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IRT has a record year
17 November 2011
“A record year” is how IRT Chief Executive, Nieves Murray described IRT’s performance during the 2010/11 financial year in the lead up to tonight’s (Thursday, November 17) Annual General Meeting in Wollongong.
“The strength of our brand and balance sheet have been paramount to our success,” Ms Murray said.
As one of Australia’s largest seniors lifestyle and care providers, IRT has strengthened its financial position, with an increase in total revenue for the financial year of 22.8% to $130.8 million. Assets, at $744 million, are up 3.6% from last year. Surplus for the year was $18.3 million while cash reserves grew 47.4% to reach $40 million.
“We have achieved this through education and training of our staff and better decision making,” Ms Murray said. “It is imperative we maintain strong financial results as our residents invest in us and want to ensure their investment is safe.”
One third of our surplus will be re-invested in benevolence projects including expansion of IRT’s affordable housing options. The balance of the surplus will be used to fund new services.
Over the past five years our customer numbers have grown 74%, bringing our total number of customers to 6,805. The area of greatest growth has been In-Home Care with over 3,500 clients receiving care in their home compared to 1,800 in our Lifestyle Communities and 1,500 in our Care Centres.
The increase in customers has been supported by a proportionate increase in our staff. Since 2007 our cumulative growth in staff numbers has been 44%. This brings our total number of staff to currently over 2000.
“We are proud of our achievements this year,” Ms Murray said. “For more than 40 years we have continued to support senior Australians in safe and secure environments. We have now created a solid foundation for growth and we look forward to the next 12 months with optimism.”
Highlights of 2010/11 for IRT include:
• In December 2010 we launched our new brand, which incorporates a new visual identity for the organisation, more customer-focused language and a new corporate tagline – ‘leading the seniors revolution’ – that reflects IRT’s leadership role in promoting seniors as dynamic, influential and valuable members of society.
• We once again had a successful awards year and took out the Seniors Living category of the 2010 Urban Development Institute of Australia (NSW & ACT) Awards for Excellence for IRT Kangara Waters; we won three 2010 Australian Business Awards; and IRT was also a NSW winner in the Aged and Community Services awards.
• During the year, IRT was selected to be part of the Consumer Directed Care pilot for In-Home Care. This innovative model provides consumers with greater control over the design and delivery of their care services by allowing clients to choose the type of care services they receive, who will deliver the service and when. We are supportive of measures to empower seniors and were pleased to be part of this trial.
• IRT Research Foundation was launched in 2009 to support research to improve the quality of seniors’ lives. The Foundation draws on our pioneering spirit and drive to lead the way in improving the lives of seniors. In 2009-10 the Foundation supported three projects at the Illawarra Medical Research Institute at the University of Wollongong with $120,000 of funding. In May this year IRT Research Foundation 2010 grant recipients presented the results of their work to date.
• In 2011 we had a record 94 students graduate from IRT College with nationally recognised qualifications and in total a staggering 331 students have graduated from IRT College since 2007. Our ambition is to expand our training programs and to make IRT College a centre of excellence for lifelong learning, including seniors in the classroom.
• The annual turnover for IRT Catering this year was $8 million and the surplus was $737,000. The profit is returned to IRT to support our core business of providing lifestyle and care services for seniors. We are also planning to extend the produced meals food bank storage area at IRT Catering’s headquarters in Unanderra - a $2 million investment in this current financial year.
For further information please contact:
Melissa Michie
Communications Coordinator
Phone: 4221 6653 or 0419 789 841
Note to Editors: Please refer to IRT as “IRT” not “Illawarra Retirement Trust” – thank you
About IRT:
IRT is one of Australia’s largest community based seniors lifestyle and care providers. It has been providing seniors lifestyle and care solutions for over 40 years. IRT manages communities in more than 30 locations across the Illawarra, South Coast of NSW, Sydney and Canberra and provides solutions to over 6000 customers.
