WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand retirement village operator and aged care provider Metlifecare Ltd (NZ:MET) reported a sharp drop in its headline profit on Monday, but its underlying profit matched its own and market forecasts.
It said the net profit for the year to June 30 was NZ$68.8 million (34.91 million pounds) compared with NZ$120.3 million the year before, but that had included significant gains from a merger and asset sales.
The underlying net profit, which takes account of changes in values of properties, was NZ$46.0 million compared with NZ$33.5 million last year. The company had forecast a profit between NZ$43 million to NZ$46 million. Analysts on average forecast NZ$47.8 million.
The company, which has 25 villages and plans to build facilities that would house 200 beds a year from next year, declared a dividend of 3.75 cents a share compared with 3 cents last year.
(Gyles Beckford)