Business description 

Company Health Group Plc is an established occupational health services group with two distinct service offerings. It offers occupational health services to a wide range of clients and medical evidence services to the life insurance industry.Occupational health is a term generally used to describe the effect of employment on an individual's health and the need to ensure that the individual is fit for the work that they are employed to do. Historically, occupational health has largely been restricted to health and safety in the workplace and was generally provided by on-site medically trained personnel and most applicable to heavy industry.

However, the market has increasingly shifted towards a greater concern with wider employee health issues, including the provision of preventative health care. The preventative approach that is now encouraged through occupational health schemes has the advantage of reducing absenteeism and improving morale amongst the workforce. The strategy of the Group is to increase its market share of occupational health services amongst small to medium sized companies through both organic growth and acquisitive expansion. The key market drivers are legislative change, increasing medical insurance costs and a rising level of litigation in the workplace, and there continues to be a strong trend towards outsourcing occupational health provision. The group will continue to expand its range of occupational health services to meet these demands. The provision of these services to the smaller companies is currently highly regionalized and fragmented, and the Group will take advantage of the potential acquisition opportunities that exist amongst occupational health providers. Its geographical coverage will be expanded so that the Group can offer a truly national service to the larger corporates.The medical examinations and pathology testing business for the life insurance industry will expanded organically, utilizing the market leading case management software that enables cases to be completed more quickly, hence reducing churn rates, and offering secure client access.In particular the Paramedical Examination Service started in mid-2004 will continue to grown rapidly. This nurse-led service provides a more cost effective service and insurance companies will increasingly choose this method of evaluation over the traditional doctor medicals.