reported 
profit for the year 
ended 
31 December 
2020
£000

Increase in reported 
profit for the year 
ended 
31 December 
2020
£000

+50% change in 
estimate
(years)

15 

15 

10

20

7.5 

7.5 

5

10

(431) 

(140) 

(324)

(115)

(1,010)

22.5 

22.5 

15

30

144 

70 

108

38

360

*excludes software and technology assets that do not relate to the 2013 acquisition.

104

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP5 Segment reporting
Following the acquisition of GDI during the year, management have made changes to the information they review and the segmental 
reporting analysis takes a different format to prior years as a result. The comparative information has been restated to be consistent with 
the current year.

Management prepare and monitor financial information for the Group’s two segments, UK and Ireland, on a regular basis. This financial 
information is reviewed and used by the chief operational decision maker (considered to be the chief executive officer) in managing the 
operating activities of the Group. IFRS 8 sets out certain thresholds in determining whether reportable operating segments exist, and, 
following the acquisition of GDI, the two geographical segments exceed these thresholds and are therefore presented accordingly. 

The Group incorporated a new subsidiary, Medica Australia Pty Limited during 2019, however this subsidiary does not yet generate 
any revenue and does not meet the criteria set out in IFRS 8 for disclosure as a reportable operating segment. Its purpose is to service 
contracts with customers of the Group UK trading subsidiary. These contracts related wholly to UK customers and the figures relating to 
the Australian entity are included in the UK column. The Group established a further Australian subsidiary, Med-IDX Pty in December 2020 
although this subsidiary did not engage in any activity prior to the year end. As set out in note 31, in February 2021 this became a 50:50 
joint venture with Integral Diagnostics Limited Pty and this entity will be accounted for under the equity method, as prescribed by IAS 28 
para 10 and this entity is therefore not included in the segmental analysis. 

Overhead costs included in the income statement of Medica Group PLC as a single entity have been split between the two geographical 
segments based on activity. No customer accounted for more than 10% of the Group’s revenues.

NightHawk

Elective 

National Screening Service and  
other GDI contracts

Revenue from external customers

Cost of sales

Gross profit

Depreciation and amortisation

Operating expenses

Depreciation and amortisation

Operating profit

Finance costs

Finance income

Profit before tax

Tax

Underlying profit for the year

Non-underlying loss for the year (see note 7)

Profit for the year
Non-current assets1

Net assets at 31 December

¹Additions to non-current assets

UK 
£000

22,987

12,511

– 

35,498

(18,750)

16,748

(1,820)

(10,989)

4,939

(335)

73

4,677

(914)

3,763

26,214

27,538

2,008

Ireland
£000

–

–

1,316 

1,316

(612)

704

(48)

(592)

64

(4)

–

60

38

98

18,555

8,915

18,744

2020
£000

22,987

12,511

1,316 

36,814

(19,362)

17,452

(12,449)

5,003

(339)

73

4,737

(876)

3,861

(2,516)

1,345

44,932

36,453

20,752

UK 
£000

22,072

24,470

– 

46,542

(24,292)

22,250

(1,733)

(9,220)

11,297 

(360)

93

11,030

(1,414)

9,616

27,115

35,842

3,589

Ireland
£000

–

–

– 

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

2020
£000

22,072

24,470

– 

46,542

(24,292)

22,250

(10,953)

11,297 

(360)

93

11,030

(1,414)

9,616

(1,709)

7,907

27,115

35,842

3,589

The data in the Ireland column represents the information for Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited and Global Retinopathy Screening 
Limited from their acquisition in November 2020 plus an allocation of centralised costs.

105

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

6 Operating profit
The operating profit and the profit before taxation are stated after:

Fees payable to the Company’s auditor for the 
audit of the Company’s annual accounts

The audit of the Company’s subsidiaries 
pursuant to legislation

Total audit fees

Audit related services:
Interim review

Total audit related services

Other assurance services:
Covenant compliance services

Total non-audit fees

Total fees paid to Company’s auditor
Operating lease rentals –short term and  
low value leases

Depreciation: property, plant and equipment – 
owned

Depreciation: property, plant and equipment – 
leased

Amortisation of intangible fixed assets on 
acquisition

Amortisation of intangible fixed assets on other 
assets

7 Non-underlying items

Write off of property, plant and equipment and 
other intangible assets

Amortisation of acquired intangible assets

Acquisition costs incurred

Share based payment charge

Group redundancy costs

Setup costs for newly incorporated companies

Total non-underlying costs included within 
operating expenses
Costs incurred in respect of board succession

Total non-underlying costs included within 
operating expenses and exceptional items
Acquisition finance costs incurred

Total non-underlying costs before tax
Income tax

Total non-underlying items after taxation

2020 
£000

99 

– 

99

14

14

3

17

116

51 

1,259 

190 

998 

431 

2020 
£000

219 

1,010

792

210

48

30

2,309 

324

2,633 

30

2,663

(147)

2,516

2019
£000

50 

9 

59

13

13

3

16

75

130 

1,142 

107 

870 

484 

2019
£000

– 

870

–

204

–

–

1,074 

362

1,436 

–

1,436

(273)

1,163

The costs incurred in respect of Board succession and review for 2020 and 2019 are in relation to the international search and selection 
process for both the chief executive officer and the non-executive director and, in 2020, for costs incurred in respect of the settlement 
agreement for the outgoing CFO. These are considered to be one off costs. In 2019 there are also additional costs in relation to a 
professional Board assessment review.

106

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP8 Finance income

Interest on cash and cash equivalents

9 Finance costs

Loan interest and fees

Finance costs on lease liability

Finance costs associated with the acquisition 
of GDI

10 Tax expense

Major components of tax expense:

Current tax:
UK current tax expense

Prior year adjustment

Tax expense on FRS102 hedging gain

Foreign current tax expense

Total current tax

Deferred tax:
Originations and reversal of temporary 
differences

Prior year adjustment

Effect of rate change

Total deferred tax

Tax expense on ordinary activities

2020
£000

73

2020
£000

321

18

30 

369

2020
£000

659

2

–

39

700

(142) 

60

111

29

729

2019
£000

93

2019
£000

349

11

– 

360

2019
£000

1,927

(6)

6

8

1,935

(260) 

–

12

(248)

1,687

Reconciliation of tax expense:
UK corporation tax is assessed on the profit on ordinary activities for the year and is the same as (2019: same as) the standard rate of 
corporation tax in the UK of 19.00% (2019: 19.00%). The Finance Act 2016 was enacted so as to reduce the UK’s corporation tax rate from 
19% to 17% with effect from 1 April 2020. In March 2020 the Chancellor announced that the tax rate would remain at 19%, and this rate 
has been used to measure deferred tax assets and liabilities where applicable. Subsequent to the year end, in March 2021, the Chancellor 
announced that the corporation tax rate would increase to 25% in the year 2023, however, this rate had not been substantively enacted at 
the reporting date and it has not been used in the measurement of deferred tax. There are no expected changes to tax rates in Ireland.

The charge for the year can be reconciled to the loss per the income statement as follows:

Reconciliation of effective tax rate:

Profit on ordinary activities before tax

Income tax using the Company’s domestic tax 
rate 19% (2019: 19.00%)

Effect of:

Expenses not deductible for tax purposes

Prior year adjustment – current tax

Prior year adjustment – deferred tax

Effect of tax rate change – deferred tax

Medica Reporting Finance Ltd tax expense on 
FRS102 hedging gain

Impact of difference in overseas tax rates

Total tax charge for period

2020
£000

2,074

394 

164

2

60

111

– 

(2)

729

2019
£000

9,594

1,823 

(156)

(6)

–

12

6 

8

1,687

107

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

11 Earnings per share
Both the basic and diluted profit per share have been calculated using the profit after tax attributable to shareholders of Medica Group 
PLC as the numerator. The calculation of the basic profit per share is based on the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by 
the weighted average number of shares in issue during the year.

Profit for the year attributable to ordinary 
shareholders

Effects of exceptional items net of tax  
(see note 7)

Profit for the year before exceptional items 
attributable to ordinary shareholders

Effects of non-underlying items net of tax  
(see note 7)

Underlying profit for the period attributable to 
ordinary shareholders

Weighted average number of ordinary shares

Dilutive effect of share options

Weighted average number of ordinary shares

Basic profit per ordinary share (pence)

Diluted profit per ordinary share (pence)

Underlying basic profit per ordinary share 
(pence)

Underlying diluted profit per ordinary share 
(pence)

2020 
£000

1,345 

262 

1,607

2,254

3,861

111,211,038

180,772

111,391,810

1.21p

1.21p

3.47p

3.46p

2019
£000

7,907 

293 

8,200

870

9,070

111,111,114

407,702

111,518,816

7.12p

7.09p

8.13p

8.10p

As at 31 December 2020 the directors assessed the potentially dilutive effect of contingently issuable shares, which comprise share 
options awarded as part of the Performance Share Plan. As at the end of the year there were 3,531,899 (2019: 1,385,877) options 
outstanding of which 180,772 (2019: 407,702) were considered dilutive. The calculation of diluted earnings per share above takes into 
consideration the Group’s performance against the targets within the Performance Share Plan to date. There were no further instruments 
that had a potentially dilutive effect.

As set out in Note 31, a placement of ordinary shares occurred after the year end, and this placement would have increased the number of 
ordinary shares outstanding at the end of the period if that placement had occurred before the balance sheet date.

12 Dividends

Interim paid at 0.85 pence per share  
(2019: 0.85 pence per share)

Final paid Nil¹  
(2019: 1.50 pence per share)

2020
£000

945 

– 

945

2019
£000

945 

1,667 

2,612

¹  In light of the uncertainty surrounding the impact of COVID-19 the Board chose not to propose a final dividend for FY19. A final dividend of 1.7 pence per share is proposed for 2020 to 

be paid in 2021.

During the year ended 31 December 2020, dividends totalling £15k (2019: £41k) were paid to persons discharging management 
responsibilities including Directors. 

108

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP13 Directors and employees
The average number of persons (including directors) employed by the Group during the years were:

2020 
Number

2019 
Number

Clinical governance

Business development & recruitment

Service delivery & NightHawk

Clinical staff

IT, deployment and development

Finance

Executive team

The aggregate cost of these employees was:

Wages and salaries

Social security costs

Pension contributions

Share based payments charge

Directors’ emoluments paid during the period and included in the above figures were:

Base salary

Benefits

Bonus

Pension

Total Emoluments

13

14

112

50

28

11

7

236

2020
£000

6,022

616

490

209

7,336

2020
£000

1,102

9

176

55

1,343

10

12

59

–

23

9

6

119

2019
£000

4,168

433

367

204

5,172

2019
£000

839

3

45

33

920

The highest paid director received emoluments totalling £447,361 (2019: £220,000). The value of the Company’s contribution paid to a 
defined contribution pension scheme in respect of the highest paid director amounted to £28,500 (2019: £12,000).

During the year retirement benefits accrued to four directors (2019: four) in respect of defined contribution pension schemes. Also, during 
the year, payments for loss of office in lieu of notice amounted to £70,366 (2019: Nil).

Key management of the Group are the three executive members of Medica Group PLC’s Board of Directors and four senior managers 
(2019: three senior managers). Key management personnel remuneration includes the following expenses:

Salaries including bonuses

Social security costs

Pensions

Share based payments charge

Key management personnel compensation

2020
£000

1,781

192

78

167

2,218

2019
£000

1,052

138

95

160

1,445

109

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

14 Goodwill

Cost
At 31 December 2018 and December 20191
Additions (see note 18)2

At 31 December 2020

£000

15,948

7,525

23,473

1. 

2. 

UK Cash Generating Unit- acquisition of Medica Reporting Limited in 2013
Ireland Cash Generating Unit- acquisition of Global Diagnostics Ireland in November 2020

Goodwill is not amortised but tested annually for impairment. The directors have assessed goodwill for impairment by reference to the fair 
value of the Group as indicated by the market value of its equity together with the value of its debt at the balance sheet date, amounting 
to £155m. 

Management have then attributed fair value to the individual cash generating units (or where goodwill acquired in a business combination, 
to groups of cash generating unts) as follows: firstly the fair value of Ireland was based on the estimated fair value at the acquisition date 
of Global Diagnostics Ireland and its wholly owned subsidiary, Global Retinopathy Screening Limited as the acquisition occurred within 
12 months of 31 December 2020 and the value was established in an open market arm’s length transaction; secondly the fair value of 
the UK is determined to be the balance between the fair value of the Group and the fair value of Ireland. As the UK only has one cash-
generating unit, being Medica Reporting Limited (MRL), the goodwill arising from the acquisition of MRL in 2013 was considered against 
the estimated value of the UK segment as a whole. 

15 Intangible assets

Cost
At 31 December 2018

Additions

At 31 December 2019

Additions

Transfer from tangible assets

Disposals

Acquisitions through business combinations

At 31 December 2020

Amortisation
At 31 December 2018

Charge for the year

At 31 December 2019

Recategorisation from tangible assets

Charge for the year

Eliminated in respect of disposals

At 31 December 2020

Net book value

At 31 December 2020
At 31 December 2019

At 31 December 2018

Customer
relationships
£000

Software
and
technology
£000

Brand
£000

2,317

–

2,317

–

–

–

–

5,725

495

6,220

533

395

(501)

–

6,647

2,317

3,161

808

3,969

296

743

(356)

4,652

1,995
2,251

2,564

656

115

771

–

115

–

886

1,431
1,546

1,661

Total
£000

14,503

495

14,998

533

395

(501)

10,708

26,133

6,260

1,354

7,614

296

1,429

(356)

8,983

17,150
7,384

8,243

6,461

–

6,461

–

–

–

10,708

17,169

2,443

431

2,874

–

571

–

13,724

3,156
3,587

4,018

At the year ended 31 December 2020, £108,000 (2019: £104,000) of development costs have been capitalised as internally generated 
software and technology intangibles. These have not been shown separately as they are not deemed to be material to the financial 
statements.

110

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP16 Property, plant and equipment

Leasehold 
property – right 
of use
Asset
£000

Leasehold
improvements
£000

Computer
equipment
£000

Medical 
equipment
£000

Cost
At 31 December 2018

Additions

Disposals

At 31 December 2019
Additions – business combinations1

Additions – separately acquired

Transfer to intangible assets

Disposals

Foreign exchange

At 31 December 2020

Depreciation and impairment
At 31 December 2018

Charge for the year

Disposals

At 31 December 2019
Additions – business combinations1

Transfer to intangible assets

Charge for the year

Disposals

Foreign exchange

At 31 December 2020

Net book value

At 31 December 2020
At 31 December 2019

At 31 December 2018

–

719

–

719

335

–

–

–

(1)

1,053

–

107

–

107

224

–

158

–

(1)

488

565
612

–

97

–

(97)

–

43

–

–

–

–

43

91

6

(97)

–

40

–

–

–

–

40

3
–

6

5,718

2,375

(73)

8,020

305

1,475

(395)

(1,382)

(1)

8,022

3,786

1,136

(73)

4,849

254

(296)

1,261

(1,308)

(1)

4,759

3,263
3,171

1,932

Total
£000

5,815

3,094

(170)

8,739

1,836

1,475

(395)

(1,382)

(5)

–

–

–

–

1,153

–

–

–

(3)

1,150

10,268

–

–

-

-

807

–

30

–

(2)

835

315
–

–

3,877

1,249

(170)

4,956

1,325

(296)

1,449

(1,308)

(4)

6,122

4,146
3,783

1,938

¹ Net book value of assets acquired under business combinations was £511k (see note 18).

All depreciation charges are included within administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income.

17 Right of Use Assets
Under IFRS 16 Leases the Group has undertaken an assessment of all its leases. In 2019, all but one leasehold property were classed as short 
term leases or leases where the underlying asset is of low value and therefore these have not been included in the right of use assets or 
associated lease liabilities in Note 22. The Group relocated offices during 2019 and the lease for Havelock Place terminated in September 
2019 and therefore is also not included as the lease had less than 12 months remaining at the date Medica transitioned to IFRS 16.

The only lease in the UK which has been capitalised as a right of use asset is that of One Priory Square, Hastings. This property lease was 
entered into in March 2019 for a period of ten years with a break clause after five years.

IFRS 16 defines the lease term as “the non-cancellable period for which the lessee has the right to use an underlying asset including optional 
periods when the entity is reasonably certain to exercise an option to extend (or not to terminate) the lease”. 

As at 31 December 2020 and 2019 the directors have determined that the applicable period for the lease liability is to the five year break 
clause based on current strategic business plans. The directors will continue to review this annually and if at any time they are reasonably 
certain that the extension of the lease will be required the lease liability and right of use asset will be revalued.

The acquired Irish businesses have several lease agreements, including:

• 

three property leases for the ‘VHI Switfaware Clinics’ with lease terms all ending in June 2022;

•  a medical equipment lease with a lease term ending in October 2024; and

•  various individually immaterial leases.

111

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

To calculate the present value of the leases, where there was no implicit rate in the lease, the directors have undertaken a discounted 
cashflow using the Group’s estimated incremental borrowing rate based on the bank borrowings which carry a rate of 2.6% in the UK or 
5.9% in Ireland. The present value of the lease gives rise to a right of use asset and a lease liability. The various elements are recognised in 
the financial statements as follows:

Carrying amount of right-of-use assets  
included within:
Leasehold property

Medical equipment

Carrying value at 31 December 2020

Note

16

9

Income Statement

Charges for the year
Depreciation charge for the year

Interest expense on lease liability for the year

Short-term leases expensed during the year

–  Havelock Place (using the practical expedient 
to continue to expense rental costs for leases 
with less than 12 months remaining of their 
lease term at the date of transition to IFRS 16)

– other short-term leases

Statement of Cash Flows
Operating cash flows– cash outflow for short-term leases

Lease interest paid

Capital repayments on lease agreements

Foreign exchange

Total cash outflow relating to leases

2020
£000

565

269

834

2020
£000

190

18

– 

51

2020
£000

51

18

152

1

222

The Group has commitments in respect of short term lease agreements which are not recognised in the consolidated statement of 
financial position. Management consider these lease agreements to be immaterial.

Lease liabilities fall due in:
Less than one year

Between one and five years

More than five years

Total lease liabilities

2020
£000

299

475

–

774

2019
£000

612

–

612

2019
£000

107

11

41 

89

2019
£000

130

11

50

–

191

2019
£000

109

398

–

507

Management have decided to change the presentation of lease liabilities on the Statement of Financial Position in 2020 due to the increased 
use of leasing arrangements following the acquisition of the two Irish companies. The comparative period has been restated accordingly.

112

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP 
 
 
 
18 Business combinations
On 2 November 2020 the company acquired 100% of the ordinary share capital of Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited and its joint 
venture Global Retinopathy Screening Limited. It subsequently acquired, on the same day, the remaining 50% interest increasing its total 
shareholding of Global Retinopathy Screening Limited to 100%. Both companies are incorporated in the Republic of Ireland and their 
principal activities are discussed in the Strategic Report. The exchange rate used on the date of acquisition was £1/€1.10955. Set out 
below are the provisional fair values of the assets and liabilities acquired.

Tangible assets

Intangible assets

Trade and other receivables¹

Cash and cash equivalents

Total assets

Trade and other payables

Corporation tax payable

Deferred tax

Lease liabilities

Total liabilities

Net assets

Goodwill2

Total consideration

Satisfied by:

Cash

Contingent consideration

Total

Fair value 
€000

Fair value 
£000

568

11,881

2,647

976

511

10,708

2,373

876

16,072

14,468

1,619

106

1,485

467

1,455

96

1,338

420

3,677

3,309

12,395

11,159

8,335

20,730

7,525

18,684

16,802

3,928

20,730

15,144

3,540

18,684

1. 

2. 

The fair value of acquired receivables is materially the same as the gross contractual amounts receivable less the best estimate of contractual cash flows not expected to be 
collected.
Goodwill arising on this business combination, which includes intangible assets that do not qualify for separate recognition such as the value of the workforce at the date of 
acquisition, and encompasses the future economic benefit expected to arise from the acquisition including new customer relationships and synergies realised by the group, 
represents the excess of acquisition cost over the fair value of the Group’s share of the identifiable net assets of the acquired subsidiary at the date.

The contingent consideration is based on the attainment of future contracts. The maximum amount payable is €4,000k (see note 4.1).

For the two-month period from the date of acquisition to 31 December 2020, Ireland contributed revenue of €1,467k (£1,316k) and Profit 
before tax of €67k (£60k). If the acquisition had occurred on 1 January 2020 management estimates that revenues would have been 
€8,156k (£7,329k) and profit before tax would have been €1,385k (£1,245k). In determining these amounts management have assumed that 
the fair value adjustment, determined provisionally, that arose on the date of acquisition would have been the same had the acquisition 
occurred on 1 January 2020. 

19 Trade and other receivables

Trade receivables

Other receivables

Prepayments

Accrued revenue

2020
£000

6,371

880

759

323

8,333

2019
£000

9,577

–

591

–

10,168

All trade receivable amounts are short term. The carrying value is considered a fair approximation of their fair value. Due to the fact that 
the Group’s revenue is derived primarily from NHS Trusts, the Group’s management considers that all the above financial assets are of 
good credit quality and no changes in credit quality have been experienced since initial recognition.

The Group applies an expected credit loss model in estimating a provision for future credit losses. As at 31 December 2020 and 31 
December 2019 the Group determined that any such provision was not material to the Group based on historical analysis of credit losses.

113

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

20 Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents consisted of the following:

Cash at bank in hand:
Commercial current accounts

Corporate credit cards

21 Trade and other payables

Trade payables

Other taxation and social security

Accruals

Deferred income

Other short-term payables

2020
£000

13,934

–

13,934

2020
£000

2,227

564

2,488

346

178

5,803

2019
£000

16,595

(19)

16,576

2019
£000

(Restated)

2,602

157

1,017

–

28

3,804

All amounts are short term and the directors consider that the carrying value of trade and other payables are a reasonable approximation 
of fair value. The contractual maturity of all amounts above are within one year of the balance sheet date.

Following the acquisition of GDI, management presented the balances relating to lease liabilities and corporate tax on the face of the 
statement of financial position in 2020, and have restated the comparative period. Details of lease agreements can be found in note 17.

The average credit period taken for trade purchases was 42 days (2019: 39 days).

22 Borrowings

22.1. Borrowings due in less than one year

Revolving Credit Facility (RCF)

Bank loans

2020
£000

5,881

–

5,881

2019
£000

–

–

–

On 3 November 2020, the Group extended its £1m undrawn Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) to £6m and drew this in full as part payment 
for the initial consideration in respect of the GDI acquisition. At 31 December 2020 the balance of the RCF was £5,881 (2019: £nil). The 
facility was repaid in April 2021 and cancelled in May 2021 (see Note 31). 

22.2. Borrowings due in more than one year

Bank loans

2020
£000

11,960

11,960

2019
£000

(Restated)

11,936

11,936

Long term borrowings carry a market rate of interest being LIBOR plus a margin as determined by the lender. On this basis the carrying 
amount equates to the present value of future cashflows discounted at a market rate of interest and therefore, the directors consider that 
the carrying amount of bank loans to be a reasonable approximation of fair value.

The bank loan requires interest and leverage covenants to be met under the terms of the Group’s loan agreement, and these requirements 
have been met as at the current and all prior covenant testing dates.

Following the acquisition of GDI, management have presented the balances relating to lease liabilities on the face of the statement of 
financial position in 2020, and have restated the comparative period. Details of lease agreements can be found in note 17.

114

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP22.3. Maturity of the Group’s non‑derivative financial liabilities (including interest payments where applicable) and 
contingent consideration

2020

Maturity:

Due within one year

Due between 2-5 years

Total 

2019

Maturity:

Due within one year

Due between 2-5 years

Total

Contingent 
consideration
£000

Trade payables 
and accruals
£000

Lease 
liability
£000

RCF and bank 
loans
£000

1,797

1,797

3,594

–

–

4,893

–

4,893

3,646

–

3,646

299

475

774

109

398

507

5,881

11,960

17,841

316

12,391

12,707

The above amounts reflect the contractual undiscounted cash flows, which may differ from the carrying values of the liabilities at the reporting 
date. The maturity analysis above assumes that interest rates remain as they were at 31 December 2020 (or 31 December 2019). The contractual 
undiscounted cashflows of the Group’s non-derivative financial liabilities are not significantly different to their carrying amounts.

22.4 Reconciliation of liabilities arising from financing contingent consideration and activities

At 1 January 2020
Additions – business combination (see note 18)

Cash flows:

– Draw down of RCF

– Interest

– Repayments

Non-cash:

– Interest

– Amortisation of arrangement fees

– Foreign exchange

Contingent 
consideration
£000

–
3,540

Financing activities

RCF
£000

Long term bank 
borrowings
£000

–
–

11,936
–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(9)

(9)

5,963

(24)

(54)

5,885

24

–

(28)

(4)

–

(273)

–

(273)

273

24

–

297

Lease
 liability
£000

507
420

–

(18)

(152)

(170)

18

–

(1)

17

Total
£000

12,443
3,960

5,963

(315)

(206)

5,442

315

24

(38)

301

At 31 December 2020

3,531

5,881

11,960

774

22,146

At 1 January 2019

Adoption of IFRS 16

Cash flows:

– Interest

– Repayments

Non-cash:

– Interest

– Amortisation of arrangement fees

Long term bank 
borrowings
£000

11,912

–

Lease
 liability
£000

–

546

(323)

–

(323)

323

24

347

–

(50)

(50)

11

–

11

Total
£000

11,912

546

(323)

(50)

(373)

334

24

358

At 31 December 2019

11,936

507

12,443

115

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

23 Deferred taxation assets and liabilities
Deferred tax included in the statement of financial position is as follows:

Deferred tax liabilities
Depreciation in excess of capital allowances

Deferred tax on share based payments

Deferred tax on intangible assets

Reconciliation of movement in deferred tax

As at 1 January 2019
Recognised in the income statement

As at 31 December 2019
Recognised in the income statement

Acquired on business combination (note 18)

As at 31 December 2020

24 Equity

Ordinary share capital issued and fully paid

111,279,650 (2019: 111,111,114) ordinary shares of 
£0.002 each

Total ordinary share capital of the Company

2020
£000

60

(163)

2,350

2,247

Depreciation in 
excess of capital
allowances
£000

Share based 
payments
£000

(53)
(9)

(62)
122

–

60

(46)
(73)

(119)
(44)

–

(163)

Intangible  
assets
£000

1,227
(166)

1,061
(49)

1,338

2,350

2019
£000

 (62)

 (119)

1,061

880

Total
£000

1,128 
(248) 

880 
29

1,338

2,247

At 31 December 2020
£000

At 31 December 2019
£000

223

223

222

222

Issue of share capital during the year
On 29 May 2020, 168,536 ordinary shares of 0.2p each were issued for cash at par value.

Rights attributable to issued shares
Any profits which the Company determines to distribute in any financial year shall be paid on the ordinary shares. Every holder of an 
ordinary share and ordinary share is entitled to one vote and has one vote for every share for which they are a holder.

On a return of capital on liquidation, capital reduction or otherwise, the surplus assets of the Company remaining after the payment of its 
liabilities shall be applied in distributing the balance of such assets amongst the holders of the ordinary shares.

Voting rights
The holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive notice of and attend and vote at any general meeting of the Company.

Share premium
No proceeds were received in addition to the nominal value of the shares issued during the year.

Translation reserve
The translation reserve represents the cumulative amount of exchange differences recognised through other comprehensive income.

Retained profit
Retained earnings include current and prior period retained profit and losses.

116

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP25 Undertakings included in the financial statements
The consolidated financial statements include:

Class of share held

Country of incorporation

Proportion held

Nature of business

Medica Reporting Services Limited

Medica Reporting Finance Limited

Medica Reporting Limited

Medica IT Services Limited

Medica Australia Pty Limited

MED-IDX Pty Limited

Global Diagnostics Ireland Limited

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

England & Wales

England & Wales

England & Wales

England & Wales

Australia

Australia

Ireland

Global Retinopathy Screening Limited

Ordinary

Ireland

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Holding company

Holding company 

Teleradiology reporting

IT services

Teleradiology reporting

Teleradiology reporting

Teleradiology and 
managed services

Diabetic retinopathy 
screening

All UK subsidiaries have the same registered address as the Group being: 6th Floor One Priory Square, Priory Street, Hastings, TN34 1EA.

The Australian subsidiaries’ registered address is: c/o KPMG, Level 38, Tower 3, 300 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.

Med-IDX Pty was established in December 2020. As set out in note 31 in February 2021 this became a 50:50 joint venture with Integral 
Diagnostics Limited Pty

The Irish subsidiaries’ registered address is: Floor 1 Block 14, Rockfield Medical Campus, Balally, Dublin 16, Ireland.

Subsidiary audit exemption under parent guarantee:
For the year ended 31 December 2020, Medica Reporting Finance Limited (Registered number 08497950), Medica Reporting Services 
Limited (Registered number 08497952) and Medica Reporting Limited (Registered number 05026045) are exempt from the requirements 
of the Companies Act 2006 relating to the audit of individual accounts by virtue of section 479A of the Companies Act 2006.

26 Financial instruments

Categories of financial instruments

Financial assets
Trade receivables

Cash and bank balances

Financial liabilities
Trade and other payables

Lease liabilities

Borrowings 

Contingent consideration

At 31 December 2020
£000

At 31 December 2019
£000

(Restated)

7,574

13,934

21,508

(4,119)

(774)

(17,841)

(3,531)

(26,265)

9,577

16,576

26,153

(3,111)

(507)

(11,936)

-

(15,554)

A description of the Group’s financial instrument risks, including risk management objectives and policies, is given in Note 27.

26.1. Fair value measurement of financial instruments
The methods used to measure financial assets and liabilities reported at fair value are described below.

Financial assets and financial liabilities measured at fair value in the statement of financial position are grouped into three levels of fair 
value hierarchy. The three levels are defined based on the observability of significant inputs to the measurement as follows

Level 1: quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets and liabilities.

Level 2:  inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly (i.e. as prices) 

or indirectly (i.e. derived from prices).

Level 3: inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable market data (unobservable inputs).

117

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

27 Financial instruments risk

27.1. Risk management objectives and policies
The Group is exposed to various risks in relation to financial instruments. The Group’s financial assets and liabilities by category are 
summarised in Note 26. The Group’s financial instruments comprise cash and liquid resources and various items, such as trade receivables 
and trade payables that arise directly from its operations. The main purpose of these financial instruments is to raise finance for the 
Group’s operations. The principal financial risks faced by the Group are liquidity, credit and interest rate risks. The Group has an exposure 
to transactional currency risk with its new Irish subsidiaries and its Australian entity and the payment of some fees in Euros. It also has 
reporting currency risk with its Irish subsidiaries.

The Group’s risk management is coordinated at its headquarters, in close cooperation with the Board of Directors, and focuses on actively 
securing the Group’s short to medium-term cash flows by minimising the exposure to volatile financial markets. Long-term financial 
investments are managed to generate lasting returns.

The Group does not actively engage in the trading of financial assets for speculative purposes nor does it write options. The most 
significant financial risks to which the Group is exposed are described below.

Credit risk

The Group’s principal financial assets are cash and cash equivalents and trade and other receivables. The Group has no significant credit 
risk. The maximum exposure to credit risk is that shown within the balance sheet. All amounts are short term and management consider 
the amounts to be of good credit quality. 

Liquidity/funding risk

The Group’s funding strategy is to ensure a mix of funding sources offering flexibility and cost effectiveness to match the requirements of 
the Group. Operating subsidiaries are financed by retained profits. The Group manages liquidity risk by maintaining adequate reserves 
and agreed committed banking facilities. For a summary of non-derivative financial liabilities that have contractual maturities (including 
interest payment where applicable) please see Note 22.2.

Interest rate risk

The Group holds the majority of its cash and cash equivalents in corporate current accounts. These accounts offer a competitive interest 
rate with the advantage of quick access to the funds. At the end of the year the Group’s term debt bore a variable rate of interest of LIBOR 
plus 1.75% and it’s RCF bore a variable rate of LIBOR plus 3%.

Capital risk management

The Group’s objectives when managing capital are to safeguard the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern, in order to provide 
returns for shareholders and benefits for other stakeholders and to maintain a capital structure that optimises the cost of capital.

The Group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the Group will be able to continue as a going concern while maximising the return 
to stakeholders through the optimisation of the debt and equity balance.

The capital structure of the Group consists of debt, which includes loans, other borrowings in Notes 22; cash and cash equivalents as 
disclosed in the statement of financial position and Note 20; and equity attributable to equity holders of the parent, comprising issued 
capital, reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in the consolidated statement of changes in equity.

The gearing ratios at the end of the reporting periods were as follows:

Debt due within one year

Debt due in more than one year

Cash and bank balances

Net debt / (cash)

Total equity

Total capital

Net debt/(cash) to total capital

2020
£000

5,881

11,960

(13,934)

3,907

36,453

40,360

10%

2019
£000

–

11,936

(16,576)

(4,640)

35,842

31,202

-15%

Debt is defined as long and short-term borrowings. Equity includes all capital and reserves of the Group that are managed as capital.

Sensitivity analysis

The £12m in bank loans is at a variable interest rate of LIBOR plus 1.75% and therefore represents a potential risk that the fair value of the 
Group’s future cash flows may fluctuate because of changes in market interest rates.

At 31 December 2020, if LIBOR had been 100 basis points higher, with all other variables held constant, post-tax profit for the year and 
total equity would have been reduced by £97,000 (2019: £97,000), arising as a result of higher interest expense on variable borrowings.

The £5.9m of RCF is at variable interest rate of LIBOR plus 3% and therefore represents a potential risk that the fair value of the Group’s 
future cash flows may fluctuate because of changes in market interest rates.

At 31 December 2020, if LIBOR had been 100 basis points higher, with all other variables held constant, post-tax profit for the year and 
total equity would have been reduced by £48,000 (2019: £nil), arising as a result of higher interest expense on variable borrowings.

118

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP28 Share-based payments
Under the Group’s share-based incentive scheme the following expense was charged.

Performance share plan

All share-based payment schemes are related to equity settled awards only.

2020
£000

210

2019
£000

204

Performance share plan
For scheme participants, the performance share plan is a nil-cost share award with an effective exercise price of £nil. Half the award 
is based on Earnings per share (EPS) targets and half is based on Total Shareholder Return (TSR) targets. The performance and vesting 
period is three years and there is an additional holding period of two years. Accordingly, the vesting period is deemed to be five years. 
Further information is set out in the report of the Remuneration Committee on pages 54 to 55.

Outstanding at beginning of period

Granted during period

Dividend equivalent in period

Exercised during period

Forfeited during period

Outstanding at the end of period

Exercisable at end of period

Weighted average Number

2,836,168

1,751,933

–

(168,536)

(887,656)

3,531,909 

109,755

The remaining weighted average contractual life is 3.46 years. The options that were forfeited during the year were due to the departure 
of a scheme participant from the Company prior to vesting of the options issued to the participant.

The Group engaged external consultants to calculate the fair value of the awards at the date of grant. The valuation model used to 
calculate the fair value of the awards was a binomial model for both the non-market-based awards and for the market-based awards.

Share price at date of grant
Exercise price
Expected volatility
Expected life
Risk free rate
Expected dividend yield
Average fair value of award per share

Weighted average Awards

£1.10
£nil
55%
5 years
0%
2.32%
£0.43

SAYE scheme
The SAYE scheme is an all-employee HMRC approved tax-advantaged share scheme. The scheme involves employees saving a set amount 
from their salary for a period of three years. At the end of the three years the employee is offered an opportunity to purchase shares based 
on the amount saved at an option price set at the start of the period. The exercise price for awards granted in 2017 was £1.86, in 2018 was 
£1.35, in 2019 was £1.35 and in 2020 was £1.00. In light of this the directors have concluded that any share based payments charge arising 
on this scheme are not material.

29 Transactions with Directors and other related parties
Key management personnel (which the Group defines as the Board of Directors andsenior managers) remuneration and dividends paid to 
Directors are disclosed in Note 13. There were no other transactions with related parties.

30 Controlling party
There is no overall controlling party of the Group following the admission of the Company’s ordinary shares onto the premium listing 
segment of the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities on 21 March 2017.

31 Post balance sheet events
On 22 February 2021, the group announced an equal joint venture (JV) partnership with Integral Diagnostics Limited, a leading provider 
of medical imaging services across Australia and New Zealand. The joint venture, MedX, aims to provide teleradiology reporting services 
and increased reporting capacity in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland. The initial equity investment by both parties into this joint 
venture was AUD 100,000 each (£50,000).

On 22 March 2021 the group acquired RadMD LLC, a company incorporated in the United States of America, a leading Imaging Contract 
Research Organisation (“iCRO”) providing services to the fast-growing clinical trials market. Total cash consideration payable is up to USD 
21.7 million (circa £15.6 million), subject to customary working capital and other adjustments at completion of which $16.3m (£11.7m) was 
payable at completion. The purchase was concluded so close to the date of signature of these financial statements that the fair values 
of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed have not yet been finalised. The disclosure, which is a requirement of IFRS 3 ‘Business 
Combinations’, will be provided in the interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2021.

119

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

On 23 March 2021, a total of 10,727,666 Placing Shares have been placed by Investec Bank plc and Liberum Capital Limited at a price of 
145 pence per Placing Share. In conjunction with the Placing, all of the directors of the Company, Junaid Bajwa (who was a non-executive 
director from 1 April 2021) and certain members of the senior management team have agreed to subscribe for 383,444 new Ordinary 
Shares at the Placing Price which amounts to gross subscription proceeds for the Company of £556,000 in aggregate.

The Placing and Subscription raised, in aggregate, gross proceeds of approximately £16 million for the Company. The New Shares issued 
under the Fundraise represented, in aggregate, approximately 9.98 per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the Company. 
Proceeds of the placing were used to fund the initial cash consideration with the surplus to be used for general working capital purposes 
and to fund potential future contingent cash consideration.

On 23 April 2021, the RCF balance of £5.9m was repaid in full. On 5 May 2021, the £12m term debt was also repaid in full as part of a 
refinance of the Group’s debt facilities with £12m of a new £30m RCF drawn down on the same date. The new facility has a three-year 
term, extendable by up to two years, a margin above SONIA on drawn funds in the range of 2% to 3% depending on leverage and non-
utilisation fees of 35%. Security has been granted to the new banking syndicate of three banks comprising Lloyds, Nat West and Silicon 
Valley Bank over the UK companies and limited security over non-UK entities.

32 Reconciliation of non-IFRS financial KPIs
The Group uses a number of key performance indicators to monitor the performance of its business. This note reconciles these key 
performance indicators to individual lines in the financial statements. 

In the directors’ view it is important to consider the underlying performance of the business during the year. Therefore, the directors 
have used certain Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) which are not IFRS-compliant metrics. The APMs are consistent with 
those established within the IPO prospectus and the prior year annual report. It is the directors’ intention to monitor and reassess the 
appropriateness of the APMs in future years.

At 31 December 2020
£000

At 31 December 2019
£000

2,694

1,010

210

219

792

48

30

5,003

13.6%

1,345

2,516

3,861

876

4,737

13,934

(5,881)

(11,960)

(3,907)

10,223

870

204

–

–

–

-

11,297

24.3%

7,907

1,163

9,070

1,960

11,030

16,576

–

(11,936)

4,640 

Reconciliation of adjusted operating profit
Operating profit before exceptional items

Adjustments for:

Effects of amortisation of acquired intangibles

Effects of shared based payments

Write off of property, plant and equipment and 
other intangible assets

Acquisition costs incurred

Group redundancy costs

Setup costs for newly incorporated companies

Underlying operating profit

Underlying operating profit margin

Reconciliation of underlying profit before tax
Profit for the year

Adjustments for:

Non-underlying profits or losses net of tax 
(see note 7)

Underlying profit after tax
Income tax charge on underlying expenses

Underlying profit before tax

Reconciliation of net debt
Cash and equivalents

Borrowings due within one year

Borrowings due after one year

Net (debt) / cash

120

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPCompany statement of financial position

COMPANY REGISTRATION 08497963 AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2020

Note

35

37

38

36

36

Fixed asset investments
Investments in subsidiaries

Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents

Debtors

Deferred tax

Total assets

Creditors: amounts falling due within 
one year
Trade and other payables

Borrowings

Contingent consideration

Net current assets

Total assets less current liabilities

Non-current liabilities
Borrowings

Contingent consideration

Net assets

Capital and reserves
Called up share capital

Share premium account

Profit and loss account

Total equity

Parent company profit and total 
comprehensive income for the year

31 December 2020
£000

31 December 2019
£000

18,870

931

19,802

163

20,896

39,766

(263)

(5,881)

(877)

(7,021)

13,875

32,745

(11,960)

(1,778)

(13,738)

19,007

223

14,721

4,063

19,007

4,276 

1,455

–

25,843

119

25,962

27,417

(16)

–

–

(16)

25,946
27,401

(11,936)

–

(11,936)

15,465

222

14,721

522

15,465

69 

As permitted by s408 Companies Act 2006, the Company has not presented its own statement of comprehensive income and related 
notes as it prepares group financial statements. The Company’s profit for the year is shown above.

The financial statements on pages 92 to 95 were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors on 10 May 2021 and were 
signed on its behalf by:

Stuart Quin 
Director 

Richard Jones
Director

121

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSCompany statement of changes in equity

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

At 1 January 2019

Dividends paid to ordinary shareholders

Equity settled share based payments

Transactions with owner

Profit and total comprehensive income for the period

At 1 January 2020

Issue of share capital

Dividends paid to ordinary shareholders

Equity settled share based payments

Transactions with owner

Profit and total comprehensive income for the period

At 31 December 2020

Share
capital
£000

222

Share
premium
£000

14,721

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

222

14,721

1

–

–

1

–

–

–

–

–

–

223

14,721

Retained
earnings
£000

2,861

(2,612)

204

(2,408)

69

522

–

(945)

210

(735)

Total
equity
£000

17,804

(2,612)

204

(2,408)

69

15,465

1

(945)

210

(734)

4,276

4,063

4,276

19,007

122

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPNotes to the financial statements

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

33 Accounting policies
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards including Financial Reporting Standard 
101, ‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’ (FRS 101) and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared on a going 
concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are prepared in 
Sterling, which is the functional currency of the Company.

Exemptions
The directors have taken advantage of the exemption available under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and not presented a profit 
and loss account for the Company alone. 

In preparing these financial statements the Company has taken advantage of all disclosure exemptions conferred by FRS 101. Therefore, 
these Company financial statements do not include:

•  A statement of cash flows and related notes

•  The requirements of IAS 24 related party disclosures to disclose related party transactions entered in to between two or more 

members of the Group as they are wholly owned within the group

•  The effect of future accounting standards not adopted

•  Disclosure of key management personnel compensation

•  Disclosure in respect of financial instruments (other than disclosures required as a result of recording financial instruments at  

fair value)

•  Share based payment disclosures required under IFRS 2

Going concern
As at 31 December 2020 the group had net cash of £13.9m, a term loan of £12m due for repayment in full in March 2020 and £5.9m 
RCF also due for repayment in March 2020. Net debt at 31 December 2020 was therefore £3.9m. The Directors have prepared detailed 
cashflow forecasts for the 21-month period to December 31, 2022. These forecasts indicate that the group has sufficient funds to meet 
its liabilities as they fall due for at least the next 12 months. In preparing these forecasts the directors have considered the potential for 
further and prolonged negative impact of COVID-19 going forward following the significant impact on Medica’s revenue reported in 
2020 due to the impact on Elective volumes and revenue as the NHS focused its efforts away from elective activity to focus on treating 
patients in the pandemic and also the negative impact on NightHawk volumes and revenue due to the impact of the lockdowns and other 
restrictions. The Directors have also considered the impact of the recently announced acquisition of RadMD LLC with the associated 9.9% 
equity placing as well as the refinancing of its existing debt facilities that was completed in early May 2021 that provided a new 3 year fully 
flexible £30m RCF facility as set out in Note 22 at which time the term debt was repaid in full and £12m of the new RCF was utilised (see 
note 31). 

The Directors have considered a downside scenario assuming no improvement in Elective volumes and revenue from current levels, 
further and material reductions in margins in new and existing NightHawk contracts and increased cost relating to the FutureTech 
programme. Under these scenarios the forecasts also indicate that the group will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fall due 
for at least the next 12 months.

Investments
Investments are recognised initially at fair value which is normally the transaction price excluding transaction costs. Subsequently, they 
are measured at cost less impairment.

For the year ended 31 December 2020, Medica Reporting Finance Limited (Registered number: 08497950) and Medica Reporting Services 
Limited (Registered number: 08497952) are exempt from the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to audit of individual 
accounts by virtue of section 479A of the Companies Act 2006.

Financial instruments
See Note 3.12 of the Group accounts.

Share capital and reserves
Share capital represents the nominal value of shares that have been issued.

Share premium includes any premiums received on issue of share capital. Any transaction costs associated with the issuing of shares are 
deducted from share premium, net of any related income tax benefits.

Retained earnings include all current and prior period retained profits or losses. They also include charges related to share-based 
employee remuneration.

Dividend distributions payable to equity shareholders are included in ‘other liabilities’ when the dividends have been approved in a general 
meeting prior to the reporting date.

Significant judgements and estimates
The directors review annually whether there have been any indicators of impairment of investments. Where an impairment indicator is 
identified an impairment test is carried out by comparing the carrying of the assets with its recoverable amount. If the recoverable amount 
of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss 
is recognised immediately in profit or loss.

123

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSNotes to the financial statements continued

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

34 Directors and employees
The directors and other key management personnel were the only employees of the Company during the year. The disclosures in respect 
of key management personnel have been provided in Note 13 of the Group financial statements.

35 Investments in subsidiaries and associates

Investments

At 31 December 2019

Additions

At 31 December 2020

2020
£000

1,455

17,415

18,870

Additions for the year are made up of £17,359k in respect of the acquisition of Global Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, discussed in 
note 18 of the Group financial statements; and £56k in respect of the incorporation of a new wholly-owned subsidiary undertaking, 
MED-IDX Pty Limited.

The directors have assessed the value of the investment in subsidiaries by reference to fair value of the Group as indicated by the market 
value of its equity together with the value of it’s debt at the balance sheet date amounted to £150m. Given the valuation, the Board is 
comfortable that the investments are not impaired.

Class of share held

Country of incorporation

Proportion held

Nature of business

Medica Reporting Services Limited

Medica Reporting Finance Limited

Medica Reporting Limited

Medica IT Services Limited

Medica Australia Pty Limited

MED-IDX Pty Limited

Global Diagnostics Ireland Limited

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

Ordinary

England & Wales

England & Wales

England & Wales

England & Wales

Australia

Australia

Ireland

Global Retinopathy Screening Limited

Ordinary

Ireland

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Holding company

Holding company 

Teleradiology reporting

IT services

Teleradiology reporting

Teleradiology reporting

Teleradiology reporting 
and managed imaging 
services

Diabetic retinopathy 
screening services

All UK subsidiaries have the same registered address as the Group being: 6th Floor One Priory Square, Priory Street, Hastings, TN34 1EA.

The Australian subsidiaries’ registered address is: c/o KPMG, Level 38, Tower 3, 300 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.

The Irish subsidiaries’ registered address is: Floor 1 Block 14, Rockfield Medical Campus, Balally, Dublin 16, Ireland.

Med-IDX Pty was established in December 2020. As set out in note 31 in February 2021 this became a 50:50 joint venture with Integral 
Diagnostics Limited Pty. Med-IDX trades as MedX and has a registered address at Level 9, 45 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, 
Australia.

Subsidiary audit exemption under parent guarantee:
For the year ended 31 December 2020, Medica Reporting Finance Limited (Registered number 08497950) and Medica Reporting Services 
Limited (Registered number 08497952) are exempt from the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to the audit of individual 
accounts by virtue of section 479A of the Companies Act 2006.

124

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGP36 Capital and reserves

Ordinary share capital issued and fully paid

111,279,650 (2019: 111,111,114) ordinary shares of 
£0.002 each

Total ordinary share capital of the Company

At 31 December 2020
£000

At 31 December 2019
£000

223

223

222

222

Issue of share capital during the year
On 29 May 2020, 168,536 ordinary shares of 0.2p each were issued for cash at par value.

Rights attributable to issued shares
Any profits which the Company determines to distribute in any financial year shall be paid on the ordinary shares. Every holder of an 
ordinary share and ordinary share is entitled to one vote and has one vote for every share for which they are a holder.

On a return of capital on liquidation, capital reduction or otherwise, the surplus assets of the Company remaining after the payment of its 
liabilities shall be applied in distributing the balance of such assets amongst the holders of the ordinary shares.

Voting rights
The holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive notice of and attend and vote at any general meeting of the Company.

Share premium
No proceeds were received in addition to the nominal value of the shares issued during the year.

Retained profit
Retained earnings include current and prior period retained profit and losses.

Share based payments
The Company has share based payment schemes in issue. The accounting policy and disclosures are contained within the Group accounts 
(Note 3.16 and Note 28). The sharebased payment charge which is determined based on share based payment schemes issued by the 
parent company, are recharged to the Company’s subsidiaries through a management charge that is recognised via the intercompany 
balances.

37 Trade and other receivables

Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings

Prepayments

VAT reclaimable

At 31 December 2020
£000

At 31 December 2019
£000

19,691

3

108

19,802

25,843

–

–

25,843

The debtor balance of £19.7m (2019: £25.8m) relates to amounts owed from subsidiaries. The balance can be called for repayment on 
demand by the Company or repaid at any time at the option of the subsidiary. In the directors’ view the entire outstanding balance could 
be settled by the relevant subsidiary within one year of the balance sheet date and as such the directors are satisfied that there is no 
indication of impairment.

38 Borrowings
Borrowings relate to the Group’s bank and other loans which are set out in Note 22.

39 Related parties
See Note 29 in of the Group financial statements for related parties’ information. The Parent company has taken advantage of the 
exemption available under IAS 24 (Related arty Disclosures) from the requirement to disclose related party transactions entered into 
between two or more members of the same group where all subsidiaries are wholly owned.

40 Post balance sheet events
See Note 31 of the Group financial statements for post balance sheet events information.

125

Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020FINANCIAL STATEMENTSKey advisors

The Board of Directors

G R Davis
J M Easton
Dr S J Quin 
Dr S G Davies – Retiring 31 May 2021 
Richard Jones – appointed 3 August 2020
Junaid Bajwa – appointed 1 April 2021

Company Secretary

Richard Jones

Registered office

Independent auditors

Legal Advisors

Joint Brokers

Medica Group PLC
6th Floor
One Priory Square
Priory Street
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 1EA

Grant Thornton UK LLP
Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors
2nd Floor St Johns House
Haslett Avenue West
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 1BG

DLA Piper
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham 
B2 4DL

Investec Bank plc
30 Gresham Street
London 
EC2V 7QP

Liberum Capital Limited
Ropemaker Place
Level 12
25 Ropemaker Street
London
EC2Y 9LY

Registered Company number

08497963

medicagroupplc.com
East Sussex
TN34 1EA
t: 033 33 111 222

126

www.medicagroupplc.com  l  stock code: MGPmedicagroupplc.com

MEDICA GROUP PLC

Sixth Floor

One Priory Square

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 1EA

t: 033 33 111 222