a8621

 

Filed by MIM Corporation pursuant to Rule 425
Under the Securities Act of 1933
And deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12
Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Subject Company: MIM Corporation
Commission File Number: 000-28740

This filing relates to a planned merger between MIM Corporation (“MIM”) and Chronimed Inc. (“Chronimed”), pursuant to the terms of an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of August 9, 2004 (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among MIM, Corvette Acquisition Corp. (a wholly owned subsidiary of MIM) and Chronimed. The Merger Agreement is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an exhibit to the Current Report on Form 8-K, filed by MIM on August 9, 2004 and is incorporated by reference into this filing.

 

 

MIM CORPORATION

August 9, 2004
5:00 p.m. CDT

   
   
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MIM
   
  Corporation Second Quarter 2004 conference call. At this time, all
   
  participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question
   
  and answer session, with instructions to be given at that time. I would
   
  now like to turn the conference over to our host, Investor Relations
   
  Representative, Ms. Rachel Levine. Please go ahead.
   
   
R. Levine Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us to discuss MIM’s second
   
  quarter 2004 earnings. If you do not have a copy of our press release,
   
  please call The Anne McBride Company at 212-983-1702, extension 207,
   
  and we will have one sent to you. Alternatively, you may obtain the copy
   
  of the release at the Investor Information section on the Company's
   
  corporate Web site at www.mimcorporation.com. A replay of today's call
   
  may be accessed by dialing in on the numbers provided in the press
   
  release or by accessing the Webcast in the Investor Information section of
   
  MIM’s Web site.
   

   
  Before we begin, I will remind you that during this call, you will hear
   
  some statements that may be considered forward-looking statements.
   
  These forward-looking statements may include statements relating to
   
  financial projections or other statements relating to the Company's plans,
   
  objectives, expectations or intentions. These matters involve risks and
   
  uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those projected
   
  or implied in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
   
  actual results to materially differ from the forward-looking statements in
   
  this call are set forth in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K.
   
   
  During today's call, Richard Friedman, our Chairman and Chief Executive
   
  Officer, will comment generally on developments in the quarter, and then
   
  pass the call to Jim Lusk, our Chief Financial Officer, who will discuss
   
  the financials and operations in detail. Rich will then return for some
   
  final comments before opening the call to questions and answers. I would
   
  now like to turn the call over to Richard Friedman.
   
   
R. Friedman Thanks, Rachel. Good evening, everyone. Before I turn the call over to
   
  Jim to go through some detailed financial information, I'd like to comment
   
  on the second quarter.
   
   
  First of all, we are pleased with the second quarter. Our two operating
   

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  segments are performing well. The implementation of Natural Living
   
  acquisition has been successful, and we continue to deliver substantial
   
  growth in our specialty area. We have expanded customer contracts and
   
  increased our national base through our strategy of developing local
   
  relationships.
   
   
  As you all know, we announced our merger with Chronimed, which will
   
  create one of the largest specialty pharmacy businesses in the country.
   
  The combined annual revenues, based upon current earnings, are $1.1
   
  billion. We look forward to combining our established BioScrip brand
   
  with Chronimed and leveraging our strong PBM capabilities across
   
  Chronimed’s customer base.
   
   
  We reported second quarter earnings of $0.09 per share. As I mentioned,
   
  we are pleased with our performance. Specialty revenues grew more than
   
  36% over the first half of last year, if you exclude the Synagis. PBM and
   
  mail segments grew 19% in the first half of 2004, excluding TennCare. In
   
  the second quarter, we expanded our relationship with one of our
   
  customers to cover a larger geographic area. This was a strategic long-
   
  term decision. In return for this expansion, we provided certain pricing
   
  concessions, which had an impact on the second quarter. We expect
   
  strong volume growth from those expanded territories to add to revenues
   

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  and profitability in the fourth quarter and beyond.
   
   
  I will now turn the call to Jim to go through the details of our quarter.
   
  Jim?
   
   
J. Lusk Thank you, Rich. As Rich stated, earnings were strong for the second
   
  quarter, despite the effect of certain pricing concessions on expanded
   
  specialty contract. Excluding TennCare and Synagis’ results in the second
   
  quarter of 2003, our total revenues for the second quarter of 2004
   
  increased by 22% over the same period last year.
   
   
  The press release contains all the reported numbers, in addition to our
   
  reconciliation table, outlining results for comparative purposes, which
   
  would exclude TennCare, Synagis, and the restructuring charges from Q2
   
  '03. The numbers I will review on the call today are adjusted results from
   
  this table, which most accurately depict results in our existing business
   
  going forward.
   
   
  Total revenues for the second quarter of 2004 were $154.1 million,
   
  compared to $126.1 million for the second quarter of 2003. Second
   
  quarter specialty revenue increased to $60.4 million, compared to $44.4
   
  million in the prior year's period. PBM and mail segment revenue was
   

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  $93.7 million, compared to $81.79 million in the second quarter of 2003.
   
  Revenues from PBM services grew 15% in the second quarter of 2004.
   
   
  Operating income for the second quarter of 2004 was $3.5 million from
   
  $3.8 million for the second quarter of last year. Gross profit for the
   
  quarter was $16.8 million or 10.9%, compared to $16.4 million or 13% in
   
  the prior year's period. The decrease in gross margin reflects the change
   
  in the Company's product mix and the overall industry trend. SG&A
   
  expense for the second quarter was $12.6 million, compared to $12.1
   
  million for the same period last year. Total revenues for the first half of
   
  2004 were $302.2 million, compared to $241.8 million for the first half of
   
  2003.
   
   
  First half specialty revenue increased to $118.2 million, compared to $86.6
   
  million in the prior year's period. PBM and mail segment revenue was
   
  $184 million, compared to $155.2 million for the first half of 2003.
   
  Operating income for the first half of 2004 was $7.3 million, compared to
   
  $6.1 million for the first half of last year. Gross profit for the first six
   
  months of 2004 was $33.8 million or 11.2%, compared to $31.4 million or
   
  13% in the prior year's period. I'll now turn to the balance sheet.
   
   
  Inventory turns remained strong for the quarter at 46. Days sales
   

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  outstanding decreased to 40 days at June 30, 2004 from 41 days at March
   
  31, 2004. We have reduced our line of credit, used to purchase Fair
   
  Pharmacy, by $3.7 million during the quarter. Even with the rebate
   
  payment to TennCare, the MCOs in the second quarter, which we
   
  anticipated, we had positive cash flow from operations of $4 million.
   
   
  Regarding operational performance, our PBM and mail revenues,
   
  excluding TennCare, grew 19% in the second quarter of this year
   
  compared to last year at 4% sequentially. On a standalone business basis,
   
  our mail business, which operates out of our Columbus, Ohio facility,
   
  filled over 804,000 scripts during the quarter, compared to 675,000 on the
   
  same period a year ago. Along with the increased revenue, we are
   
  beginning to benefit from the leveraging of our efficient infrastructure and
   
  is demonstrated by the reduction in cost per script by 20% year-over-year.
   
  As our volume increases, we had to add very little expense. Our stringent
   
  approach towards expenses has resulted in SG&A being almost flat with
   
  the year ago, even after our continued investment in our sales efforts. We
   
  will continue to enforce strong cost containment measures, although not at
   
  the expense of increased market opportunities.
   
   
  Our balance sheet remains strong, and we are well positioned to continue
   
  our momentum. We entered the Chronimed merger with little debt and a
   

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  healthy cash flow. This will allow us to continue to make strategic
   
  investments and acquisitions to further build our revenues and
   
  profitability. Our goal is to pay off the remainder of the credit line for the
   
  Natural Living acquisition by the first quarter of 2005.
   
   
  With respect to the coming quarter, at this time, we expect the third
   
  quarter will approximate the results of the second quarter, and as
   
  something to look forward to, second quarter 2004 will be the last of our
   
  reconciliation tables. We are not changing guidance for the year at this
   
  time.
   
   
  Rich, with that, I’ll turn it back over to you.
   
   
R. Friedman Thanks, Jim. Regarding the Chronimed merger, I would like to be very
   
  clear of why this merger makes sense. Number one, MIM believes
   
  strongly in the local platform community based. Chronimed has 27
   
  locations where we're going to be able to use that asset to roll out
   
  additional products. Chronimed also has a mail order facility, and so do
   
  we, which we will be able to take advantage of the synergies involved
   
  there. This is a strategic move, believe it is very strong for long-term.
   
  You need to be larger in this healthcare business, and by putting these
   
  companies together, we will get there.
   

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  We believe this is a winning combination for customers and shareholders.
   
  We will combine our individual strengths into a stronger customer-centric
   
  and profitable business. Our businesses are complementary and distinct.
   
  In a rapidly growing and fragmented industry, the combined companies
   
  cover a larger piece of the market and offer more access to complete
   
  pharmacy and pharmacy services.
   
   
  In conclusion, we will continue to deliver on a strategic initiatives
   
  throughout this year and next. We feel confident that with the
   
  management team we have in place and the newly combined entity that
   
  we will be able to focus on our primary goal of executing against our
   
  benchmarks and delivering shareholder value. With that, we will open up
   
  the lines to answer any questions that you may have.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. One moment, please, for our first question. You have a
   
  question form the line from Brooks O'Neil of Dougherty & Company.
   
  Please go ahead.
   
   
B. O'Neil You eluded to the contract expansion that impacted your second quarter.
   
  I'm hoping you might be able to give us some additional detail on what
   
  geography or roughly how big an expansion, because I think you then
   

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  went on to say that the third quarter was going to look like the second
   
  quarter, but you're not changing your guidance for the year, which I guess,
   
  if I do the quick math, looks like you're going to have to have a whopping
   
  fourth quarter to kind of get where you need to get.
   
   
R. Friedman I'd be happy to, Brooks, and good talking to you again. Let's talk about
   
  what we did. Clearly, in the second quarter, we made a strategic decision
   
  that relates to the northeast, and what we did is we had a contract. We
   
  have a contract with a very strong managed care organization that gave us
   
  the opportunity to expand the market share in the New York and
   
  Connecticut marketplace. That organization, last year in its entirety, in the
   
  three regions now that we covered, did in excess of $90 million in
   
  specialty pharmaceuticals. We were covering strictly their New Jersey
   
  operation. So, when we look at the New York and New Jersey
   
  opportunity, that in itself, I think, was close to $60 million of total revenue
   
  of the specialty part of the $90 million. This also, though, in addition to
   
  us picking up that piece, which we have signed and is being implemented
   
  as we speak, the relationship we have with this organization has now
   
  brought us to look at other territories that they've asked us to look for,
   
  which is more out West.
   
   
  So we believe this was the right strategic decision to do, and you're right.
   

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  When you look at the fourth quarter, we expect a good fourth quarter;
   
  we've all along expected a good fourth quarter. In addition to this
   
  particular one, we’ve picked up additional contracts, which makes us look
   
  at, for example; we did a deal with Montefiore Hospital in the CMO
   
  program. We've picked up MDNY. We've picked up business with
   
  Oxford. So this company has added quite a bit of contracts over this last
   
  quarter that will be implemented in the third quarter, and you will see the
   
  volumes in the fourth quarter. The reason we're saying that, the third
   
  quarter will look more like the second quarter is because of some of those
   
  pricing concessions. We’re hopeful that we will be able to achieve greater
   
  results, but what we're trying to do is, based upon—And the pricing
   
  concessions actually took place starting in the second month of the second
   
  quarter. Now, you have the third quarter with all three months somewhat
   
  impacted, so we have to make up some of that volume to offset that
   
  pricing concession, but we anticipate that we will be able to achieve that.
   
   
B. O'Neil I'm not asking you to build my model for me, but I'm assuming, based on
   
  what you just said, that maybe the 10.93% gross margins might come
   
  down a little bit more here in the third quarter.
   
   
R. Friedman Yes. I think they will and I think they will come down slightly as—I
   
  think, Jim, as he refines, and obviously we've been spending the last
   

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  number of weeks working very hard on the Chronimed deal, that Jim will
   
  be able to fine-tune the model and be able to go out with it.
   
   
B. O'Neil The only other item and detail I wanted to ask about is the amortization
   
  expense was up a bit this quarter. Is that at a level now where we
   
  expected to be flat on a quarterly basis going forward?
   
   
R. Friedman Thank God Jim can answer that one.
   
   
J. Lusk Yes. The amortization expense relates to the acquisition we did. Yes.
   
  Going forward, that should pretty much be level.
   
   
B. O’Neil I guess that's it for right now. Thanks a lot.
   
   
R. Friedman Thanks, Brooks.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Arnold Ursaner of CJS Securities.
   
  Please go ahead.
   
   
M. Roesler It's Michael Roesler for Arnie. Quick follow up from the prior call, could
   
  you just clarify again what is included and not included in terms of
   
  charges or expenses in the $35 million EBITDA guidance for '05?
   

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R. Friedman Yes. We didn't go through the details of that number, but let me try to lay
   
  it out for you a little bit better. What we did in that $35 million is we've
   
  assumed - and you have to understand that we’ve assumed for a calendar
   
  year that there is absolutely no Aetna in that business.
   
  assumed is that we said that there's gross synergy amount of $10 million.
   
  It's going to take us the better part of the year to realize that $10 million.
   
  Offsetting that, there's significant cost related to severance, retention, and
   
  duplicative type of expenses. We have not broken that out, and there's a
   
  good reason that we haven't because we need to refine exactly this as the
   
  implementation teams finish off what they're doing. We will get back to
   
  everyone in the coming months to give them more of the detail behind the
   
  synergies and those costs.
   
   
  Again, we try to be very conservative. This is not a short-term gain right
   
  away. It is accretive. You have to look; we have to look. This company
   
  is looking at long term. It is the right thing to do in the healthcare sector.
   
  It is the right thing to do for MIM. It will be extremely accretive in 2006.
   
  We expect tremendous revenue growth, and I cant's put a number on that
   
  today. We expect lower cost of goods sold, and I think longer-term, 2005
   
  is going to be the toughest one to predict because of everything going on,
   
  and we'll tell you, 2006 is going to be a fantastic year.
   

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M. Roesler A final question, in terms of the margin impact from these expander
   
  relationship, what do you expect the response from your current customers
   
  is going to be as they start to look at what might be better termed for
   
  another competitor?
   
   
R. Friedman Yes. Well, I don’t know about better terms. I think what it does is gives
   
  us a greater opportunity to compete. We’re absolutely using leverage.
   
  The cost of getting product added to facilities will decline. We will be
   
  able to buy better. We will be able to participate where, in the case of a
   
  larger managed care client, if we have to go ahead, and say, “You know
   
  what? We're going to take this business, and it's a little bit lower margin,”
   
  we may in fact go ahead and do that.
   
   
  I think having retail stores absolutely gives you leverage and gives you
   
  some margin protection. Our Fair model has absolutely done that. The
   
  higher touch-higher feel therapies usually generate higher margins for
   
  you. So you can have a mix, and you want to have a mix; the mix
   
  between the customer itself, the physician, the hospital, the clinic and the
   
  large managed care organizations. So there is going to be margins in all
   
  these different trades that are going to vary. But I think, overall, the
   
  margins in this industry, and I've said this for a long time, these margins
   

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  will continue to tighten. As a new product comes out, you may see higher
   
  margins; over a long period of time, those margins will shrink.
   
   
  I anticipate that. We run this company in anticipation of margin
   
  shrinking. I come out of the generic pharmaceuticals business. I
   
  understand that. This is a volume-type of business with clinical expertise
   
  that you’re offering, and that's why you have to be bigger. You have to be
   
  able to provide these services and get the increase in volume so that you're
   
  facilities can absorb a lot of that overhead cost. This is a terrific deal, and
   
  I'm looking forward to it.
   
   
M. Roesler Thank you.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Glenn Garmont of First Albany
   
  Capital. Please go ahead.
   
   
G. Garmont Just real quick, Jim, are the TennCare payments done at this point, and is
   
  there a full-year operating cash flow number that you've provided?
   
   
J. Lusk Yes. TennCare payments, there's a minor trickling of things that’s not
   
  even worth talking about. We are pretty much done with TennCare at this
   
  point in time. In terms of operating cash for the year, we were saying
   

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  somewhere in the high single digits around ten, somewhere in that range.
   
   
G. Garmont Great.
   
   
R. Friedman And how much did you pay out to TennCare?
   
   
J. Lusk To TennCare, we paid out $7.6 million in two quarters; $2.4 this quarter,
   
  and it was over $5 million last quarter. So those were big numbers.
   
   
G. Garmont Taking all of those things into account, you're still going to do operating
   
  cash flow of $10 million.
   
   
J. Lusk Yes, somewhere in that range. Correct.
   
   
G. Garmont Great. Thanks.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Kevin Casey of WPG. Please go
   
  ahead.
   
   
K. Casey I was wondering if you can clarify or explain in more detail the industry
   
  trends that seem to make you guys cautious on gross margins?
   

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R. Friedman Yes. Kevin, this is an industry where you have some major players
   
  whether it's Caremark, Express with Care-a-Script, now a priority, where a
   
  lot of business, especially at the larger managed care accounts, is based
   
  upon pricing. When you're not a manufacturer, you have a lot more
   
  pressure being put on you in that competition. We don't see that as much
   
  on the local distribution level, but you do see that with the larger managed
   
  care accounts. That's why you need to be able to use your leverage in
   
  order to pick up a reduction of expenses and a lower unit cost per item.
   
  You're not going to make it up on the sales side.
   
   
  The selling price in the market is governed by the market. The only thing
   
  that we're going to be able to do is try to buy better and to lower the labor
   
  cost and the overhead cost of getting it out the door. So I believe the
   
  market trend will be to continue to see pricing pressures. I think that will
   
  always be the case. I think you'll have new products coming out. I think
   
  you'll get to a multi-source environment in the near future.
   
   
  There are still plenty of biotech. There's 280 biotech products that are out
   
  there today at the FDA. So I think what's going to happen is you'll see a
   
  lot more multi-sourced products coming out there. As you know, in the
   
  distribution business, you make more money on generics than you do on a
   
  brand. So I think right now you're going through that period of time
   

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  where you're seeing pricing pressures. I think that you'll see more
   
  products out there. But I think, overall, when you look at strictly the
   
  injectable of—I hate to say, run of the mill type of injectable products –
   
  not the IV products, IVIG products where you have to get into the nursing
   
  component and some other high, hand-holding ways, that you'll see
   
  margins probably less than 10%. You'll probably see them in the 8%
   
  range, 9% range. I think you're a few years out, and maybe even sooner
   
  than seeing that. So I always anticipate that there’s going to be lower end
   
  of margins.
   
   
K. Casey And then, speaking of getting lower cost of goods sold, have you looked at
   
  products that you and Chronimed both source, and what has been—who
   
  gets the better price or - actually, not even who gets the price, but what's
   
  the difference between the better price and the worse price?
   
   
R. Friedman Yes. Actually, when we look at both companies of what they're buying
   
  today, there was an opportunity based upon our contracts that we will be
   
  able to take advantage of. There are some other things that we could do,
   
  as well, for example, as opposed to the front of the store or the back of the
   
  store. If you have a closed-door operation, you have advantages on the
   
  buy side. When you combine the specialty businesses of both companies,
   
  you'll be talking pretty close to $800 million, and then you throw the mail
   

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  on top of that, you’re $950 million of $1.2 billion. So, when you look at
   
  that, it creates a much better playing field to go out in the RFP process
   
  with the major distributors. The manufactures are very excited about this
   
  process. The manufacturers like local presence. There are people on the
   
  street who like local presence. So we believe that we will have
   
  opportunities with the manufacturers to work closer with them, giving us
   
  greater opportunity.
   
   
K. Casey One final question: When you talked about that contract that was
   
  expanded, that lower price, was that across all regions or just the new
   
  regions?
   
   
R. Friedman That was across existing regions and new regions.
   
   
K. Casey Thanks, guys.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Marvin Loh of Decision Economics.
   
  Please go ahead.
   
   
M. Loh What has the feedback been from the customers that you’ve spoken to
   
  today? Do you feel or have you sensed any challenge in selling the deal to
   
  the clients, particularly those that might have come to MIMS because of
   

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  you’re a more payer-centric model, whereas Chronimed has clearly more
   
  manufacturer-centric contracts?
   
   
R. Friedman Marvin, we've actually changed a bit over the past year or so to
   
  concentrate with the manufacturers. I have to tell you that Mike Sicilian,
   
  who heads up our sales operations, reached out to the customers today.
   
  We’ve had tremendous feedback from them. As a matter of fact, some of
   
  our larger ones, one in particular, was thrilled, saying that, “You know
   
  what? This will open up more markets for you. We could take advantage
   
  of you now because you have more locations.”
   
   
  I think that we didn't have overlap. But what this does do for our clients
   
  that—healthcare is regional. So you'll have managed care organizations
   
  that have facilities in various states, but for the most part, it is regional.
   
  So if you're able to offer their populations, the physician community and
   
  everything else, distribution, clinical services on a local level, it works for
   
  everyone. I think the feedback today has been terrific.
   
   
M. Loh What can we expect from the PBM side given that most of the operating
   
  leverage and synergies seem to be more specialty focused? You know,
   
  PBM has kind of been chugging along, but certainly hasn't posted any
   
  knockout numbers over the last year or so.
   

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R. Friedman I totally agree with you. This is an opportunity for us. We consciously
   
  made a decision to reallocate resources to take advantage of the specialty
   
  arena. As you know, the PBM market, it's a tough market. It's highly
   
  competitive. Certain people from Chronimed bring tremendous
   
  experience with them. They have tremendous relationships, primarily
   
  Hank, Tony Zappa and a few other people there. I got to tell you that I'm
   
  looking forward to getting back with a vengeance into the PBM
   
  marketplace. I think there are tremendous opportunities. I think
   
  especially in a small to medium size market, I'm looking forward to get to
   
  the small to medium size employer groups. I'm looking forward to get
   
  back into the TPAs. I think this is a tremendous growth opportunity. You
   
  have some fine companies out there that go after the same groups, but, you
   
  know, with all leverage and being able to compete, and I think we have
   
  the best computer systems that are out there today, I think we do a great
   
  job in the PBM. I know Hank and he said before, is looking forward to
   
  taking advantage of that passion of his.
   
   
M. Loh So it's going to be one of your top efforts come 2005?
   
   
R. Friedman It's going to be one of those efforts, absolutely true.
   

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M. Loh Thanks very much, guys.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Mark Cooper of Wells Capital.
   
  Please go ahead.
   
   
M. Cooper I only listened to the little part of the first call earlier today, but the
   
  concept of this accretion that you talk about, is that relative what the
   
  estimates are for MIM for next year? I think, I don't know, it's like $0.56,
   
  somewhere around there.
   
   
J. Lusk I got to say, I'm not sure it’s relevant to those numbers. What we're
   
  looking at, and we have not put out guidance for 2005 yet. What we're
   
  looking for right now is obviously the guidance we have on the street right
   
  now is $0.42 a share for 2004. You know what the Chronimed numbers
   
  are right now, and you have to adjust those for Aetna, and you have to
   
  adjust for the synergies involved.
   
   
  Based upon the analysis that Jim has done and our financial advisors have
   
  done and that we did show to our board of directors, this deal is accretive
   
  to us in 2005. As I said earlier, Jim's going to come out with numbers, as
   
  we refine these, and we will come out with 2005 guidance in the next few
   
  months for both organizations.
   

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  Again, I have to say this again, you know, 2005 will be—2006 is going to
   
  be an incredible year. You will have the benefits of everything going on.
   
  You will have the cross-selling opportunities. I know that's a long-way
   
  off, but I got to tell you, you know, it's where the industry is going. We
   
  will be a leader there. We will be doing all the things in between. We
   
  will be growing all businesses. 2005 will be accretive. 2006 will be even
   
  more so.
   
   
M. Cooper Did I understand your comments about this longer-term contract that you
   
  signed that you felt diminishing margins this quarter? Did I understand
   
  that to you say that added—you think that will add $30 million of
   
  incremental revenue?
   
   
R. Friedman No. What I did say is how much that they were doing.
   
   
M. Cooper So they were doing 90?
   
   
R. Friedman Yes. Last year, they did over 90 million in specialty. And a big part of
   
  this was how much we’re going to pick up and over what period of time
   
  we're going to pick up, as it's being converted over to us. But it does
   
  create an opportunity. I also said, in those regions that we picked up, it’s
   

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  about 50 million—I think I said 50 million to 60 million, 60 million of
   
  specialty business we did not have. So it's a question of, could we get all
   
  60? What's going to happen there? And we're working our tails off to go
   
  and make that happen, and that's the responsibility of Mike and his team.
   
  But we anticipate having significant volume come to us in the fourth
   
  quarter. We're picking some up right now. But to make up for that loss in
   
  the margin, you know, we're expecting that to turn for us in the fourth
   
  quarter.
   
   
M. Cooper My last question, and I didn't hear this on the earlier call either, there's no
   
  collar or anything in place to set a minimum value for the Chronimed
   
  shareholders?
   
   
R. Friedman There was no collar, right.
   
   
M. Cooper Thank you.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have a question from Jeff Green of Health Co. Please go
   
  ahead.
   
   
J. Green One of my questions was answered about the $35 million, which I’m a
   
  little bit surprised that you're unable to disaggregate that a little bit better
   

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  today given the time you’ve put into this merger. It's a little disappointing
   
  that you can't figure out what the true run rate is yet, to state that for
   
  certain, the deal is accretive. So that's a little bit hard to swallow, but
   
  having said that and you've address that, moving onto what management
   
  in each respective company, what change of control issues there are with
   
  each respective management teams in regard to options, vesting, etc.?
   
   
R. Friedman The change of control, both the senior people in both companies waived
   
  their rights to anything regarding change of control. For those executives
   
  that in fact may not be part of the combined entity at a certain point in
   
  time, there will be severance and retention agreements with them and they
   
  will have an option to go ahead. Actually, Barry Posner is with us. Barry,
   
  do you have anything to add to that?
   
   
B. Posner Yes. Thank you, Rich. There will be some dilution from option
   
  acceleration under the Chronimed plan. It's not a very large number.
   
   
J. Green Can you quantify how many options and which executives are getting
   
  them and how they're being—Are they automatically vested and what the
   
  strike price is? Similarly, on the other side?
   
   
B. Posner I can do it, but it's about a 15-page list. This is not going to three or four
   

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  executives. These are options that were granted to a number of their
   
  employees and, you know, I'm talking in excess of 30, 40, 50 people over
   
  years at varying strike prices. They are not a very top-heavy company
   
  when it came to option grants, but I think it's more appropriate for you to
   
  have that discussion with them and they can give you some particular
   
  details on it.
   
   
J. Green What about you guys?
   
   
B. Posner It's not a change of control for us.
   
   
J. Green And there's no change in how your options are addressed then in terms of
   
  this transaction?
   
   
B. Posner Yes. It's addressed by there being no effect on them, as a matter of change
   
  of control. If particular people are not going forward, then it's a matter of
   
  their employment contracts and those are well filed Edger, to the extent
   
  they’re executive officers.
   
   
J. Green What are the timeframes you plan on elucidating how this $35 million is
   
  disaggregated? I mean, is it just like a month, or is just over six months,
   
  or a year?
   

25


   
R. Friedman No. I will tell you that we will probably get back to you in a better part of
   
  six weeks with this information. It's clear to say that there is a plan. We
   
  have certain of this information, and it just needs to be refined before we
   
  go out with it.
   
   
J. Green I mean, curiously then, it has not been my experience that a company has
   
  come out with a number like that and then not been able to sort of pinpoint
   
  it. Was this just that you didn't want to announce this soon and you had to
   
  announce it for some reason or another? It just seems a little strange.
   
   
R. Friedman I have absolutely no response to that. This is the number that we have
   
  given. This is the number that both companies felt comfortable with when
   
  we went through. We're not at this point going to say what's a
   
  contribution from each of the companies, as well as what the synergies
   
  are. Clearly, we know it. We have chosen not to share it.
   
   
J. Green I'm sure that's going to make for a lot of dissatisfied and unhappy callers
   
  on this … right now. I could probably speak for others. But anyway, I’ll
   
  let you go. It's something I have never heard in my career, which is not
   
  terribly long, but it's strange. Anyway, good luck. Thanks.
   

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R. Friedman Thank you.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. We have no more questions in queue. Please continue.
   
   
R. Friedman Thank you. It has been a long day. It has been a terrific day. We're
   
  excited about moving forward. We think this is a terrific deal for both
   
  companies, and we will absolutely get back to everyone in the coming
   
  weeks with more detailed information. Have a good evening.
   
   
Moderator Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this conference will be available for
   
  replay after 9:30 p.m. today through midnight, August 16, 2004. You may
   
  access the AT&T Teleconference Replay System at anytime by dialing 1-
   
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  participants may dial 320-365-3844.
   
   
  That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your
   
  participation and for using AT&T Executive Teleconference Service.
   
   

 

 

 

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