Ryman sales climb despite housing downturn
Listed retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare says it is defying the market with a rise in sales of units by 11 per cent, compared with a 20 per cent fall in house sales across Auckland.
Ryman chief executive Gordon MacLeod said this was because people primarily moved into retirement villages for lifestyle and health reasons.
A big worry for Ryman currently was the new Labour Government’s intention to tighten immigration rules, because of the large number of care workers it employed from overseas and a growing demand for more.
Ryman was lobbying the Government to support family members of staff who were born outside New Zealand, MacLeod said.
Staff had been given further pay increases and improved entitlements, he said.
A Government-brokered deal provided for subsidised payments to lift care worker pay.
Ryman posted an 11 per cent higher profit of $85 million from operations in the half-year ended September 30, 2017. This came from total revenue of $165m.
The inclusion of unrealised property revaluations lifted the final profit after tax to $202m.
Occupancy in Ryman care centres was running at 97 per cent, ahead of the industry average of 87 per cent.
MacLeod announced planning for a new $95m retirement village in Mount Martha in Victoria, Australia, to add to its portfolio of 31 villages worth more than $5 billion in total.
The company is increasingly focused on the Australian market, where it has a village under construction in Melbourne and five at the design and planning stages.
In New Zealand Ryman has villages currently under construction at Greenlane, Devonport and Lynfield in Auckland.
Villages are at the planning stage in Hobsonville and Lincoln Rd in Auckland, as well as in Hamilton, Newtown in Wellington, and Park Tce in Christchurch.
Shareholders will receive an increased interim dividend of 9.5 cents a share. Full-year operating profit is expected to be between $195m and $201m.