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 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.