S&P Assigns Oregon Dental Service & Sub. 'BBB-' Rtgs.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's Jan. 8, 2002--Standard & Poor's today assigned its triple-'B'-minus counterparty Counterparty The other participant, including intermediaries, in a swap or contract. credit and financial strength ratings to Oregon Dental Service (ODS (Operational Data Store) A database designed for queries on transactional data. An ODS is often an interim or staging area for a data warehouse, but differs in that its contents are updated in the course of business, whereas a data warehouse contains static data. ) and its subsidiary, Dentists Benefits Insurance Co. (DBIC DBIC DBIx::Class (object relational mapper for Perl) DBIC Data Bus Interface Card dBic Antenna gain, decibels referenced to a circularly polarized, theoretical isotropic radiator ). The outlook is stable. The ratings on ODS reflect its strong business position in dental insurance Dental insurance is insurance designed to pay the costs associated with dental care. Dental insurance pays a portion of the bills from dentists, hospitals, and other providers of dental services. in Oregon, strong management expertise in dental insurance, and good liquidity. However, consolidated capital is marginal when the company's dental insurance business and the medical insurance business of its wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , ODS Health Plan Inc., are combined. The ratings also reflect marginal operating performance on a consolidated basis and a high concentration of invested assets allocated to equities. The ratings on DBIC are partly based on implicit support from ODS as a strategically important subsidiary. Major Rating Factors: -- Strong business position in dental insurance. ODS's business position is viewed as strong based on its leading market share in Oregon and high quality relationships with customers as evidenced by very high customer retention rates. ODS's business position is enhanced by its provision of dental malpractice products along with its dental plans. ODS is organized as a not-for-profit entity with two for-profit subsidiaries (ODS Health Plan, Inc. and DBIC). ODS is controlled by the Oregon Dental Association (ODA ODA - Open Document Architecture (formerly Office Document Architecture). ) and ODS is a member of the Delta Dental Plans Delta Dental Plan, n.pr an active member organization of the Delta Dental Plans Association (a not-for-profit organization), formed and guided by state dental societies to provide prepaid dental care to the public on a group basis. Association. -- Strong management expertise in dental insurance. Management is focused on growing market share in the dental business. ODS will continue to explore ways that add value for its customers. -- Good liquidity. ODS's consolidated liquidity ratio of 120%, as measured by Standard & Poor's model, is good. -- Marginal capitalization. Consolidated capitalization is marginal based on a projected year-end 2001 Standard & Poor's capital adequacy ratio Capital adequacy ratio (CAR), also called Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR)[], is a ratio of a bank's capital to its risk. National regulators track a bank's CAR to ensure that it can absorb a reasonable amount of loss. of 77.5%. However, capital adequacy is expected of more than 100% by year-end 2003. Capital has been weakened by the support ODS has provided to its unprofitable medical subsidiary and investment losses in 2001. -- Marginal operating performance. ODS's consolidated operating performance is viewed as marginal based on decreasing pretax pre·tax adj. Existing before tax deductions: pretax income. pretax adj [profit] → vor (Abzug der) Steuern operating performance over the last four years and a negative earnings adequacy ratio since 1999. The medical subsidiary has been a significant driver of this marginal operating performance, although the dental operation has performed adequately. -- High concentration of invested assets in equities: With 39% of invested assets currently in equities, the company's allocation to this asset class is above average. OUTLOOK: STABLE Standard & Poor's expects ODS's capital adequacy to improve in 2002 and 2003 to more than 100% by year-end 2003. Standard & Poor's expects ODS's consolidated net after-tax income to improve from a loss of about $2 million in 2001 to a profit for 2002, and expects profitability will continue to improve in 2003. ODS is expected to maintain its leading market position in Oregon. Standard & Poor's expects ODS to maintain a consolidated liquidity ratio of more than 100%. |
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