By Ben Butler
AUDITORS of the company that looks after a chain of medical clinics associated with disgraced former doctor Geoffrey Edelsten have questioned whether it can continue as a going concern.
Five years of Allied Medical Group accounts, filed with the corporate regulator in November, also show the administration company has made a small loss each year it has existed.
But the long-overdue pile of paperwork only adds to the mystery surrounding the actual performance of the 18-strong chain of clinics, which is reportedly worth up to $200 million.
While Allied's website boasts it is ''positioned to become the number one provider of general practice services in Victoria'', the accounts show the company acts only as administrator of the clinics, each of which is legally a separate entity.
Talk that the chain might be sold was rampant in the first half of last year but seems to have dropped away, with Mr Edelsten last reported to have met with potential buyer Healthscope in July.
The complexity of the group's ownership structure is believed to have been among factors making a sale more difficult.
While Mr Edelsten has been widely believed to have a stake in the business, Allied's annual reports and other corporate documents record as a shareholder only his long-time business partner, Trevor Thompson. Mr Edelsten told BusinessDay he was ''not a shareholder at all''.
''Yes, I have provided some consulting roles, that's all. And Allied do the marketing of some of my medical centres,'' he said.
Over five days in November last year, Mr Thompson and company secretary Lindsay Hosking signed off on five years of annual reports, ending an 18-month standoff between Allied and the corporate regulator.
Allied last attempted to file its overdue annual reports in April 2009 but the Australian Securities and Investments Commission refused to accept them because it wanted further information.
Failure to lodge annual reports within four months of the end of the financial year is an offence attracting a fine of up to $2750 for directors and $27,500 for companies.
Allied's reports show the company's yearly losses have ranged from a few hundred dollars to a little more than $2000.
In a note that appears in each year's accounts, auditor Craig Lutwyche of LDB Audit Services says there is ''material uncertainty'' that Allied can continue as a going concern because it has a deficiency in net assets.
Mr Lutwyche also notes that Allied has failed to hold a single annual meeting. However, it is not clear that Allied is required to hold AGMs as companies with only one member are exempt and Mr Thompson appears to hold all its shares.