Upmarket retirement operator Oceania Healthcare pushes up profit and assets

Oceania's Brent Pattison at The Helier. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Listed retirement village giant Oceania Healthcare increased reported net profit and assets and named Australia’s Suzanne Dvorak as its new chief executive to replace Brent Pattison in two months.

Oceania, which developed St Heliers’ new $150 million The Helier, has announced full year profit to March 31 with reported net profit after tax at $31.5m yet it is paying shareholders no dividend after last year paying 3.2cps.

Unaudited net profit after tax rose 6 per cent to $62.1m and total assets increased to $2.8b. Operating cash flow was up from $70.2m to $85.4m reflecting increased proceeds from first time sales and resales during the period.

Revenue rose from $247m last year to $265m in 2024.

Oceania, chaired by Liz Coutts, has drawn down debt and bonds of $644m. Unaudited underlying ebitda of $82.6m was 3.2 per cent on the previous year’s $80.0m.

Pattison cited The Helier as an example of innovations in the care suite model.

Oceania now has 43 per cent of its care residences in care suites which are a more luxurious form of hospital-level care.

These highly profitable care suites are licensed to residents under an occupation rights agreement model.

People in that hospital-level care leave those suites faster than those in the more traditional retirement village apartments or villas, hence more profit for Oceania, he indicated.

“Care suites deliver additional capital and deferred management fee income to the business and improve free cash flow growth as deferred management fees for care suites is realised faster than deferred management fees for villas and apartments.

Inside a $3m three-bedroom place on level one of The Helier. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

“We continue to see high levels of demand for our care suites, with 258 care suites sold in the year ended March 31, 2024 compared to 256 in the year ended March 31, 2023,” Pattison said.

Oceania had total assets of $2.1b in 2022, $2.5b in 2023 but now $2.78b in 2024.

Total unit numbers rose from 4204 to 4455 but are now 4382. Not all properties are full, with occupancy running at 92 per cent three years ago, 90 per cent last year and 91 per cent now.

In its interim result declared last November, Oceania had total assets of $2.7b, up 6 per cent since March last year partly due to buying new parcels of land adjacent to existing sites but also due to $61.6m revaluation gains.

Suzanne Dvorak has worked in the Australian aged care and retirement sectors for the past decade, most recently as an external advisor at Bain & Company in Melbourne.

She starts at Oceania on July 22.

Before Bain & Company, she was transitional chief executive of retirement specialist Levande in Australia, managing director of Australia’s Bupa Villages and Aged Care and executive general manager of residential communities for Australia Unity.

The company’s annual report, also out today, showed Pattison was paid a total remuneration of $1.13m, slightly down on the $1.14m he was paid last year.

Oceania employs 3000 staff, provides accommodation to 4100 residents, has 2467 care beds and care suits and 1915 units, its annual report said.

All up, it owns 43 sites of which 26 are described as “existing with mature operations” and 17 are existing with current and planned developments.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.