Announcing the company’s full-year results yesterday, which included a record underlying profit, chief executive Scott Scoullar said it would have to consider making its care centres available to its village residents only and no longer accept referrals from the public health system.
“It’s not a step we want to take, but we need to focus our limited funding and staffing resources on our village residents and their needs.
“We don’t want to end up overstretching our staff.
“We know this will mean a bigger burden will be placed on the public health system, but we can’t keep taking the strain,” Mr Scoullar said.
While Summerset had moved to care occupation right agreements (ORAs) at many of its villages, there was still a “major gap” between its aged-care funding and the costs of running its care centres, he said.
Summerset’s underlying profit for the year ending December 31 was $206.4 million, up 8% on FY23.
Net profit after tax was down from $425.3m to $339.8m, which it said largely reflected the fair value movement of investment properties recognised in 2024, relative to 2023.
Revenue was up from $272.2m to $319.9m.
Summerset delivered its highest sales with 1238 ORA homes contracted for 2024, up 12% on FY23.
The board has declared a final dividend of 13.2c per share, bringing the total dividend payable for FY24 to 24.5c per share.
