Check-up concession, rate of return on capital reached 75.3% in 2023

The costs of financing four concession contracts in health with PPP have gotten out of control. Year after year, the government has increased funding more than the forecasts in the contracts, as it also pays you VAT at a time when health services are exempt from this tax.

On the other hand, health concessions year after year have resulted in high profit rates in relation to the investments they have made compared to what the market economy offers for the private sector.

The company 3P Life Logistic, which provides check-up services with a PPP concession, reported in the balance sheet submitted to the National Business Center a rate of return on capital of 75.3%. This means that 100,000 euros invested in shares generated a profit of 75,000 euros in just one year. For comparison, the banking system, which is considered one of the most profitable in the country, had a rate of return on capital (ROE) in 2023 of 22%, according to data from the Association of Banks, where the bank with the highest ROE indicator reached the level of 28%.

While other data from the balance sheets show that in Albania, the rate of return on capital above 50% generally has enterprises that deal with trade, that do not need to make investments. Equity ROE is considered a measure of how effectively management uses the Company's assets to generate profits. The return on equity ratio is an indicator of how much profit each lek of common stockholders' equity generates.

Concession companies in health have repaid their investments in the first years of their activity, as the income is guaranteed by the state budget. The check-up concession provided income from budget payments at the level of about 7.3 million euros in 2023. The profit rate also remains high, reaching almost 30% in 2023, from about 9% which is the average profit rate for all businesses in the economy. According to the balance sheet data, the total revenue of the concessionaire in 2023 was 730 million ALL, while the profits before taxes were 214 million ALL.

concession

The check-up concession started work in February 2015. The concession contract aimed at the free basic medical check-up, which is a national program that aims to screen the population for risk factors and the most widespread diseases, with the aim of health care, prevention of diseases and complications, early detection of disorders, treatment in the early stages and improvement of health culture.

For this Public-Private Partnership contract, 475,000 beneficiaries of the service are foreseen annually, that is, 39,583 cases per month, for which the concessionary company receives the payments, regardless of the fact whether they are realized or not. Official data from the Ministry of Finance showed earlier that the state has paid the concessionaire of the basic medical check-up (check-up) for 580 thousand incomplete checks during the period 2015-2018, with an amount of about 8.5 million euros.

Failure to meet the number then forced the government to lower the age limit for checks from 40 to 35. In February of the coming year, the term of the check-up concession contract ends, for which no assessment has been made by the health authorities for the impact it has had on improving the health of the population.

Apart from the High State Control, no other authority has evaluated the effectiveness of the contract. KLSH in routine audits has found that the check-up concession has benefited from financing for incomplete services by transferring an unfair cost to the country's budget expenditures./Monitor