Image Plus Consultants Limited has restarted operations at its Liguanea branch and is moving forward with acquisition and expansion plans that it says will support stronger earnings in the year ahead.

The company, which trades as Apex Radiology, completed due diligence on two potential acquisition targets during the last financial year. Both are now under review for possible execution.

“The due diligence was completed on two targeted acquisitions which, if consummated, will grow our inorganic revenues and profits in a meaningful way,” CEO Kisha Anderson said in the company’s just-released annual report for the year ended February 2025.

The disclosure marks a significant development since July 2024 when the company first signalled its interest in merger and acquisition opportunities as part of its post-listing growth strategy. At the time, Image Plus had only confirmed it was exploring targets.

The acquisitions are part of a broader recovery effort following a challenging year in which the company posted a 9.6 per cent decline in revenue and a sharp drop in net profit to $43.9 million, down from $211.9 million the prior year. Image Plus cited extended downtime across all three of its CT scanners and delays in sourcing parts as the primary reasons for the earnings slump. One CT unit and a nuclear medicine gamma camera remained offline through year-end.

To reduce costs and manage patient flow, the company temporarily closed its 129 Old Hope Road location in Liguanea and consolidated operations at its Winchester Road branch. That location, known internally as 129 Pro, has since been brought back into service with the installation of a new SPECT scanner to expand the company’s nuclear medicine capabilities. The equipment is expected to go live this month.

Meanwhile, Image Plus is continuing work on its purpose-built diagnostic headquarters at 33 Lady Musgrave Road. The project, now moving into the construction phase, is being developed through a joint venture with Ripton Real Estate Limited.

Anderson described the capital outlay for the build as “very minimal” due to the structure of the joint venture agreement and said the relocation is expected to result in significant cost savings.

“By occupying our own space we will reduce rental costs by over $25 million annually,” she said.

The new 20,000-square-foot building will replace the Winchester Road location and is slated for completion in early 2026. It will house diagnostic and interventional suites, consolidating services under one roof.

“These milestones will result in increased earnings for the foreseeable future,” Anderson said. “We remain the only entity in Jamaica that offers at least eight modalities with six of these across multiple locations, positioning us to support referring physicians with imaging results to guide their patient diagnosis.”

Alongside its infrastructure investments, the company says it will focus on improving efficiency and driving volume growth in underutilised services such as mammography and MRI, particularly in Ocho Rios and Kingston.

“We must now improve our core efficiency levels by growing revenues at a faster pace than expenses,” Anderson noted.

Operating and finance costs rose 5.3 per cent last year, primarily due to staffing, depreciation and loan repayment expenses tied to new equipment.

To support its turnaround, the board says it will maintain oversight of training, technology upgrades and marketing initiatives, while continuing to evaluate merger and acquisition targets.

Now in its 29th year, Image Plus is also leaning into its multi-site advantage to build its physician referral base. The company remains one of only a few providers offering advanced diagnostic studies such as MRI Breast and MRI Prostate scans, services it says are seeing steady growth in demand.

— Karena Bennett