Mehilainen Yhtyma Oy

Second-quarter revenue at Mehilainen's health care division therefore dropped by about 5%, compared with the same period in 2019 and revenue growth for the year to date fell to about 3.1% from 8% in the first quarter. The company took early action to preserve free cash flow generation. For example, it temporarily halted bolt-on acquisitions and discretionary operating spending. Unlike much of the rest of Europe, Finnish authorities did not impose strict lockdown measures and therefore did not offer health care providers strong compensation packages. The only government cost-saving measure to benefit Mehilainen was a temporary 2.6% reduction in pension insurance payments. This started in May and will last to the end of 2020, yielding €0.8 million in cost savings

...S&P Global Ratings now assumes that the proposed Pihlajalinna PLC acquisition is unlikely to close until next year, if it gains final approval by the Finnish Market Court (FMC). When the Finnish Consumer and Competition Authority (FCCA) concluded its review, it recommended that the FMC prohibit the proposed acquisition. The FMC is expected to announce its decision within the next three months (by Dec. 29, 2020). Mehilainen Yhtyma Oy and Pihlajalinna will now review the FCCA's proposal in detail and explore their options. Given the regulatory authority's recommendation and the uncertainty on the timing and final outcome, we now assume that, if successful, the acquisition will not close until the end of the first quarter of 2021, at the earliest. In our previous base case, we assumed it would close by late September/early October 2020. We will monitor developments related to this acquisition very closely in the coming months. Recovery from the pandemic will likely be uneven in 2020, but Mehilainen...

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