Summerset first-quarter sales fall; company says it's on track to build 400 units this year

Tuesday 5th April 2016

Summerset Group, the retirement village operator aiming to double its national footprint over the next six years, said it's on track to build 400 units this year after reporting first-quarter sales of occupation rights fell from a year earlier.

Sales of 121 occupation right agreements were down from 125 a year earlier, the Wellington-based company said in a statement. That was made up of 75 new sales and 46 resales, compared with 78 new and 47 resales a year earlier.

Summerset lifted annual underlying earnings 55 percent in calendar 2015 as the country's third-biggest retirement village operator by market value lifted sales by opening new sites. Chief executive Julian Cook said new stock will come on line this year as the company develops sites at Wigram, Warkworth, Hobsonville and Trentham, and prepares to open a new village at Ellerslie toward the end of the year. It has also purchased a second site in Hamilton, in the suburb of Rototuna.

Summerset currently operates 21 retirement villages in New Zealand. Its shares last traded at $4.38 and have gained 28 percent in the past 12 months.

(BusinessDesk)

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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