Date:04/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/05/04/stories/2005050401570200.htm

Back Metropolis to offer lab services in Seychelles

Our Bureau

Dr G.S.K. Velu, Managing Director, Metropolis Health Services (I) Pvt Ltd (left), and Dr V. Ramadoss, Special Advisor to Ministry of Health, Govt of Seychelles, at a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , May 3

METROPOLIS Health Services (I) Pvt Ltd, a chain of diagnostics centres across India, has formed a three-year strategic alliance with the Ministry of Health, Government of Seychelles, to manage clinical laboratory services.

Metropolis will set up a diagnostic lab at an investment of Rs 2 crore in Victoria Hospital, Mahe Island, Seychelles, from where it will conduct 1,200 investigations.

"There will be 600-700 on-site investigations and around 500 investigations will be outsourced to the Mumbai centre," said Dr G. S. K. Velu, Managing Director, Metropolis.

At a press conference here, Dr Velu spoke of international expansion through a Rs 20-crore investment in Dubai, East Africa and Sri Lanka.

The company proposes to raise capital worth Rs 25 crore through private equity placements for these projects, and also fund the expansion of Chennai-based Lister Metropolis Labs, a joint venture of Metropolis and the erstwhile Lister Laboratories.

Metropolis' turnover for 2004-05 is expected to be Rs 45 crore, Dr Velu said, adding that in two years, it would become a Rs-100 crore company. The company has an equity base of Rs 5 crore and reserves and surplus of Rs 10 crore. Metropolis has been growing at a compounded rate of 133 per cent over the last three years.

The Mumbai and Chennai centres are major contributors to the Rs 45-crore turnover of Metropolis. Last year, the Mumbai centre's revenues were Rs 26 crore and the Chennai centre's revenues were Rs 9 crore.

"International operations that contribute Rs 1 crore (to the turnover) will increase in future, as we will work on outsourced samples from the UK and the US," Dr Velu said. Metropolis is a referral pathological laboratory and has been accredited by ISO, National Accredition Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories and the College of American Pathologists for its skills in conducting clinical tests.