Ryman plans thirteenth Auckland retirement village

Friday, 12 June 2020

Ryman Healthcare has secured a site for what would be its thirteenth Auckland retirement village, after buying a block of land in the North Short suburb of Takapuna.

The company, which reported a drop in profit to investors on Friday, would 'landbank' the property for development into a retirement village with 143 units.

The Takapuna site, which remained subject to Overseas Investment Office approval, was a combination of an old industrial site and several residential plots on Killarney St with views over Lake Pupuke.

The new village would have 67 units for people living independently, 31 serviced apartments, as well as 45 beds for people needing rest home, dementia and hospital care towards the end of their lives.

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**

The purchase would take Ryman's total land bank of properties, many of which have consent for development, to the equivalent of 6600 units.

The company, which is listed on the NZX stock exchange, has a number of developments under way around the country, as well as operating retirement villages in Australia.

Ryman announced an audited full year profit of $265 million, down 19 per cent on the previous year, but said there was strong demand for places at its new villages, and the company was in good shape to recover from the disruption caused by Covid-19.

Despite the drop in profit, Ryman told investors its 'underlying profits' had risen by 6.6 per cent, which was driven by strong development margins, particularly from Ryman’s Melbourne and Auckland villages.

Ryman invested $711.4m during the year to the end of March with construction across 12 sites.

Chairman David Kerr said the company had delivered a solid result considering the disruption caused by Covid-19.

'The most important thing for us was to continue to keep Covid-19 out and to look after our 11,600 residents and 6000 staff. We have been successful so far, but we take nothing for granted.

'We have had huge commitment from our team, and a massive amount of goodwill from our residents and their families throughout. I thank everyone who has played a part in this and continues to do so during the recovery.'

'We took some big decisions, including starting to ban visitors from countries with Covid-19 infections in January, locking down access to our villages in March, increasing pay at our villages during lockdown and stocking up on PPE to keep everyone safe.'

Ryman was able to reassign members of its construction team to help with security and grocery deliveries during the Level 4 lockdown, he said, and its marketing and sales staff worked in support roles, helping with welfare calls and communications.

Chief executive Gordon MacLeod said Ryman had been on track to finish the year strongly before the profound impact of Covid-19 began to be felt.

'We had our strongest February ever with record sales and we had built a lot of momentum for March, which is the end of the selling season for us and traditionally our biggest month,' he said.

'The decisions we took to close down our villages to visitors early had an impact on sales activity in March, and we had to shut our construction sites at short notice.'

'We are beginning to see sales activity ramp up, it is good to be building again, and our sales and construction teams are up for the challenge,' he said.

Construction work would continue to bolster local economies and labour markets.

'We have had a busy 12 months with seven new villages approved by councils, and we have another seven new village applications lodged,' MacLeod said.