Ryman, My Food Bag strong

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

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

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

New Zealand operations made $589.6 million of that net reported profit after tax and Australia $103.2 million, and one institutional investor said 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.

Underlying profit rose 13.6% from $224.4 million to $255 million.

The company said it had made a record fullyear 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 22.4cps which is 43.9% of underlying profit.

Meanwhile, My Food Bag said tight cost management had allowed the meal kit company to mitigate the impact of macroeconomic challenges and deliver an 18.1% lift in operating earnings to $34.2 million for the March year.

The company’s net profit — including a $14.1 million deduction of oneoff transaction costs — came to $20 million, up from $2.4 million in 2021.

My Food Bag, which listed in March last year, declared a fully imputed dividend of 4 cents per share, bringing the total for the year to 7c.

The numbers were in line with an earnings guidance issued in April.

‘‘In 2022, the business mitigated a number of macroenvironment challenges, such as inflation, labour availability and supply chain pressures,’’ chairman Tony Carter said.

‘‘These were alleviated via selective price increases and tight cost management, as well as working closely with suppliers to adjust customer offers as required and micromanagement to navigate labour uncertainty, particularly in Q4,’’ he said.

Revenue came to $194 million, up $7.6 million on its listing document forecasts and up $3.3 million on 2021.

For Asset Plus, falling revaluations and rent, rising expenses, an empty office building and a rising tax bill pushed its fullyear profit down by 81%.

Net profit after tax fell from $15.95 million in the full year to March 31, 2021, to $2.93 million in the corresponding 2022 year after gross income fell from $13.9 million to $11.93 million and last year’s $9.19 million fair value investment property gains turned into a $1.22 million devaluation or writedown.

Expenses rose from $3.95 million to $4.2 million, and having half of a then completely empty office building did not help the company managed by Centuria NZ, owned by ASX listed Centuria Capital.

Net rental revenue decreased by $2.2 million at Asset Plus’ office block in Graham St, central Auckland, vacated by the Auckland Council, the company said.

The company also had a valuation loss of $1.2 million on the building. —