HONG KONG, Mar 31, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – Austar Lifesciences Limited ("AUSTAR" or "Company") (HKEX Stock Code: 6118.HK), a technology-based pharmaceutical engineering solution provider, together with its subsidiaries (collectively the "Group" or "AUSTAR Group"), announced its audited annual results for the year ended 31 December 2022 ("Reporting Period"). Although the Group was affected by the requirements for epidemic control causing challenges to its supply chain, manufacturing, and project execution, the Group recorded a growth of approximately 10.6% in revenue as compared to the corresponding period in 2021. Thanks to the Group's capacities to offer modular and innovative solutions with digitalisation and robotic technologies based on excellent containment-based engineering and contamination control practices, the Group's product lines in the sectors of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and oral solid dosage (OSD) in chemical drugs have still been recorded a significant growth in order-in-take and revenue.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS BY BUSINESS SEGMENT

Liquid and Bioprocess System
During the Reporting Period, through effective management of supply chain and project execution, the Group's revenue from the business segment of Liquid and Bioprocess System increased from 2021 by approximately RMB67.3 million or 7.6% to approximately RMB950.3 million for the Reporting Period. With completion of construction of a production site, this business segment is believed to have upgraded its manufacturing condition, with more space for new product research and development and more optimised production processes, which will definitely improve its competitiveness in terms of cost efficiency and quality standard.

Clean Room and Automation Control and Monitoring System
The Group's revenue from the business segment of Clean Room and Automation Control and Monitoring System increased from 2021 by approximately RMB34.4 million or 7.2% to approximately RMB514.1 million for the Reporting Period. The revenue increased along with that of order-in-take due to ever increasing market potential and recognition of the Group in the market in terms of technology and execution efficiency. The Group has been gaining good market reputation and share, with new technology of integrated space sterilisation system, dust particle online monitoring, floating bacteria monitoring, energy saving control and etc., which provides customers with computerised system confirmation and validation documents, and cost-effective solution. The fast growth of research and development for innovative drugs in mainland China had led to a much larger demand for the business of this segment, with a higher requirement on quality, cost efficiency, and effective project execution. On top of that, with the emerging innovative medical treatment, more capital is pursuing cell therapy commercial production. All these trends constitute a huge business opportunity for the Group, as a knowledge and technology leader in this area.

Powder and Solid System
The Group's revenue from the business segment of Powder and Solid System increased dramatically from 2021 by approximately RMB107.5 million or 77.7% to approximately RMB245.8 million for the Reporting Period. The revenue of this business segment has been increasing constantly, due to enlarged market share of the Group by dedicated investment of new products. The increase in revenue was in line with that of order-in-take and the increased backlog balance at the end of 2021 also contributed to this growth. The Group's adoption of modular design increases the flexibility of products, which was well acknowledged by the market and thus drove the business increase, to a large extent. At the same time, the business potential, in terms of market share and technical advantage, was greatly enlarged with integration of material and formula management system, integrated process equipment, automatic equipment, including automatic transfer equipment, robots and automatic guided vehicles (AGV), and etc.

GMP Compliance Service
The Group's revenue from the business segment of GMP Compliance Service increased significantly from 2021 by approximately RMB28.2 million or 42.7% to RMB94.3 million for the Reporting Period. The business revenue of this segment has been increasing constantly attributable to the new business stimulated by new international standards and other requirements. Along with its business scope extension to the entire life cycle of pharmaceutical production process, GMP Compliance Service is believed to keep pace of a rapid growth in the future.

Life Science Consumables
The Group's revenue from the business segment of Life Science Consumables decreased by approximately RMB32.8 million or 7.8% to approximately RMB388.3 million for the Reporting Period as compared to 2021. The decrease in revenue was caused by the decline from the business related to COVID-19 vaccine production. The Group is investing into the area of sterile chemical drugs and cell therapy, which is believed to be a new business and profit margin generator in the revised long-term business strategy.

Distribution and Agency of Pharmaceutical Equipment
The Group's revenue from the business segment of Distribution and Agency of Pharmaceutical Equipment increased by approximately RMB8.9 million or 33.2% to approximately RMB35.8 million for the Reporting Period as compared to 2021. The Group will continue to engage in the distribution of various types of high-end pharmaceutical equipment together with its joint ventures and overseas business partners providing clients with the most intimate and timely service.

Research and Development, and Production Lines
With regards to the research and development, the Group obtained 384 patents. During the Reporting Period, the Group obtained 76 registered patents, and applications for 83 patents are currently in progress. Based on the SIEMENS software platform, a report system about Utility Automation System and Process Control system was developed in 2022, which improves the automation system functions and shortens the research and development period of projects. The Group developed a data analysis system, through a series of mathematical algorithms to achieve multivariate data analysis and prediction and help clients achieve analysis and prediction in the process of biological reaction, which could be used at both research and commercial manufacturing phases of the client's product lifecycle.

In addition, the Group's stainless-steel bioreactor series entered the stage of large-scale manufacturing and execution in 2022. The inline conditioning system ILC based on process analytical technology (PAT) developed in 2021 has completed the comprehensive upgrade of recipe management and control system and has been trialed by target clients. It is expected to achieve a breakthrough in 2023.

The Group has completed the development of cell preparation isolator and cell culture system at the end of 2022. This development achievement supplemented AUSTAR's ability in cell therapy process system and services, and increased brand recognition in the field of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP).

AUSTAR's management said, "The Group has been developing 12 technology applications in our competence and knowledge model, and individual specific technology application teams have been established step by step over the past years. The Group has set up 12 technology application teams, namely: (1) Pharmaceutical Automation & Digitalization, (2) Cleaning, Sterilization & Disinfection, (3) Clean Utilities, (4) Biopharma Process and Technology, (5) Containment Technology, (6) Clean Room/HVAC/EMS/BMS, (7) Freeze-drying, Filling & Inspection, (8) Biosafety Technology and Facilities, (9) Laboratory Technology & Facilities, (10) Pharmaceutical Formulation Technology, (11) Regulatory Compliance & Operation Excellence, and (12) Analytics Measurement Technologies, where regular workshops were held for the purpose of better unification of the technology capability of individual product lines into comprehensive technology solutions."

Exploring Business Growth Drivers through Acquisitions
During the Reporting Period, the Group continued to seek business growth through acquisitions. In February 2022, the Group successfully acquired the business of an expertise in sterile liquid and powder filling line ("BOSTA Business"), which has further enhanced the Group's business portfolio in the integration of the filling line system and freeze-dryer system and increased the capability of providing integrated solutions for the filling and freeze-drying of aseptic products. In 2022, the Group also successfully completed the acquisition of a minority shareholding of a company which provides complete and high-end solutions used in nanomedicine and inhalation preparations. It is expected that the Group and the said company are able to benefit from this transaction through upcoming strategic business collaboration.

Future Growth Drivers
Looking forward, with the rapid development trend of cell and gene therapy sector, Car-T drugs were approved, which represents that the ATMP products has entered the stage of rapid development. The Group is dedicated to helping clients to build a compliant, lean and flexible cell therapy facilities, providing engineering and process solutions from conceptual design, clean engineering to core cell therapy process equipment, and building traceable cell therapy automation and information solutions. More cell-related equipment and systems in the ATMP sector would be launched in 2023 including some products developed and manufactured by the Company with its own intellectual property rights. Strong pipelines of products and services under development through the corporate level Innovative and Research Centre and through business unit research and development teams can support further growth in the Group's business.

To improve the quality and yield of drugs, API manufacturers are paying more attention to advanced technologies such as continuous-flow micro-reactions, continuous crystallisation and crystal form control, and process analysis in the production process to increase the stability of drugs in order to increase the market share through new technologies. This will further promote the digitalisation transformation of API companies. Our clients' business extension from formulations to API manufacturing, and their business extension from existing API to formulations manufacturing, was one of the key trends of pharmaceutical industry development in China in 2022. Modular design application reduces production cost and improves operation flexibility, which has successfully helped securing orders. This modular technology would be one of the key technologies for API manufacturing in the coming years.

Moreover, the core competence of the Group's Powder and Solid system engineering business would be accelerated by its application of automated devices like robots and AGV integrated by automation control system together with customised production information system. Demand from some emerging countries for establishment of API facilities and chemical compound product technology transfer as supply chain back-up and cost pressure will further drive growth in this business segment.

Due to the release and enforcement of EU GMP new regulations and process requirements of cell and gene therapy, the sterility assurance in the whole manufacturing process become stringent and key considerations in equipment and system engineering. It is believed that with AUSTAR UK, Cape Europe Joint Venture in France and the Group's manufacturing facility for sterile transfer and isolation technology in China working closely with a strategic goal to offer most competitive sterile protection and assurance scheme globally, it will contribute substantial growth in revenue and profit to the Group."

About Austar Lifesciences Limited
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Shanghai, PRC, AUSTAR is a technology-based pharmaceutical engineering solutions provider with its business covering more than 50 countries and regions, partnering with world-leading pharmaceutical companies to protect and promote human health. AUSTAR employs approximately 2,000 staff in different regions to deliver technically guaranteed pharmaceutical engineering solutions that assist clients to set up drug production facilities and contribute to the world's drug safety and efficacy.

With the full spectrum of pharmaceutical technology knowledge, the company has leading technical application capabilities and high-quality equipment & systems in the areas of Clean Utilities, Pharmaceutical Automation & Digitalization, Pharmaceutical Formulation Technology, Biopharma Process & Technology, Regulatory Compliance & Operation Excellence, Laboratory Technology & Facilities, Biosafety Technology & Facilities, Cleaning, Sterilization & Disinfection, Clean Room/HVAC/EMS/BMS, Quality/Measurement & Analytics, Filling, Freeze-Drying & Inspection, Containment Technology. The Group has a number of leading business and product brands in its portfolio including H+E Pharma, BIOSYSTEC, STERIS-AUSTAR, ROTA-AUSTAR, Pharma LeanTec, Pharma LeanDigital, AUSMILL, Aunity, and Purvita. AUSTAR was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 7 November 2014 (Stock code: 6118).

For more information about AUSTAR, please visit www.austar.com.cn


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HONG KONG, Mar 31, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – Yunkang Group Limited ("Yunkang" or the "Group"; Stock Code: 2325), a leading medical operation services provider in China, has announced its first annual results for the year ended December 31, 2022 (the "Reporting Period") since its listing.

Driven by the promotion of health care policies in mainland China, the Group has made steady progress in service network expansion, operational efficiency improvement and lean management, and achieved quality growth under the annual goals of "in-depth service, lean management and achieving quality growth". In particular, in the field of diagnostic testing services for medical institution alliances, the Group has developed a set of medical institution alliance construction and operation support solutions with the advantages of "professionalism, standardization and intelligence", which effectively enhanced the diagnostic capabilities and service efficiency of medical institution alliances and continued to have a positive impact on the Group's profitability. During the Reporting Period, the Group's revenue reached RMB3,756 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 121.4%, and its gross profit increased by 45.4% to RMB1,307 million. Profit attributable to owners of the Company reached RMB377 million for the year. The Board of Directors resolved to recommend the payment of a final dividend of HK$ 0.22 per share for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Three main businesses maintained rapid growth with in-depth services
The Group achieved rapid growth in scale in the provision of diagnostic testing services for medical institution alliances. During the Reporting Period, revenue generated from this segment reached RMB1,680 million, representing an increase of 171.3% compared with the same period in 2021. The number of on-site diagnostic centers increased from 275 as of December 31, 2021 to 398 as of December 31, 2022, providing over 840 medical institutions with diagnostic testing services for medical institution alliances and helping medical institutions enhance diagnostic testing capabilities at all levels in the medical institution alliances and improve the efficiency of diagnostic testing services as a whole. The expansion of capabilities and service scope of on-site diagnostic centers after the initial construction and operation, resulting in a rapid growth of 90.9% in the average revenue of the unit on-site diagnostic centers to RMB 4.2 million. As a key business for the Group, diagnostic testing services for medical institution alliances accounted for an increasing proportion of the Group's total revenue, rising from 36.5% for the year ended December 31, 2021 to 44.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022.

During the Reporting Period, revenue from diagnostic outsourcing services amounted to RMB1,944 million, a growth of 89.8% when compared with the same period of 2021. The Group's product lines in key areas such as infectious diseases and blood diseases maintained stable growth during the Reporting Period, driving further growth in outsourcing services revenue. As a professional medical diagnostic testing service institution, the Group has continuously improved its diagnostic testing capabilities and developed competitive products to provide customers with more precise medical solutions. It has established nearly 10 new provincial comprehensive laboratories and regional rapid response laboratories in order to respond to customer demands more quickly and efficiently.

Diagnostic testing services for non-medical institutions are mainly provided through the Group's outpatient clinics, serving the general public and other individual customers such as employees of the Group's non-medical institution clients. During the Reporting Period, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for COVID-19 testing from individual customers and non-healthcare customers increased significantly, and the diagnostic testing services for non-medical institutions recorded revenue of RMB131.5 million, representing a growth of 147.5% compared with the same period of 2021.

Expand network to guide the allocation of quality medical resources to move downwards
The Group has basically built four models for the development of medical institution alliances, namely urban medical institution alliances, county-level medical alliances, specialist alliances and telemedicine collaboration networks, and has matched them with specific schemes to create various iconic joint projects and help to guide the sharing and allocation of quality medical resources to move downwards, so as to enhance the service capabilities of medical institutions at all levels.

Pursue technological innovation to improve precision diagnostic technology
During the Reporting Period, the Group embarked on a number of domestic and international industrial collaborations in pursuit of an internationally competitive industry position. In 2022, the Company's investment in R&D reached RMB94.7 million, accounting for representing a year-on-year increase of 115.6%. Through external cooperation, the Group continued to develop in a healthy manner and offer competitive products and services to the market.

Achieve lean operations to strengthen operational capabilities
During the Reporting Period, the Group's laboratory lean operation project achieved initial results. The lean operation project mainly consists of two parts, namely the 7S management of self-built labs and the establishment of a management system for collaborative projects.

Digitalization of operations to establish a standardized operation system
In terms of digitalization, the Group successively launched 10 digital operation systems, including "Tengyun", in 2022, to fully integrate the Group's sales management system, human resources system, training system, settlement system, general ledger system, fixed asset system, warehousing system, logistics system and customer service system. Consequently, Yunkang's digital operation model has taken shape.

Prioritizing quality to raise product and service standards
By adhering to the strategic concept of "Quality is the lifeline", the Group has actively promoted the lean management of production and operation, established world-leading laboratories that meet international standards and continuously improved product quality and service quality to provide customers with professional, precision, efficient and convenient medical and health services. As one of the first medical service companies to establish medical laboratories that meet international standards, the Group has built independent medical laboratories with ISO15189 quality control system certification and CAP dual certification in Southern, Eastern and Southwestern China. As at the end of the Reporting Period, the Group had obtained various domestic and overseas quality certifications, including CAP, ISO15189, ISO9001, CMA, CMMI and ISO27001, of which the Guangzhou laboratory has even obtained the ISO15189 certification for 12 consecutive years.

Mr. Zhang Yong, Chairman and Executive Director of Yunkang Group Limited, said, "The overall demand for public health services from the public has become stronger after the COVID-19 pandemic. This, coupled with the aging population, has led to increased health awareness and demand for health services among the public. In light of this, the government has introduced a series of policies to promote the upgrading of medical service demand and the four models for the construction of medical institution alliances, namely urban medical groups, county-level medical alliances, specialist alliances and telemedicine collaboration networks. On the technology side, the rapid development of biotechnology has facilitated the expansion of the bioeconomy into many other sectors. Driven by multiple favorable factors, the universal health care industry, especially the third-party testing sector, which places high emphasis on quality, cost and efficiency, is bound to see tremendous development opportunities. Looking ahead, the Group will continue to execute "in-depth service and lean management" to enhance its products and co-built solutions through in-depth service marketing; supported by a lean operation system, it will continuously enrich its in-depth service content and optimize the cost structure of the entire value chain. The Group will continue to leverage on its own value, committed to improving people's livelihood and health, and striving to provide more professional, accurate, efficient and convenient medical and health testing services to the medical institutions and general public."

Yunkang Group Limited (Stock Code: 2325)
Yunkang Group is a leading medical operation service provider in China, which started to provide standardized medical diagnostic services to medical institutions at all levels as early as 2008. Leveraging its own professional diagnostic capabilities and the nationwide service network of integrated healthcare systems, Yunkang has gradually grown to become a medical operation service platform. Meanwhile, Yunkang is a medical operation service provider in China offering a full suite of diagnostic testing services which are diagnostic outsourcing services and diagnostic testing services for medical institution alliances. Yunkang provides diagnostic services through on-site diagnostic centers to collaborative hospitals in the integrated healthcare systems in China, and assists them in improving their clinical diagnosis capabilities through co-developing diagnostic centers. As of December 31, 2022, Yunkang has successfully provided professional services to 398 medical institution alliances and the hospitals we collaborated with were located across 31 provinces and municipalities in China.

Media Enquiries
Yunkang Group Ltd
Venus Zhao General Manager of Hong Kong Office, General Manager of Capital Markets and Corporate Communication
E-mail: zhaohui@yunkanghealth.com
Website: www.yunkanghealth.com

Strategic Financial Relations Limited
Angelus Lau / Yan Li / Holly Szeto
Tel: 2864 4805 / 2114 4320 / 2864 4859
E-mail: angelus.lau@sprg.com.hk / yan.li@sprg.com.hk / holly.szeto@sprg.com.hk
Website: www.sprg.com.hk


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HONG KONG, Mar 29, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – Genertec Universal Medical Group Company Limited ("Universal Medical" or "Company"; Stock code: 2666.HK) is pleased to announce annual results for the year ended 31 December 2022.

In 2022, Universal Medical adhered to the "Healthy China" strategy and continued to expand its footprint in the healthcare sector. The continuous improvement in the core capacity of the hospital group, the gradual perfection of and breakthroughs in the footprint expansion of the specialty business and the health conglomerate's units, and the smooth and stable development of the finance business all contributed to the realization of the vision "To Be the Most Trusted Global Leader in Medical & Healthcare Services".

In 2022, the Company recorded a revenue of RMB11,912.1 million in total, up by 20.2% as compared to the previous year. In particular, the hospital group business recorded a revenue of RMB6,211.2 million, up by 34.8% as compared to the previous year, with its proportion to the total revenue increased to 52.1%; the Company recorded a profit for the year of RMB2,087.5 million, up by 2.8% as compared to the previous year, of which, the hospital group business contributed RMB378.3 million, up by 48.0% as compared to the previous year; the Company recorded a profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB1,890.0 million, up by 3.0% as compared to the previous year; and the Company recorded a return on total assets (ROA) of 2.84% and a return on equity attributable to ordinary shareholders (ROE) of 13.96%. The indicators of income and the assets conditions maintained a steady and excellent performance.

-Central State-Owned Enterprises Improved Core Competitiveness, and the Net Profit Margin of The Medical Institutions Increased by 0.42 Percent

The medical institutions are not only the Company's core resources to build a healthcare conglomerate, but also the R&D and training center of its specialized medical business, as well as the project cultivation and commercialization pool and the sharing center for basic resources and practice of the industrial units. With respect to the integrated healthcare service segment, focusing on the development of the hospital group's core capacity, the Company continuously build up the competition advantages of central state-owned enterprises in running medical care by reinforcing group management and control and upgrading professional operation, so as to facilitate positive and continuous development of the state-owned hospitals and constantly improve operation efficiency and effectiveness.

In 2022, the consolidated Hospitals of SOEs contributed to the Company a revenue of RMB6,022.9 million, up by 37.2% as compared to the previous year; they recorded a profit for the year of RMB290.3 million in total, up by 50.2% as compared to the previous year; and the net profit margin was 4.82%, up by 0.42 percentage point from 4.40% of the previous year.

In 2022, the Company consolidated the accounts of seven additional medical institutions with a capacity of 3,357 beds in total; and the number of consolidated medical institutions as at 31 December 2022 increased to 55 (including 4 Grade III Class A hospitals and 26 Grade II hospitals), with a capacity of 13,615 beds in total. The number of beds of medical institutions that were included within the management system but not yet consolidated was over 2,000. The currently planned number of internally built beds exceeded 4,000 in total. In the future, based on the existing operation scale, the Company will continue to expand the scale of the hospital group through internal construction and mergers and acquisitions of/cooperation with external hospitals.

-Specialties and Healthcare Industry Created New Growth Drivers for the Listed Company with Solid Steps

With the business foundation and professional core talent team of its own hospital group, the Company strived to build replicable capabilities of specialties and industry operation while serving internal quality and efficiency enhancement, so as to create new growth drivers for the listed company. The financial contribution of this new business segment mainly comes from providing hospital clients with life cycle management of medical equipment and medical devises sales, which recorded a total revenue of RMB83.8 million in 2022 and a total profit of RMB8.6 million for the year.

Over the past year, the Company took solid steps in constructions of featured specialties such as nephrology and oncology as well as building core capabilities of the life cycle management of equipment. In addition, the Company has made various progress in the business layout of disciplines such as TCM, ophthalmology, stomatology as well as healthcare industry including Internet-based healthcare and health insurance.

As a listed company in the field of medical and healthcare, the Company strives to develop into a medical and healthcare conglomerate with financial service capabilities, featured specialty services and differentiated industrial business advantages, and gradually unleashes the value of its various business segments and assets. Looking forward, the Company will rely on the development foundation of the hospital group, and continue to build the industrial development foundation and team capabilities, with an aim to create more high-value profitable segments for the listed company while serving its member hospitals to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

-Finance Business Expanded Steadily and Earnings and Asset Quality Indicators Remained Excellent

As the continuous profit contributor of the Company, the finance business will always strive to maintain healthy and steady development while ensuring asset security, laying a solid foundation and cash cow for the sustainable development of the Company.

In 2022, faced with the complex economic situation, the Company always took risk control as a top priority, and were committed to ensuring quality project development for its customers. By keeping abreast of the market changes, the Company strived to arrange financing structure properly, so as to ensure liquidity security and reasonable financing cost control. The Company continued to optimise the dynamic management of pre-rental, rental, and post-rental process, and enhanced accountability to ensure its asset quality remaining at an industry-leading level while maintaining continuous and steady business expansion.

In 2022, the Company recorded income of finance business of RMB5,721.2 million in total, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. The average yield of interest-earning assets was 7.22%, and the average cost rate of interest-bearing liabilities was 3.98%. The net interest spread was 3.24%, and the net interest margin was 3.67%. Its asset quality continued to remain excellent. As at 31 December 2022, the Company's net interest-earning assets reached RMB65,233.8 million, representing an increase of 6.7% as compared to that at the beginning of the year; the non-performing asset ratio was 0.99%; the overdue ratio (30 days) was 0.86%, and the provision coverage ratio was 263.11%.

Given that the domestic and international economy and financial markets continue to be confronted with many risks, challenges and uncertainties, Universal Medical will continue to promote the steady and safe development of its finance business, and give full play to the finance business to empower the development of the medical care industry, so as to lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of a central state-owned and listed enterprise.

2023 marks a critical year for China market in its transition to the "post-pandemic" era, which also represents an important window period for the implementation of strategic initiatives of the Company. As a central state-owned and listed enterprise, the Company will continue to follow the overall deployment of the 14th Five-Year Plan and keep abreast of the latest development and requirements to promote steady development of the finance business, make strenuous efforts to improve the core capability and operating efficiency of the hospital group, accelerate the deployment of specialized disciplines and industry layout, and facilitate new breakthroughs in the high-quality development of the entire group, laying a solid foundation for the achievement of creating a more valuable listed company.

For further information, please contact:
PEANUT MEDIA LIMITED
Direct Line: +86-755-61619798 x8210
Email: hswh.project@czgmcn.com

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