Summerset has announced that its underlying profit is up 19 per cent to NZD 106.6 million, compared to last year, as reported by CEO Scott Scoullar.
Retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings Limited has announced an underlying profit of NZD 106.6 million for the six months ended 30 June 2025, a 19 percent increase on the first half of 2024. IFRS Net Profit after tax was up 26 percent at NZD 127.2m.
Summerset CEO Scott Scoullar said the company had delivered a credible result underpinned by the company’s sustainable growth strategy.
“The markets in New Zealand and Australia are both showing signs of improvement, but it’s still a challenging economic environment to operate in. Despite this, we’ve delivered value for our shareholders, maintained our record resident satisfaction and had record sales for the half.
“We’re pleased with our start to the year; we will continue to work hard to deliver sales in the second half, building on this momentum,” said Scoullar.
Summerset recorded 692 sales comprising 354 new sales and 338 resales in the six months to 30 June 2025. Total sales for the first half of the year were the highest first half the company has recorded, with new sales being particularly strong, up 22 percent on the 1H24.
Scoullar said the company had moved a number of its care units throughout the country to be sold under Occupation Rights Agreements (ORAs), to provide greater financial certainty to Summerset and residents.
“Care ORAs allow our village residents to use the equity in their villa or apartment to purchase their care unit, it means they don’t need to pay daily premium charges. Our residents have been very positive about this new product, and we’ve seen uptake across the country as these have been rolled out,” he added.
“We’ve identified more than 750 care units, we are progressively moving onto ORAs, and over 200 of these were under contract or sold during the first half of the year. This has helped to improve our Care EBITDA considerably, which rose to NZD 5.3m, up 96 percent on 31 December 2024.”
Scoullar said the company had also reopened fully refurbished care centres at its Havelock North and Trentham villages this half.
“We’re committed to providing the aged care experience that our residents expect now and into the future. We’re very pleased to update these older facilities with beautiful modern care suites. Our refurbished care centres provide en-suites, kitchenettes and much more, in large comfortable rooms.”
Scoullar said the company’s staged growth in Australia was progressing well, with three villages now under construction and deliveries on track.
“We’re on track to deliver 50-80 homes in Australia this year, rising to approximately 300 in three years’ time. Our Cranbourne North village centre building, which will be where we first offer care in Australia, along with amenities such as the resident pool and café, is on track to be handed over by the end of the year.”
“Chirnside Park’s first villas are also on target to be delivered by the end of the year, with the village opening in 2026. Our enabling works at our Torquay site are well underway, and we will commence construction at our fourth village, Oakleigh South in Melbourne, next year.”
Scoullar said Summerset is focused on ensuring growth isn’t at the expense of resident experience.
“Our purpose is to bring the best of life to our residents. While we continue to grow our retirement offering in both Australia and New Zealand, we’ve remained dedicated to providing an excellent retirement offering to our residents now and into the future.
“During this half, we’ve added new resident competitions and events, added two new homes to our successful Holiday Homes programme, and invested further in our food services.
“This work has resulted in us maintaining village and care resident satisfaction at a record 97 percent.”
Scoullar said the company is happy with its progress so far this year.
“We are, of course, keeping a wary eye on economic conditions, but we are optimistic we can continue the momentum we’ve seen so far in 2025 with our pipeline of sales moving into the second half of the year well-positioned to deliver. While we’ve continued to grow steadily, we have ensured that this has not been at the expense of resident experience and satisfaction. We’ll continue to focus on providing a leading retirement village offering while delivering results for shareholders.”
The Summerset Board has declared an unimputed interim dividend of NZ11.3 cents per share. The record date will be September 11, 2025, with payment due on September 24, 2025.
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