2018 proved to be a frustrating year for listed e-health provider G Medical (ASX:GMV), but it’s optimistic about brighter days ahead.

The company reported a $US16.2 million loss in its full-year results yesterday, on revenues of $US3.06m.

Most of that revenue was derived from services, following the acquisition of two US-based subsidiaries last year.

But what G Medical is hoping to do this year is sell products — namely, its ‘Prizma’ Medical Smartphone Case, which turns a smartphone into a clinical-grade mobile medical monitor.

The company spent most of last year waiting for regulatory approval to sell into the US and China.

That saw cashflow get pretty tight, with President and CEO Yacov Geva providing a $3 million loan in May.

Also today the company announced the director Louis Antoniou has resigned from the board due to personal reasons.

Great wall of (regulatory approval in) China

GMV’s monitor measures vital signs in the body such as the heart’s electrical activity (ECG), respiration, temperature and stress analysis.

The company has a production facility in China’s Guangzhou province, and it was expecting to get the go-ahead to start manufacturing there early last year.

It ended up having to wait until October, which which meant production couldn’t start until the beginning of this year.

The company hopes that will translate into sales, after it signed a series of distribution deals in China back in 2017.

One such deal — an agreement with Shandong Boletong in July 2017 to distribute G Medical’s case and set up a medical call centre — was worth a minimum of $67.5 million in sales over 60 months.

For now, the market is waiting for G Medical to prove it can execute on its China strategy.

Following today’s results, shares in the company were unchanged at 29.5 cents, down from their yearly high of 45 cents reached in October 2018.

The American Dream

China isn’t the only country where G Medical has big plans for its medical smartphone case.

In January this year, the company landed a $US31 million purchase order from US healthcare business Hygea Holdings.

In 2018, the company also finalised the purchase of two 100%-owned US subsidiaries — Cardiostaff and Telerhythmics.

Both entities operate independent diagnostic testing facilities (IDTFs), and operated at a small loss in the 2018 year.

Late last year, the company began seeking the relevant US approval to apply for a listing on the tech-focused NASDAQ stock exchange.

If approved, G Medical aims to operate with a dual-listed structure in Australia and the US.

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