A Summerset retirement village. Photo: Summerset
The retirement village operator Summerset's full year profit has fallen sharply as the weaker housing market reduced gains in the value of its properties.
Key numbers for the 12 months ended December compared with a year ago:
- Net profit $269.1m vs $543.7m
- Revenue $238.7m vs $205.3m
- Underlying profit $171.4m vs $141.1m
- Total assets $5.8b vs $4.9b
- Dividend 11.6 cents per share vs 8.6 cps
But stripping out reduced property value gains, down 50 percent from the previous year's gain, it achieved a record underlying profit of $171.4 million, which was above expectations of around $165m.
Chief executive Scott Scoullar said demand remained strong despite the difficult market.
It achieved 1007 settlements for the year ended December, compared with 978 sales over the same period in 2021.
"The average age of our residents is 81 - they move into a Summerset village for a number of reasons that are often distinct from how the property market is performing," Scoullar said.
"A sense of security and community is valuable, and we believe these will continue to drive demand regardless of the wider economic landscape."
Scoullar said 2022 was also a record year of construction, and its development margin was 29.7 percent, up from 23 percent the previous year.
The company expected the development margins to return to be within the 20-25 percent range in the medium term.
Scoullar said its residents were unharmed during the recent cyclone and its buildings were undamaged.
"Our buildings are undamaged and we were able to continue to care for our residents throughout, thanks to our very dedicated staff. We ran essential services on generator power and we were fully supplied with food and medication throughout the [power] outages," he said.
Looking ahead Scoullar said Summerset was well prepared for the year.
"We remain focused on growing our land bank, development of new villages, providing an excellent retirement experience for our residents and delivering value for our shareholders," he said.