Japara Healthcare chief executive Andrew Sudholz says the newly listed aged care operator is on track to meet its key prospectus earnings target for the full year because it has maintained a high level of occupancy and controlled costs.
After listing last April with an offer price of $2.00, Japara got a major shock when the for-profit sector’s payroll tax supplement was slashed in last year’s budget. Mr Sudholz said given the measure would strip $4 million from pre-tax earnings for 2014-15, Japara has “performed brilliantly well in reorganising ourselves to ensure we have been able to meet our prospectus targets.”
Japara said it was on track to deliver EBITDA of $50.3 million for 2014-15. The company said its half year net profit after tax came in at $15.8 million for the last six months of 2014, but did not give an equivalent amount from the prior year for comparison.
On a pro forma basis revenue rose 13.8 per cent to $137.5 million, from $120.8 million in the prior year.
Mr Sudholz said the revenue growth was mostly driven by an increase in the funding the company receives from the government because of the proportion of residents who have higher acuity. This means they are older, more frail and often suffer from chronic conditions, which drives up the cost of care.
Japara’s average daily funding per resident, known as the Aged Care Funding Instrument [ACFI] rate, was $177.16 in Decmeber, up from $167.41 in July 2014.
Mr Sudholz said the average occupancy rate across Japara’s 39 facilities had remained stable at about 94.5 per cent throughout the half.
Japara shares had gained 7.3 per cent or 18c to $2.64 at 1:22pm. The stock has rallied strongly from an all-time low of $1.835 hit in January.
The board declared an interim dividend of 5.5c a share to be paid on April 30. The company said it expects the total dividend for 2014-15 will be in excess of 10.5c a share.