Ryman Healthcare

Ryman Healthcare Ltd

Type	Public (NZX: RYM)
Industry	Aged care
Founded	1984 founded, 1999 IPO
Founder	John Ryder, Kevin Hickman
Headquarters	Christchurch, New Zealand
Areas served	NZ, Australia
Key people	CEO - Gordon MacLeod, CFO - David Bennett, Chairman - Dr David Kerr
Products	Retirement villages and aged care
Owner	Public listing company (NZX)
Number of employees	4500+
Website	www.rymanhealthcare.co.nz

Ryman Healthcare is a New Zealand retirement village and rest home operator. It is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and is one of the largest companies listed on the NZX 50 Index.^[1][2]

Ryman Healthcare has 31 operational villages across New Zealand and one in Melbourne is developing another five villages in Victoria, Australia. Its name is a portmanteau of its two founders, John Ryder and Kevin Hickman, who founded the company in 1984.^[3]

As at June 2018, Ryman Healthcare has a market capitalisation of over $6.1 Billion NZD. It has not had to raise capital since its IPO in 1990, funding all its development from operational cash-flows.^[4]

Ryman's business model is a mixture of property development and healthcare services. It operates on a "deferred management fees" model where the village resident pays for a lifetime occupancy use of their apartment or unit, and upon moving out, the resident or their estate receives a lesser sum back for their unit, capped at 20% deducted if over a five year period.

Ryman Healthcare villages offer a blend of different retirement living options at their villages, which are usually large enough to support a mini-hospital for residents and a secure dementia wing. Ryman describe this as a "continuum of care" where residents can remain in the Ryman village of choice, whether it is for independent retirement living, rest home care, dementia or hospital care.^[5]

Ryman expanded into Australia in 2012, buying a site for development in Wheelers Hill, in eastern Melbourne, Victoria.^[6] Ryman has since purchased another seven sites for development at Brandon Park, Burwood East, Coburg, Mt Eliza, Mt Martha, Aberfeldie and Geelong.^[7]

Other notable competitors to Ryman Healthcare in the New Zealand aged care sector include Metlifecare, Oceania, BUPA, Summerset Holdings and Arvida.

Company performance

Ryman Healthcare has demonstrated significant profit and share price performance since its inception. For the last five years, it has managed earnings growth of over 15% per annum.^[8] Ryman has delivered 15 years of consecutive record earnings results since 2002.^[9] Ryman employs over 4000 people, including in house development teams, builders and tradespeople, nursing and caregivers, cooks, cleaners, sales and support staff. Ryman villages are home to more than 10,000 residents.

Awards

Ryman Healthcare have won a number of awards for business and healthcare, including:

• Inclusion as one of the top 10 healthcare companies in the world in the Boston Consulting Group's Annual Value Creators Rankings^[10][11]
• Simon Challies, Ryman Healthcare's CEO, won Best CEO of 2014 in the Deloitte Top 200 Awards in 2014.^[12]
• Dr David Kerr, Ryman Healthcare's Chairman of the Board of Directors, won best Chairman in the Deloitte Top 200 Awards in 2013.
• Reader's Digest "Most Trusted Brand New Zealand 2015."^[13]
• Workbase Best Growth Strategy Award.^[14]

The Ryman Prize

In 2015 Ryman Healthcare announced it was supporting the launch of the Ryman Prize.^[15]

The Ryman Prize is an annual $250,000 NZD for the best idea, innovation or advance in the world that enhances quality of life for older people. It is a philanthropic initiative administered by The Ryman Foundation. Hollows Foundation founding director Gabi Hollows won the inaugural Ryman Prize^[16] for her decades of work to restore the sight of more than 1 million people with preventable blindness.

Alzheimer's Disease researcher Professor Henry Brodaty won the 2016 prize. Professor Brodaty, who lives in Sydney, is Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health, the founding Director of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre and Co-Director of CHeBA, the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales.^[17]

The 2017 Ryman Prize went to Professor Peter St George-Hyslop. Professor St George-Hyslop is a medical scientist, neurologist and molecular geneticist who is known for his research into neurodegenerative diseases. He has identified a number of key genes that are responsible for nerve cell degeneration and early-onset forms of Alzheimer's disease. He splits his time between the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto where he has research labs.^{[18] [19] [20]}

References