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06 January 2022: Foresight Group (“Foresight”), a leading listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, is pleased to announce a £3.5 million investment into Hospital Services Limited (“HSL” or “the Company”).

Established in 1962, and based in Belfast, with additional offices in Dublin and East Midlands, HSL is a specialist distributor of diagnostic medical devices, surgical equipment and consumable products, servicing public and private hospitals across the UK and Ireland.

Foresight first invested into HSL in 2015 via its Venture Capital Trusts. Since then, HSL has experienced a period of sustained growth with revenue increasing three-fold in the six years since initial investment. Consolidating its position in the market, HSL recently acquired a complementary Irish and Northern Irish medical devices distributor, MDI Medical Limited (“MDI”). The acquisition means the group is now one of the largest privately owned distributors supplying the healthcare sector with a focus on the island of Ireland and GB. In addition to distributing market leading equipment from international OEMs, HSL provides ongoing technical support to the end-user.

This funding round supports the Company’s growth plans, allowing it to focus on maximising the potential for revenue synergies after the acquisition of MDI. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for high quality healthcare equipment has increased whilst the adoption of digital solutions for disease scanning and detection, the requirement to provide a service with capacity to deal with an aging population and the backlog created by the pandemic has created additional areas that need servicing from a quality provider of specialist equipment.

HSL recently won the AIB Business Eye Award for Covid Era Response Company of the Year. This is the Company’s second COVID-related award and was in recognition of HSL’s adaptation as a direct response to the challenges of the pandemic.

Foresight is committed to investing into SMEs in the Irish and NI region as a continuation of its regional SME investment strategy and has identified significant growth potential with SMEs across the Irish market.

Graeme Mckinstry, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, added: “Having worked with the HSL team over the last six years, Foresight is delighted to continue supporting Dominic, Graham, Alan and the wider team as they target a significant growth opportunity in the market. The team has demonstrated an ability to provide leading levels of customer delivery, set against unprecedented market conditions over the last 18 months. Performance through this period and the acquisition of MDI means the company is well positioned to build substantial market share and increase the scale of its operations across Ireland and the UK.”

Commenting on the investment, Dominic Walsh, Managing Director of HSL, said: “Foresight’s additional investment is testament to HSL’s strong past performance and confidence in the HSL team to deliver future growth. The acquisition of MDI Medical added a very complementary product portfolio to HSL, including ultrasound and patient monitoring equipment, and the MDI team bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge, further strengthening our reputation with customer.”