Ryman Healthcare
Ryman Healthcare Limited 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. Ryman Healthcare has 34 operational villages across New Zealand and two in Melbourne, and is developing another eight villages in Victoria, Australia. Its name is a portmanteau of its two founders, John Ryder and Kevin Hickman, who founded the company in 1984. As at July 2020, Ryman Healthcare has a market capitalisation of over $6.5 Billion NZD. It has not had to  raise capital since its IPO in 1999, funding all its development from operational cash-flows. 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. Ryman expanded into Australia in 2012, buying a site for development in Wheelers Hill, in eastern Melbourne, Victoria. Ryman has since purchased another eight sites for development at Brandon Park, Burwood East, Coburg, Mt Eliza, Mt Martha, Aberfeldie, Ocean Grove and Geelong. 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. Ryman has delivered 15 years of consecutive record earnings results since 2002. Ryman employs over 6000 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 12,000 residents. Awards. Ryman Healthcare have won a number of awards for business and healthcare, including: The Ryman Prize. In 2015 Ryman Healthcare announced it  was supporting the launch of the Ryman Prize. 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 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. 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 . Professor Takanori Shibata was awarded the 2018 Ryman Prize in recognition of his more than 25 years of ground-breaking research into new technology to help older people. Professor Shibata, an artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics pioneer, was presented with the prize by the Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The 2019 Ryman Prize was awarded to Dr Michael Fehlings, a Canadian neurosurgeon, for his pioneering research into degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), a spinal disorder that affects older people.