The Australian assets of medical property investor Vital Healthcare Property Trust have underpinned a more than doubling of after-tax profit, which included an $84 million rise in the value of its property portfolio.
Vital lifted net property income 2.5% to $59.4million. Australian rents were up 4.5% at $46million, offsetting a 4.3% decline in New Zealand income to $13.4 million, BusinessDesk reported.
Vital chief executive David Carr said the company finished the 2015 financial year with ''solid financial results'' and a strong portfolio of properties.
''We expect that in the coming year we will continue to be the leading owner and consolidator of high-quality healthcare real estate'' he said in a statement yesterday.
The annual return was 8c per unit and Vital intended to raise that to 8.1c in the 2016 financial year.
Mr Carr said the fundamental drivers providing the ''positive tailwinds'' for healthcare were the ageing population, growing private health insurance and the high demand for outpatient and hospital services, he said.
The independently assessed annual portfolio revaluation resulted in an $84million increase for the year ended June 2015, Mr Carr said The Australian portfolio contributed 93% of the total revaluation uplift with a gain of $A68.9million ($NZ76.8million), of which about 70% was from properties that had recently undergone redevelopment. The New Zealand portfolio delivered a $6.1million net gain.
''Across the portfolio 20 assets had gains and five declined in value,'' Mr Carr said.
The portfolio was valued at $781.9million as at June 30, compared with $613.1million a year earlier, and had a weighted average lease term of 17.6 years, up from 15.1 years, BusinessDesk reported.
