Orpea - comment

Orpea released H1 revenue and Occupancy data across the Group this morning, coupled with an announcement of two sale-and-lease-back agreements in the Netherlands and Austria for €83m. The capitalisation rate is not disclosed for the Dutch properties, but it was 4.5% in Austria, which is lower than expected. 

In the numbers, although occupancy rates are increasing they are surprisingly still languishing in the low 80’s (82.7% for H1 23 versus 81.3% in H1 22). In France, their main region, nursing home activity remains far from historical levels, with an average occupancy rate of 83.4% versus 86% before H1. Note, the Company have previously guided that there will be lower sales growth and a substantial lag in EBITDAR for FY23 compared to the November plan.