National Dentex

National Dentex Corporation, headquartered in Wayland, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, is the largest operator of dental laboratories in the United States. It serves an active customer base of over 10,000 dentists through its 28 full-service and five branch dental laboratories located in 22 states. The Company's dental laboratories provide a full range of custom-made dental prosthetic appliances, including dentures, crowns and fixed bridges, and other dental specialties. Each of the Company's dental laboratories is operated as a stand alone facility under the direction of a local manager responsible for the operation of the dental laboratory, supervision of its technical and sales staff and delivery of quality products and services. The Company's corporate staff provides marketing, financial and administrative services, negotiates Company-wide purchasing arrangements, and sets quality and performance standards for the dental laboratories.

History

The Company was founded in 1982 as H&M Laboratories Services, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, which acquired six full-service laboratories and related branch laboratories from Healthco, Inc. In 1983, the Company changed its name to National Dentex Corporation and acquired 20 additional full-service dental laboratories and related branch laboratories from Lifemark Corporation. Between 1983 and 1993 the Company focused its attention on the development of strong local management and trained staff with incentives tied to laboratory performance. In December 1993 the Company successfully completed an Initial Public Offering ("IPO"), The purpose of this IPO was to provide an acquisition fund which when combined with its available bank line and a publicly traded entity would give the Company the necessary resources to accelerate its growth in a highly fragmented industry. Since 1993 sales have grown from $30,624,000 to last years 1999 total of $69,639,000.

Objective

The Company's objective is to remain the leading national operator of dental laboratories by acquiring additional laboratories and by improving laboratory profitability at existing laboratories. The Company intends to focus its acquisition activities on both full-service dental laboratories with annual sales in excess of $1 million and other dental laboratories that can be integrated with existing Company operations. The Company plans to enhance its services to customers at existing and acquired dental laboratories by building on its full-service capabilities, utilizing computer technology to improve customer services to dentists, emphasizing operating efficiencies and commitment to high quality products, and implementing innovative marketing programs.