Fitch affirms A+ rating for Newport Health

CHICAGO – Fitch Ratings said last week that it has affirmed an ‘A+’ rating for a $21.2 million fixed-rate revenue bond issued by the R.I. Health and Educational Building Corporation on behalf of Newport Health Care Corp., the parent company of Newport Hospital. The rating outlook is stable.
According to the news release, the rating was based several factors, including Newport Health Care’s “exceptionally strong liquidity” and low debt burden. In its report, Fitch said that Newport Health Care’s liquidity metrics are “amongst the highest in Fitch’s rated portfolio.”
However, Fitch did cite Newport Health Care’s “poor operating profitability” in its report. The ratings agency said operation profitability remains weak, averaging negative 3.7 percent operating margins and positive 4 percent operating EBITDA – or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization – margins since fiscal 2008, both of which compare unfavorably to Fitch’s ‘A’ category medians. •

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