Lendlease has revealed the trading performance of its Retirement Living business is recovering, with a solid rise in resales and price growth announced in its 2022 Half Year Consolidated Financial Report.
The group added that it is considering selling a further 25% of its $1 billion investment in the retirement sector, after selling 25% to Aware Super in February last year for $460 million and 25% to Dutch pension fund APG in February 2016 for around $240 million.
Lendlease has owned and operated retirement villages in Australia for more than 30 years, and currently has 75 villages, with 13,070 homes.
The number of resales was 538 for the six months to 31 December, compared to 904 for the 2021 Full Year and 874 for 2020 and 842 for 2019.
The discount rate fell slightly to 12.1%, compared to 12.4% for the 2021 and 2020 Full Years and 12.3% for 2019.
It has sold 71 new retirement village homes, worth $52 million, compared to 160 ($110 million) for 2021 and 104 ($57 million) in 2020 and 150 ($86 million) for 2019.
But overall, it was a tough year for the operator which reported a loss for the first half of $264 million as CEO Tony Lombardo (pictured right), who replaced Steve McCann in June last year, said the first half of the year will mark “the trough in activity and profitability”.
“Investment income was higher, driven by an improved contribution from the retirement business and distributions on investments,” he said.
Lendlease’s share price has fallen 13.84% over the past 12 months. The shares stood at $10.23 yesterday afternoon.
