Aspen Medical delivers surge in pandemic profit

Aspen Medical has doubled its profits and revenues after an explosion in work arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aspen Medical chief executive Bruce Armstrong.

Aspen Medical, the privately-held health operator widely used by federal and state authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic, has doubled its revenues to more than $1bn.

In new filings lodged with the corporate regulator, Aspen Medical reported a profit of $203m for the 12 months to the end of June 30, 2021 – up from $106m one year earlier.

The pandemic has been a boon for the company. In the financial year ending June 30, 2019 – which covered only the first few months of the pandemic – Aspen Medical reported revenues of only $75m and a net loss of $5m.

Aspen Medical provides a contract healthcare workforce, as well as rapid deployment medical staff for the public sector and the oil, gas and mining industries. The commonwealth has tapped the company for more than $1.4bn in deals to supply nursing teams to aged care homes in crisis through Covid-19.

Revenues rose from $562.7m in the 2020 financial year to $1.1bn, documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show. Spending on medical supplies and services rose from $284.3m to $462.6m.

But the volume of work being handed to Aspen Medical has also brought significant scrutiny. The Australian in February reported that Aspen Medical was awarded the contract to run the Wellcamp quarantine precinct by the Palaszczuk government despite it never going to tender.

The Queensland lobbyist register shows the firm of Evan Moorhead, one of two lobbyists who ran Labor’s 2020 campaign from Ms Palaszczuk’s office, has been given extraordinary access to ministers’ offices in the past 12 months.

Mr Moorhead’s Anacta Strategies firm secured 20 meetings in the past year, eight of those in January, on behalf of Aspen Medical with the senior staffers of Ms Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.

Aspen Medical offers healthcare workers on tap, with the company touting its ability to supply healthcare workers on short-term contracts to meet demand. Picture: Richard Noone

The rapid growth in revenues and profits has seen Aspen Medical hand its owners a $23.5m dividend this year. It paid a dividend of $739,000 in the prior financial year.

In 2020 the company was offered $57.8m to provide 35 surge staff to contain an outbreak at the Newmarch House aged care facility in Sydney, and 30 staff to screen and test crew members of the Ruby Princess.

The company was also paid $45m by the federal government to supply nursing teams to aged care homes in crisis. These included sending staff into St Basil’s aged care home, where 45 residents died after contracting Covid-19.

The company has also inked a series of deals with the private and public sector to consult on best-practice for pandemic health measures and supply immunisation workforces.

The company was picked in January 2021 to supplement the Covid-19 vaccine rollout workforce.

The company’s audited results show its sale of goods line was the most profitable arm of the business, delivering $669.75m in revenues in the financial year.

This was followed by the company’s recruitment service, which secured $217.2m in revenues for the business.