ReadiCare Reports $3.6-Million Loss for Fiscal 1989, Cites Charge

ReadiCare Inc., pursuing a plan to divest 20% of its industrial emergency medical clinics because government insurance payments are not covering operating costs, on Thursday posted a fiscal 1989 loss of $3.6 million, compared with earnings a year earlier of $1.6 million.

The 7-year-old company, based in Irvine, said the loss was caused by a one-time, $4.4-million charge in the fourth quarter reflecting costs of shutting down or selling six of its 30 centers and relocating a seventh.

The charges include reserves for future operating losses and writedowns of assets.

ReadiCare’s revenue for the 12 months totaled $44.8 million, compared to $44.6 million a year earlier. The company did not report separate fourth quarter results.

In a prepared statement, ReadiCare’s president and chief financial officer, Dennis G. Danko, said the company has been suffering financially because operating costs continue to increase while state payments for medical services under the workers compensation plan have not been raised since July, 1987.

An analyst who covers the company for a regional stock brokerage has characterized its decision to divest itself of its least profitable centers as a wise business move.

ReadiCare stock, already battered by the overall decline in investor interest in health-care companies, closed unchanged for the day at $1.31 1/4 a share. The stock, traded on the over-the-counter market, once sold for as high as $16.75 but has been trading in the $1 to $2 range for several years.