Ryman Healthcare is planning to build a new $95million retirement village in Mount Martha, Victoria, Australia.
The listed company earlier indicated to the Otago Daily Times Victoria was seen as a growth market because of the ageing demographics, similar to those seen in New Zealand.
Ryman development manager Andrew Mitchell said yesterday the village was being built in response to a shortage of retirement living options on the Mornington Peninsula.
The company, which has two villages in Dunedin, owns 31 and services 10.500 residents in New Zealand and Victoria. Each village offers a combination of retirement living and aged care.
Ryman also released its financial results for the six months ended September. The reported profit of $202.6 million was 9% higher than the $187 million reported in the previous corresponding period.
An interim dividend of 9.5c per share was declared.
The accounts showed the company paid $938,000 in deferred tax in the current period, compared with $7.7 million in the pcp.
The unrealised fair value movement in its properties was slightly up at $118.3 million.
Total revenue grew 19% to $165.2 million from $138.8 million.
The company preferred using the ''underlying profit'' measure which excluded things like the unrealised value in properties.
Chairman David Kerr said strong gains from the resale of occupancy rights had driven the results.
''We are pleased to be able to report another good first half result and we have a great pipeline of villages to develop. We are in a very strong financial position and our total assets are now $5.3billion.''
Occupancy in the established care centres was running at 97% in the first half, well ahead of the industry average of 87%.
It was pleasing to see resale volumes at Ryman's villages grow by 12%, despite volumes in the real estate market dropping by more than 20%, he said.
''We are keeping an eye on the property market like everyone else ...
''Moving into a Ryman village is usually a decision based on health needs rather than a purely market-driven decision.''
