Ryman Healthcare profit soars to record

Ryman Healthcare’s profit shot up 64 per cent after big revaluation gains and the business announced $205 million plans for Rolleston and a new $350m Melbourne village.

The biggest listed retirement village owner and operator on the NZX made $692.9m audited reported net profit after tax in the full year to March 31, 2022, up on last year’s $423.1m.

But the bottom line figure included unrealised investment property revaluations which more than doubled from $201.2m last year to $467.1m in the latest year.

New Zealand operations made $589.6m of that net reported profit after tax and Australia $103.2m and one institutional investor said yesterday the result was far stronger than the market had expected.

“Speculators have borrowed Ryman stock and sold it on the expectation that it is being removed from the MSCI global index on May 31 and the share price would go down. This very strong result today may make it more challenging for short sellers to buy the stock back,” one expert said yesterday.

Underlying profit rose 13.6 per cent from $224.4m to $255m.

The company said it had made a record full-year audited underlying profit, helped by a resilient performance through the pandemic and a strong recovery in Victoria.

Shareholders are to get a final dividend of 13.6 cents per share, taking the total dividend for the year to

We have been able to keep our residents and team safe and have set new benchmarks for clinical care.

Richard Umbers, CEO, Ryman

22.4cps which is 43.9 per cent of underlying profit. The dividend will be paid on June 17.

At Rolleston, Ryman has bought a

9.5ha site on Goulds Rd where homes for 280 residents are planned. In Melbourne’s Coburg North, a $350m village is planned on a 2.56 ha site.

The company’s total assets grew to nearly $11 billion during the year, driven by its rapid development programmes, investment in more expensive sites and those massive fair value gains.

It has around $750m of debt headroom and last month issued a further $290m through a United States private placement. The company has now diversified $1.13b of debt away from bank debt, it said yesterday.

The company owns and operates

45 villages which house 13,200 people. It employs just over 6700 staff.

Ryman is planning a further 29 new villages for 9000 people here and in Australia.

Work is not started on every site but is under way on 16 new villages which are being built in both countries at the moment.

Chief executive Richard Umbers said it was a strong result which proved that Ryman had the capability to deliver in challenging times.

“We’ve got a resilient business model and a fantastic team. We have been able to keep our residents and team safe and have set new benchmarks for clinical care. We are also very committed to improving the financial performance as we execute our plans, and continue to acquire land, build new villages, refurbish existing ones, and sell both new and refurbished units,” he said.

Ryman shares are trading down 36 per cent annually at just $9.10. They were as high as $15.49 last September but have slid steadily since then. With

500m shares on issue and at that price, the company has a market capitalisation of just $4.5b.