Summerset eyeing up Australia

Listed retirement giant Summerset Group has sent a top development executive to Melbourne and chief executive Julian Cook said the business regarded Australia, and particularly Victoria, as offering opportunity.

Talking about Summerset’s result for the June 30, 2018 half-year, Cook expanded on why the company with 23 villages in New Zealand might cross the Tasman.

“Paul Morris, who used to run development in New Zealand, is now heading up development in Australia and he’s been there this year,” Cook said of Australia.

“The more work we do, the more we see it’s an attractive market.”

Asked what sites and suburbs Summerset was looking at, Cook said he could not yet be specific or provide any further details but the entire state could offer big scope for development work.

“We’re considering Victoria generally. We don’t want to give a timeline. It’s a large market. We believe it’s underserved by quality retirement village offerings.

“There are few who are offering a continuum of care. Ryman [Healthcare] has one village up and another on the way and a big part of that is the continuum of care,” he said of why Australians were drawn to the New Zealand retirement village model.

Summerset’s model could be attractive to Victorians and Australians generally, he said.

“The continuum of care is independent living, rest home, hospital and dementia, all on the one site. They don’t have a lot of that for various reasons,” Cook said.

Summerset’s June half-year accounts showed an $800,000 provision for tax but Cook said no tax was paid.

“We spend $200 million to $300m a year on properties and if we were not building that, we would pay tax.

“We pay no tax while we’re building.”

Summerset’s half-year net profit after tax dropped 9 per cent from $90.3m in the half year to June 30, 2017 to $82m in the latest period but Cook attributed that to lower rises in property valuations.