Latest news with #Infratil
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Largest private medical scanning company ready to take on public system's MRI, CT backlogs
Photo: 123RF The country's largest private medical scanning company says it is "well placed" to become a national partner to the public health system. The government is outsourcing more medical procedures to private facilities to cut wait times and backlogs of patients. RHCNZ - which does MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds and the like - increased its revenues and earnings in the latest year by 8-9 percent, to $369m and $126m. The company's majority owner Infratil told investors via its annual report this week to expect more of the same. "Following a sustained period of investing for growth, RHCNZ is now well-placed for the income generation that follows. "Encouragingly, RHCNZ is having constructive discussions with all three of its major funders - ACC, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, and Southern Cross Healthcare. "Scale, reach, and operational expertise position the platform to contribute meaningfully to alleviating diagnostic bottlenecks and advancing equitable health outcomes." RHCNZ, which has over 140 radiologists at Pacific, Bay and Auckland Radiology's 72 clinics, is getting a new chief executive who recently sang the praises of Wellington (public) Hospital for spotting his kidney cancer 18 months ago. "I have subsequently thought about how fortunate I was," Steven Carden wrote on LinkedIn. "Fortunate in so many ways." That made him "particularly excited" to be joining the firm. "New Zealand is in deep need of investment and growth in the capacity of our health system (both public and private)," Carden said. Expert advice has gone to Health Minister Simeon Brown saying that more outsourcing could undermine the public workforce , if it was done in a rush and without careful mitigations. Health Minister Simeon Brown. Photo: Nathan Mckinnon / RNZ Training is an especially thorny problem, due to difficulties ensuring both public and private provide the right mix. A memo to Brown in March had registered the "concern that training is becoming unbalanced", referring to simple versus complex surgery. RHCNZ told RNZ it was already doing a lot to "share the burden of training" with public hospitals. "A large number of RHCNZ radiologists have very active training roles," it said. Ministerial briefings suggest this had been going on in the absence of a "sustainable" funding model for public-private training. Radiology is likely to be the first speciality where a public-private training agreement is signed, among the several that Health New Zealand said it had on the go. Orthopaedics already has such a deal. These agreements would dovetail with the longer, broader contracts that HNZ has begun signing with private providers to do scans, surgeries and other procedures on patients in the spillover from overwhelmed public hospitals. Infratil also owns an Australian scanning business, Qscan; it did slightly better on returns, but RHCNZ had navigated funding pressures, workforce constraints and "wider health sector disruption", the annual report said. Among the responses to Carden's LinkedIn post, one said: "As a cancer survivor who had to travel from Christchurch to Wellington and then Melbourne for scans while dealing with a cancer diagnosis I totally agree that we need to invest and grow our technology and facilities in New Zealand." After a joint venture was set up earlier this year between Pacific Radiology and HNZ on scanning in Waikato , iwi leader Lady Tureiti Moxon was quoted saying, "This is what tino rangatiratanga in healthcare looks like". RHCNZ said it had "a role in developing a sustainable workforce for the whole system, and is contributing to training of radiologists and medical imaging technologists across the country". Its half a dozen training activities included supervision of junior doctors at Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Tauranga clinics, with a proposal to expand this to Auckland. It also gave training in PET/CT - an advanced type of scanning not widely available in the public system. The company led a triple-pronged attempt in 2022 to hold back a tide of surgeons setting up and owning scanning services. It later did a U-turn, seeking out doctor and surgeon investors itself. Infratil owns 51 percent of RHCNZ; the rest is mostly owned by doctors. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Infratil eyes sale of $1b in assets as it targets stronger growth
Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes Photo: Supplied Infratil is looking to sell about a billion dollars of assets over the next two to three years as part of a strategy to create more shareholder value. "We're much bigger now than we used to be and so we've taken a look at our strategy," Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes said, following the release of its full year result . He said all business units needed to fit with the growth strategy, which included CDC Data Centres, One NZ, Wellington Airport, RetireAustralia and healthcare assets. "Every business really has to contribute, and if they can't scale in our ownership . . . then we're better to find a better owner for them and move on, and move that capital into things that can meaningfully contribute in the long term." He said no decisions had been made about what was up for sale, though the retirement business was one asset it had considered selling in the past. "So that would definitely be one that we would not see being in the portfolio over the long term." He said Wellington Airport still had growth potential. "I think there are actually ways to scale our exposure to airports, which are interesting, but it has to, over time meet the same requirements as every other business which is it needs to be big enough to contribute meaningfully, as we hopefully continue to grow." Healthcare services were also showing growth potential, with advances in technology. "A niche sub-sector of radiology is growing really fast globally and could be a way for those businesses to scale in the portfolio and remain interesting and relevant for shareholders." Boyes said the proceeds of any sale would likely support growth in renewable energy. "Our investment in renewable energy in Southeast Asia and Singapore - that is a business that could take a good chunk of that billion dollars . . . particularly with a big project they're working on there with the help of the Singapore government. "So that's one place (further investment) could go, but we always look around for the next theme that we want to be exposed to as early as we can." One of the theme areas Infratil was looking at was advanced logistics, such as robots and warehouses dispensing pharmaceuticals or other items. "A very interesting infrastructure-like asset that doesn't currently exist today. I wouldn't be surprised to see that turn up at some point, or an idea like that," Boyes said. "I think that's the best way to think about the portfolio is how it's going to develop over time. "The individual assets change, themes come and go, but actually for something that's been going for 31 years, the recurring theme is how you manage that over a long period of time."
National Business Review
7 days ago
- Business
- National Business Review
Infratil signals $1b of asset sales
Investment company Infratil has signalled $1 billion of asset sales in the next two to three years as it seeks to shift capital towards higher growth investments. Shares in the NZX-listed company were down 7% to around $10.47 in morning trading after it reported a loss of $261.3 million for the year
RNZ News
7 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Infratil posts $986m underlying profit
Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes Photo: Supplied Infrastructure investor Infratil has reported a strong full year result with underlying profit near the top end of its guidance. However, the company made a bottom line net loss, primarily reflecting a drop in revaluation gains over the year earlier, when Infratil's controlling interest in One NZ resulted in a $1.075 billion revaluation gain. Key numbers for the 12 months ended March compared with a year ago: Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes said the result reflected strong operating earnings growth of 8.6 percent, driven by growing contributions from CDC Data Centres, One NZ, Wellington Airport and RetireAustralia. "Overall, the operating results were pleasing, particularly given inflationary pressures heading into the year," Boyes said. "One NZ's above target performance stands out, given the difficulties the New Zealand economy has faced, and demonstrates the differentiated position of our business. "CDC and Longroad's strong growth continued. Qscan produced excellent double-digit earnings growth with RHCNZ Medical Imaging not far behind, with both getting on top of the sector's inflationary pressures." He said AI was accelerating demand for data centre space as well as electricity to power them. "This calendar year, investors have focused closely on the pace of that acceleration, and now US tariffs, amid tight New Zealand's economic conditions." Boyes said Australia and New Zealand were emerging as critical destinations for fit-for-purpose AI infrastructure. "CDC is exceptionally well positioned, benefiting from geopolitical trust, energy stability, and regulatory certainty - factors that are becoming increasingly important to global hyperscale and AI customers." The company expected the current year to deliver underlying profit of between $1 billion and $1.05b, excluding its stake in Manawa Energy following the sale to Contact Energy. However, it said the guidance range for its renewable development companies, Gurīn Energy, Galileo and Mint Renewables, was for a loss of $85m-$105m. Boyes said CDC's independent valuer confirmed A$13.7 billion as the mid-point of its independent valuation, which in turn valued Infratil's investment at NZ$7.2b, compared with the year earlier's NZ$4.4b. He said the CDC valutation alongside independent valuations of its other international assets, would see the portfolio manager, Morrison & Co, receive a $350.6m incentive fee payable over three years.
NZ Herald
23-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
NZ sharemarket weakens, ignores Budget
The New Zealand sharemarket largely ignored the Budget to ended weaker, driven in part by a fall in infrastructure investor Infratil and offshore influences. The S&P/NZX 50 Index ended 0.52%, or 65.75 points, down at 12,596.50, with 44.7 million shares, worth $141.5m, trading. There were 73 rises and 63 falls
