Summerset heads to Oz

Summerset Group has opened an office in Melbourne as it mulls expanding into Australia and continues to buy and develop across New Zealand.

At the retirement village developer and operator’s annual meeting yesterday, chair Rob Campbell said the new Melbourne office is being headed by its former general manager of development, Paul Morris, who is now the company’s general manager of development for Australia, according to speech notes published to the NZX.

“Last year I indicated we would commence investigating Australia as a potential market for expansion. Since that time we have been working through assessing this market and how we would position ourselves and operate within it,” Campbell said. “We continue to work through the appropriate due diligence required before entering a new market. We have no further announcements to make at this time. ”

Yesterday, Campbell said the company, which houses over 4700 residents, has more than doubled in size since it listed on the NZX in 2011 and is “likely to double again in the next five years as we continue to grow and as the 70-plus population continues to increase.”

In February, Summerset reported it had lifted annual earnings for calendar 2017 by 44 per cent to $81.7 million, ahead of forecast. Net profit jumped 54 per cent to $223.4m, as the value of the company’s investment properties increased by $218m, compared with a $143.5m gain a year earlier. Summerset built a record 450 retirement units in 2017, up from 409 units the previous year, and plans to match that level again this year. The company’s shares closed at $6.82. They have gained about 33 per cent in the past 12 months.