PLANTATION, Fla., Feb. 21, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- MEDirect Latino Inc. (Pink Sheets:MLTO) (www.medirectlatino.org), the first national provider of direct-to-consumer Medicare reimbursed medical products focused exclusively on chronic diseases afflicting the Hispanic community, today announced that it is relocating its Plantation, Florida corporate office to Pompano Beach, Florida. MEDirect Latino's new facility is 23,336 square feet and increases the Company's operating space by 285% over the existing Plantation, Florida facility of 6,000 square feet. The new facility was chosen by the Company's relocation committee following many site visits to other locations under consideration.
The Pompano Beach facility has 11,000 square feet which will need minor interior changes to accommodate the Company's sales, customer care, medical billing, and warehouse and management offices. The facility has an additional 12,336 square feet for future planned growth including pharmacy operations. MEDirect Latino's relocation to the new facility will be done in phases to minimize operational and customer service disruptions. The Company anticipates that full operational integration of the corporate offices, sales, customer care, medical billing and warehouse facility will occur by fiscal year end.
MEDirect Latino currently has 72 employees in two shifts and anticipates hiring another 115 employees in customer care, sales, billing and fulfillment by June 2006, to service the growing customer demand. This expansion will facilitate the Company's sales, and customer service goals. Additionally, the Company has plans to build a daycare center within the premises to meet the needs of its employees and is working with a nationally recognized daycare provider to manage the center.
Mr. Raymond J. Talarico, Co-Chairman and Senior Vice-President, MEDirect Latino stated, "The expansion to much larger facilities will allow MEDirect to service the growing number of customers in our database. By relocating to facilities which are ready to move into and phasing our departmental integration to the new offices, we will minimize any disruptions in our revenue and growth. The response from our national advertising program is driving our relocation decisions. We have outgrown our current facility 10 months ahead of any of our most aggressive projections; it's a good problem to have, but growth takes careful management and the MEDirect team is experts in growing young companies." Mr. Bill Van Aalten, Operations Manager, MEDirect Latino stated, "The new expansion will expedite our shipping and customer service. Our inventory needs will be met for the expected increase in volume and will take advantage of additional quantity discounts that are available to us and will drive our gross product profit margins even higher and is positioning the Company for Medicare's new competitive bid program in 2007."
ABOUT MEDIRECT LATINO
MEDirect Latino (Pink Sheets:MLTO) (www.medirectlatino.org) is the first national provider of direct-to-consumer Medicare reimbursed medical products focused exclusively on chronic diseases afflicting the Hispanic community. MEDirect Latino is rapidly growing and uniquely positioned to service the Hispanic community in the United States and Puerto Rico. MEDirect is the only company positioned to serve the U.S. Hispanic healthcare market as a direct-to-consumer Medicare provider on an authentically national level. The Company's current focus is the distribution of products for the treatment of Type II diabetes specifically due to the disproportionate impact and increasing diagnosis rate of diabetes within the U.S. Hispanic population, noting an incidence of 120% higher than among non-Hispanic whites. Type II diabetes was also targeted because of its unique status within the Medicare reimbursement regime and because of its high degree of correlation to other chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease. These other conditions represent considerable future market potential that will allow MEDirect to efficiently scale its model by leveraging its existing client base and infrastructure.
The current Hispanic market for MEDirect's products is conservatively estimated at approximately $748MM in the continental United States. The size of the opportunity is understated by such figures as an estimated 1.2 million of the over 4.1 million Hispanics in the United States over 65 eligible to receive Medicare benefits are currently collecting these benefits with an estimate that over 1.4 million of those Medicare-eligible Hispanics have diabetes (implying a potential continental U.S. market for MEDirect products of approximately $1 billion).
Safe Harbor Disclosure
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, commonly identified by such terms as "believes," "looking ahead," "anticipates," "estimates" and other terms with similar meaning. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's projections and expectations are disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions.
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