PLANTATION, Fla., May 9, 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, announced today the conclusion of construction and remodeling of the new corporate offices located at 2101 West Atlantic Boulevard, Pompano Beach, Florida 33069. MEDirect Latino's relocation to the new facility will be done in stages beginning with its corporate team scheduled to move on May 12th, followed by sales, customer care, billing, and fulfillment. The Company plans to become fully operational at the new facility May 22, 2006.
The new 23,336 square foot location is four times the size of MEDirect Latino's current facility and has a significant number of corporate offices including; 11,000 square foot sales, processing, billing and collection team centers, an employee lounge and a 3,100 square foot warehouse/fulfillment area, with a capacity to fulfill 10,500 orders per week. The Company currently has 110 employees and the new facility can comfortably accommodate all of the Company's current employees and future space planning requirements for another 330 employees has been met. MEDirect Latino will continue to operate two shifts to maximize efficiencies, reduce costs and support the Company's growing database of customers in the western states of the United States. The Company projects it will add 75 new employees to the roster within 90 days in the areas of customer service, sales, processing, data entry, billing, call center, telemarketing, collections, media and fulfillment.
Additionally, the Company has set aside 2,200 square feet to grow its retail mail-order business focused on customers who do not have insurance or family members of existing Medicare customers who are diabetic and request products. Construction will begin next quarter on the Company's pharmacy and daycare center which are located within the premises.
Mr. Raymond J. Talarico, Co-Chairman and Senior Vice-President, MEDirect Latino stated, "The expansion into much larger facilities will allow MEDirect to service the growing number of customers in our database and new customers responding to our media campaigns. A key driver in our decision to relocate is the response from our national media program, which continues to increase, and the limiting factor our current facility size has on our revenue. We have simply run out of room. We have outgrown our current facility months ahead of schedule; it's a good problem to have, but growth takes careful management, however, the MEDirect team is experts in growing young companies.
Ms. Debra Towsley, President, MEDirect Latino added, "Maximizing our current facility has always been our plan, which we accomplished by adding a second shift. The lack of space to grow at our current location had become very uncomfortable and was stifling our growth. MEDirect Latino will immediately expand all of our departments including sales and processing. The Company's relocation committee has developed a plan to phase departmental integration to the new offices so that we will minimize any disruptions in our revenue." Further, "As our record revenue announcements report, we continue to show significant growth and opportunities to maximize this growth. We realize the need to manage this efficiently as we look to expand and multiply our quarterly results. With our relocation we will aggressively increase the MEDirect Latino branding and the revenue which follows."
The Company will announce its April operating results in a press release immediately after the close of the market on May 10, 2006.
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 currently 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 US Hispanic population, noting an incidence of 120% higher than among non-Hispanic whites. Type II diabetes was targeted because of its unique status within the Medicare reimbursement regime and due to its high degree of correlation to other chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease. These and other conditions represent considerable future market potential, MEDirect will scale its model by leveraging its existing client base and infrastructure in introducing new products and services to existing customers as they are identified.
The MEDirect Latino Inc. logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1873
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.