I would now like to hand the conference over to Dr. Linda Mellors, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, good morning, everybody, thank you for joining us today to discuss Regis Healthcare's 2026 H1 Results. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I extend that respect to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples with us on the call. Before we begin, I want to briefly note that, as previously announced, I have resigned and will complete my time as CEO in June. A well-structured transition is underway, the executive team remains fully focused on delivering our strategy and performance outcomes. I'm again joined today by Rick Rostolis, our Chief Financial Officer.
As outlined on slide two, Regis is one of Australia's largest and most geographically diverse aged care providers, with approximately 8,400 beds across 74 homes. Our operations span residential aged care, home care, day therapy and respite centers, and retirement villages. With a dedicated workforce of over 13,000 people, Regis delivers care and support to more than 10,000 residents and clients across the country. This morning, I will start with an update on aged care industry dynamics and the funding environment. We will then take you through our financial results and operating highlights, followed by an update on our strategic priorities, growth plans, and outlook, and then we will open the call for any questions. Moving firstly to the aged care industry. Aged care remains an essential, strongly growing, and reforming sector.
The market is underpinned by demographic tailwinds, regulated pricing, fragmented supply, and strong cash flows. The market exceeds AUD 40 billion and is forecast to grow at 9% per annum through to FY 2032. Demand continues to rise. 26.5% of Australians aged 85 and over accessed residential aged care in FY 2024. This cohort, led by the baby boomer generation, is expected to double to more than 1.2 million people by 2041. At the same time, chronic undersupply of beds persists, with an estimate of 200,000 net new beds required by 2043. Hospital discharge delays remain pronounced across the country, with an estimated 3,000 older Australians currently occupying public hospital beds while waiting for aged care placement.
There is significant financial cost to older people remaining in hospital longer than they need, with each hospital bed day costing multiples of the cost of an aged care bed day. In terms of supply, only 5,400 net new beds were added across the last four years, which is well below the replacement rate and growth required to meet future demand. With over 700 RAC providers, there are significant opportunities for continued consolidation. The new Aged Care Act commenced on 1 November 2025 and represents a meaningful change for the sector towards a rights-based framework, placing older Australians at the center of care. It reflects recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, as well as the Aged Care Taskforce. A key feature of the new act is the separation of care into clinical and non-clinical activities.
The government fully funds clinical care activities for all residential aged care residents through the AN-ACC funding model. Residents with means now co-contribute to non-clinical care and everyday living. The introduction of the higher everyday living fee, or HELF, replaces the previous additional and extra service frameworks. The HELF program allows providers to offer services and products above those that are charged through the basic daily fee and includes items like premium meals, beverages, hair and beauty, companionship, and concierge services. A material change under the act is the reintroduction of RAD retention, allowing providers to retain 2% of new RADs for up to five years. This is in addition to the increase to the maximum room pricing from AUD 550,000 to AUD 750,000 without IHACPA approval.
The change to room pricing took effect from 1 January 2025 and is already driving strong increases in market pricing. StewartBrown forecasts room price growth of around 8% annually for the next five years, which should support growth in RADs, operating cash flow, and RAD retentions. In addition to these changes, the government is conducting an independent review of the accommodation supplement, which will be completed by 1 July 2026 and will be important for the viability of supported residents, as I will talk about shortly. Moving to sector funding, which remains a critical issue shaping both sustainability and future investment in aged care. The new Aged Care Act reinforces that funding needs to be delivered holistically across three key components: care, everyday living, and accommodation. Care funding via AN-ACC and its supplements continues to provide the foundation for clinical care.
As all operators know, the model needs maturing to fully reflect the true cost of delivering contemporary clinical and care services. A contemporary funding model needs to include an appropriate and sustainable margin to support quality improvement, staff training and development, and technology improvements, especially in light of greater resident complexity. The model should also provide some flexibility around care minute targets, rather than the current binary settings, whereby providers are penalized for under-delivery and not funded for over-delivery. The realities of the complex operating model in an aged care home make 100% delivery every quarter against a target that changes every quarter extremely difficult. Other publicly funded services contain sliding scales around targets to accommodate the operating environment. Under Everyday Living, residents continue to pay the basic daily fee and the hoteling supplement if they have means.
The sector must be fully funded for everyday living expenses, which continue to rise above CPI across food, cleaning, laundry, and essential services. According to StewartBrown, most providers continued to lose money providing everyday living services in the first quarter of FY 2026. The introduction of health provides an opportunity for a more transparent and simplified structure that fails to account for the fixed building and operating costs that providers incur to include health offerings. Accommodation funding remains the area of greatest imbalance. Supplements, RADs, and DAPs are vital to funding the sector's capital cycle, including new builds and refurbishments. What we see today is a significant gap between what nonsupported residents can contribute through the DAP and what providers receive through the government's maximum accommodation supplement.
Based on an AUD 600,000 room price, that gap is more than an AUD 50 loss of revenue per supported resident per day. That shortfall materially impacts sector profitability and ultimately restricts the level of investment operators can make in improving and expanding accommodation. Reform should consider increasing the RAD retention to 4% and lifting the accommodation supplement to restore equilibrium between supported and nonsupported residents. The replacement of the MPIR with a sector-wide weighted average cost of capital is also important, aligning funding settings with real capital costs. Funding and profitability must be reviewed at a whole of sector level. Without an appropriate care margin, fully funded everyday living costs, and sustainable accommodation funding, the industry cannot deliver the service quality, workforce investment, and infrastructure renewal that older Australians deserve. Moving now to our financial and operational performance for the half year.
I'm pleased to report an improved first half FY 2026 operating result, with strong growth in operating cash flow. Revenue from services increased 18, 18% to AUD 668 million, and underlying EBITDA rose 4% to AUD 70.6 million. Operating cash flow increased 40% to AUD 291.7 million, supported by strong net RAD cash inflows of AUD 178.5 million. We ended the half in a net cash position of AUD 198 million. At the statutory NPAT level, the result was impacted by one-off costs, mainly from recent acquisitions. The board has resolved to pay an interim dividend of AUD 0.09 per share, 100% franked, representing 92% of the underlying first half FY 2026 NPAT.
Our star ratings have improved again, increasing from 3.56 in the first quarter of FY 2025 to 3.92 in the first quarter of FY 2026, and average care minutes increased from 210.1 minutes in the first quarter of FY 2025 to 220 minutes in the first quarter of FY 2026. I beg your pardon, the second quarter of FY 2026, as we continue to invest in our direct care workforce to meet the higher mandated care minutes targets. I'll now hand over to Rick to discuss further details on the result.
Thank you, Linda. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Starting with revenue on slide 10, I'll take you through the key drivers behind the headline increase of 18%, noting that government revenue continues to make up around 75% of our total revenue. Acquisitions accounted for 55% of the uplift, contributing AUD 57 million. This includes an additional five months contribution from Ti Tree, acquired in December 2024, four months of Rockpool, and one month of OC Health. These acquisitions have strengthened the long-term resilience of the portfolio by expanding our residential aged care footprint across high-quality, long-life assets. AN-ACC indexation contributed AUD 30 million to revenue, with increases of around 2% from 1 October 2024 and 1 March 2025, followed by a 2.6% increase from 1 October 2025.
Unfortunately, there was no margin accompanying the latest uplift, and as we announced back in September 2025, the AN-ACC changes, net of hotel supplement increases, have cost the business around AUD 10 million of earnings in FY 2026. I will come back to margin in a moment. The hoteling supplement added AUD 9 million to revenue, as the average rate per resident per day increased by circa 60% from AUD 12 in H1 FY 2025 to just over AUD 19 in H1 FY 2026. The current rate of AUD 22.15 commenced on 20 September 2025 and is now means tested. Revenue also benefited from the opening of Camberwell in November 2024, offset by a decline in revenue from the closure of our Bulimba home in April 2025. Other income grew 31% to AUD 77 million, including AUD 72 million of RAD imputation.
This significant increase was due to a higher number of RAD-paying residents. Other income also included AUD 3 million of interest and a one-off government grant of AUD 1 million relating to the Aged Care Work Value Case. In terms of major expenses, staff costs increased by 22%, with the main drivers being acquisitions, which accounted for 42% or AUD 39 million of the increase. Higher wages for direct care workers under the Aged Care Work Value Case, the 3.5 increase to minimum wages and EBA increases, and additional hours worked to meet mandated care minute targets. With respect to care minutes, on average, we have met mandated targets across the first half of the year. Note that care minutes reduced in Q2 to 220 minutes, reflecting the change in AN-ACC from 1 October 2025.
Pleasingly, we saw a meaningful reduction in agency usage and overtime, supported by improved workforce planning. Agency hours were 0.5% of total worked hours, down from a peak of 6% during COVID. Occupancy costs increased by AUD 7 million due to one-off stamp duty costs relating to the recent M&A transactions. We've experienced CPI plus related cost pressures in utilities and consumables, while we continue to invest in our homes, including improvements to our catering offering and technology solutions to enhance the resident experience. As Linda mentioned, underlying EBITDA, which excludes the impact of one-off items, increased 4% to AUD 70.6 million. I note that the FY 2025 first half EBITDA margin of 12% benefit from AN-ACC indexation received in advance of the Work Value Case, which commenced from 1 January 2025.
As a result, EBITDA margin for the half moderated to 10.6%, which was an improvement on the 9.7% margin generated in H2 FY 2025. Depreciation increased to AUD 26.5 million, with the increase primarily due to Regis Camberwell, which opened in November 2024 and recent acquisitions. Excluding non-cash imputed interest under AASB 16, finance costs were AUD 5.1 million for the half, up AUD 1 million on the prior period, with interest paid on RADs awaiting probate, accounting for the increase. The effective tax rate for the half was 44%, reflecting the impact of the non-tax deductibility of stamp duty and stamp duty on acquisitions. Excluding this one-off item, the underlying income tax rate is circa 31%.
The company held net cash of AUD 198 million at 31 December 2025, an increase of 10% on the prior first half. Net operating cash flow of AUD 291.7 million was up 40%, with net RAD cash inflows increasing 108% to AUD 178.5 million, driven by the ramp-up of Camberwell, recent acquisitions, increases to room prices, and a higher number of RAD-paying residents. Our portfolio mix continues to shift towards higher quality homes, with stronger demand fundamentals and cash generation, supporting more resilient and predictable earnings and RAD cash flows over time. The paid-up RAD balance increased by AUD 390 million to over AUD 2.2 billion at December 2025, with acquisitions contributing AUD 239 million of this increase.
Capital expenditure increased 212% to AUD 102.1 million, as the company settled a number of land acquisitions and continued construction at the Toowong and Carlingford greenfield sites. Turning to slide 11. During the half year, average available beds increased 7% to just over 8,000 beds, reflecting the contribution from recent acquisitions and the opening of Camberwell. Average occupancy at mature homes increased from 95.7% to 96%. Average occupancy has continued to build through FY 2025 and into FY 2026. In the second quarter of FY 2026, mature home average occupancy reached 96.2%. For clarification, at 31 December 2025, 73 of the 74 homes in the portfolio were considered mature, with Oxley in Brisbane the only home in ramp-up.
Aged care revenue per occupied bed day increased 9% to AUD 460.60, of which government revenue increased by 8.5% and resident revenue increased by 11.8%. The government increase reflected AN-ACC price indexation, the Work Value Case, and the increase in hoteling supplement. Resident revenue was supported by the biannual indexation of the basic daily fee, increases in DAP revenue, and means-tested care fees. As previously reported to the market in September last year, the October 2025 AN-ACC price increase did not fully offset the wage cost pressures arising from the Work Value Case, annual wage review, annual increases to direct care workers under enterprise agreements. As a result, aged care staff expenses of AUD 340.30 per occupied bed day increased by 12%, well ahead of the revenue increases.
The next AN-ACC funding increase is not expected until 1 October 2026. Going forward, we should expect to see further margin contraction from AN-ACC pricing. However, we remain confident that the phasing into the RAD retention, the expected uplift in the accommodation supplement, and operational efficiencies driven by recent technology investments will improve our operating margin in the medium term. Assuming no change to the resident mix and maintaining the current RAD pool of AUD 2.2 billion, the annual earnings contribution from RAD retention, when fully phased in, could reach around AUD 44 million per annum. Importantly, we've increased room prices over the past 18 months, lifting the average incoming RAD by 32% to AUD 710,000.
Given the increasing strength of the portfolio, we would expect to see further increases in the average incoming RAD during this financial year, which will further support capital allocation and the RAD retention income stream. Turning to one-off items. This page sets out the impact of one-off items that are excluded from the underlying EBITDA. Firstly, acquisition and integration costs of AUD 12.8 million reflected the significant level of M&A activity during the half. This included stamp duty on the transfer of assets, as well as other one-off acquisition costs. Secondly, the increase in employee entitlements associated with the Aged Care Work Value Case was AUD 2.5 million, net of the government grant. Thirdly, professional service costs of AUD 1.9 million related to the remediation of historical employee entitlement to payments.
We retained a provision of AUD 22 million in the accounts at 31 December 2025. Lastly, we incurred AUD 1.6 million in relation to the implementation of our new clinical management system that will be rolled out across the business this calendar year. On to Slide 13. At 31 December 2025, we had 8,025 residents, an increase of 734 over the prior corresponding period. We have continued to see growth in 100% RAD residents, increasing to 2,838, a key driver of the AUD 178.5 million of net RAD cash inflows in the half. We've also seen an increase in the number of DAP payers, which provides an incremental contribution to earnings.
The increase comes mainly from acquisitions, with a number of DAP-paying residents added from OC Health in December 2025. Supported residents represent 41% of permanent residents, down from 43% on the prior corresponding period, with recent acquisitions primarily contributing to the reduction. In terms of RAD pricing, our advertised room prices have increased significantly over the last 18 months, reflecting the increase in the room price cap, improved market dynamics, the strength of our portfolio, and contributions from acquisitions. Overall, the combination of higher advertised pricing, a greater proportion of incoming RAD residents, and a stronger mix of premium homes, is expected to underpin robust growth in accommodation revenue through RAD retention earnings. These settings will also support operating margins, increase cash generation through higher RAD inflows, and contribute to long-term capital sustainability. In December 2025, we completed a partial refinance of our syndicated debt facility.
We elected to reduce the facility by AUD 5 million to AUD 362 million, and maturity dates facility B and D now extended through to March 29. We ended the half in a strong net cash position of AUD 198 million. The key drivers of cash movement are outlined in the waterfall chart. Net RAD cash inflows total AUD 178.5 million, supported by higher room prices, an increased proportion of RAD-paying residents. The continued ramp-up of Camberwell, which contributed AUD 36 million, and recent acquisitions, including Rockpool, that contributed AUD 32 million from the Oxley ramp-up, post-acquisition. In terms of cash flows, we invested AUD 183 million for the acquisitions of Rockpool and OC Health, and a further AUD 102 million in capital expenditure.
We also paid AUD 24.5 million in dividends. Our strong balance sheet and significant undrawn debt facility, together with an ability to generate substantial and predictable operating cash flow, provides the company with considerable capacity to deliver on its growth plans. Total CapEx was up AUD 69 million to AUD 102 million, driven by our investment in greenfields and land acquisitions. We settled five sites at Coburg, Essendon, Seaford, and Newport in Victoria, and Parkside in South Australia. We also continued to progress construction activity at Toowong in Carlingford, investing almost AUD 20 million in greenfields. The combination of land acquisitions and active construction takes the greenfield pipeline to 9 at 31 December 2025.
Maintenance and refurbishment spend increased to AUD 26 million, consistent with our strategy of reinvesting in the existing portfolio to improve occupancy, attract higher RAD prices, and allow for higher everyday living fees to be offered. With average occupancy remaining strong and resident acuity continuing to rise, these refurbishments ensure our homes remain contemporary, high quality, and aligned with consumer expectations. Technology one-off capital investment was AUD 2.5 million, primarily supporting the rollout of the new clinical management system that will improve workflow efficiency, data quality, and importantly, the experience of residents and staff. On Slide 16, as mentioned, in September 2025, we completed the acquisition of Rockpool, with four premium residential aged care homes in Southeast Queensland, with 600 beds. The homes are all open in the last six years, including Oxley in Brisbane, that was opened less than 12 months ago.
The net cash investment in Rockpool was AUD 138 million at completion. This cash outlay has reduced to AUD 102 million at 31 December 2025, once we factor in AUD 36 million of RAD inflows collected post-acquisition. This means that the net price paid per bed was AUD 170,000. In December 2025, we completed the acquisition of 2 premium homes from OC Health, with 230 beds in Drysdale and Torquay in Victoria. Both homes have been built or extensively refurbished in the last 8 years and offer 100% single en suite rooms. The net cash investment was AUD 45 million or AUD 195,000 per bed. Beyond the quality of the assets, the OC Health acquisition brings clear earnings and RAD price upside in the short term.
As shown on Slide 17, our acquisition strategy has been a major driver of growth over the past 2.5 years. Through four transactions, CPSM, Ti Tree, Rockpool, and OC Health, we've added more than 1,700 quality beds and 13 homes. Importantly, these homes are concentrated in metro and high-growth corridors, strengthening our portfolio mix, improving the overall RAD profile, and enhancing long-term earnings growth. A key feature of these acquisitions is the combined AUD 80 million in net RAD cash inflows received post-completion. This represents around 27% of the net investment in the four acquisitions, significantly improving returns by reducing the capital deployed.
This additional liquidity has also enabled a portion of committed funds to be reallocated to other growth and investment opportunities. Earnings, contributions, and cash flow generation have been strong across the recently acquired homes. Incoming RADs from acquisitions are approximately 10% higher than the average of the base portfolio, reflecting both the quality of the acquired homes and the attractive markets in which they operate. Integration has progressed in line with plans, with both revenue and cost synergies identified and being executed. This includes RAD price optimization, procurement benefits, and integration of operating models and technology platforms across the expanded portfolio of homes.
Looking ahead, we have an active M&A pipeline focused on providers that align with our culture and meet our strategic and operational standards. Financial discipline remains fundamental, prioritizing assets that are newer, well-located, and deliver immediate earnings with clear upside potential. Our acquisition strategy is driving earnings growth and stronger cash flows while leveraging scale and improving the quality of the overall portfolio to meet and exceed the demands of residents today and into the future. With that, I'll hand you back to Linda.
Thanks very much, Rick. I'll move now to the update on strategy, growth plans, and outlook. Starting with our strategic priorities, our focus remains on driving operational excellence, strengthening financial performance, and positioning Regis for sustainable long-term growth. Providing high-quality care and services to our residents and clients remains core to Regis, with measures in place to target continued improvement in resident experience, quality of life, and care outcomes. Our strategy is focused on disciplined strategic acquisitions, complemented by greenfield developments and refurbishment of select homes. We continue to pursue operational efficiencies through leveraging technology and redesigning our work processes, including the use of AI, as well as supporting our people through innovation in education and training. This balanced approach ensures that we continue to scale sustainably while delivering exceptional care and services to our residents and clients.
In terms of our achievements across the half, we have implemented a best practice palliative care model that supports consistent, high-quality end-of-life experience. We embedded the strengthened quality standards ahead of the New Aged Care Act, and we rolled out a new digital catering and food safety program, improving meal ordering efficiency and reducing waste. In terms of our workforce, we reduced our reliance on agency and overtime, and brought our employee turnover down to 20.2% from 25.6% in the prior half. This represents a significant improvement compared with FY23, when turnover exceeded 40%.
We were delighted to be recognized as the Community Engagement winner and to receive a highly commended award in Health and Wellbeing at the 2025 Future of Ageing Awards. In terms of digital innovation, we selected a new clinical management system for rollout across all of our homes in this calendar year. We continue to leverage technology and generative AI to improve care delivery and efficiencies across all parts of our business. Our new AI clinical tool, Regis Care Assist, has been named a finalist in two categories at the Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards. In terms of growth, we completed the acquisition of six premium homes from Rockpool and OC Health during the period. Our Camberwell home, which opened in November 2024, reached 94% occupancy in its first year and closed the period at 96%.
Camberwell has generated AUD 56 million in net RAD cash inflows since opening. We also advanced construction on two new developments at Toowong in Queensland and Carlingford in New South Wales, refinanced our debt facility to provide greater flexibility to support future growth, including potential M&A activity. Moving to the greenfield development pipeline, as Rick mentioned, Regis has nine development sites with capacity for almost 1,200 new beds. With a strong track record in delivering greenfield developments, Regis remains committed to building modern, purpose-built aged care homes that uphold high standards of care and service for older Australians. Given the current tight supply environment, we anticipate strong consumer demand for these new homes. Our target is to bring two to three new developments to market each year, with Toowong and Carlingford due to be completed in FY 2027.
Construction of the new 123-bed Toowong residential aged care home in Queensland is progressing well and is on track for completion by the end of this calendar year. The 5-level home will have 117 single ensuite rooms and six couple rooms, with a comprehensive range of care options, including a dedicated memory support unit. Our second development under construction is in Carlingford, New South Wales. This home will comprise 101 beds across three levels, with a mix of standard rooms, suites, and couple rooms, and is scheduled to open in mid-calendar year 2027. Both homes are located in high-demand areas with an undersupply of quality aged care beds and are positioned in higher socioeconomic catchments, with median house prices around AUD 2 million, supporting premium room pricing.
Each development has been designed to meet evolving resident expectations, enhance our accommodation mix, and strengthen our RAD generation capacity. Together, they reflect our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our commitment to growing and modernizing Regis' asset base. Regis is targeting 10,000 quality beds by FY 2028, up from approximately 8,400 beds today. We expect to deliver three to four greenfield developments by FY 2028, and we'll continue to pursue the acquisition of high-quality businesses to achieve the balance of our growth target. Our acquisition program and greenfield developments are designed to enhance scale, lift portfolio quality, and deliver stronger economics through technology investment and operating efficiencies. Together, these initiatives position us to expand margin over time, supported by additional levers such as RAD retention, greater economies of scale, and expected increases in RAD pricing.
I'll turn now to our sustainability progress, which continues to strengthen our long-term resilience and aligns with emerging regulatory and stakeholder expectations. During the half, we completed our readiness assessment under the new climate reporting standards, and we will publish our first climate report under these standards later this year. This positions us well ahead of regulatory timelines and demonstrates our commitment to transparency. We finalized our climate scenario analysis, identifying both transition and physical climate-related risks and opportunities across our portfolio. From an energy resilience perspective, we progressed our diversified energy strategy, including electrification programs, to replace end-of-life gas assets with electric alternatives. We were pleased to receive external recognition for our progress.
Regis is now formally recognized as a reporting entity under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, and we achieved the Excellence in Sustainability Award at Bunzl's inaugural Healthcare Awards for our work in reducing waste to landfill and more sustainable product use at Regis Camberwell. Overall, our sustainability agenda is strengthening operational efficiency, reducing long-term risk, and positioning Regis to meet both regulatory expectations and investor standards, while delivering meaningful environmental and social outcomes. Moving to the outlook. Regis remains well positioned to benefit from structural tailwinds, including recent funding reforms to accommodation and everyday living, favorable demographic trends, and improved workforce availability.
The reintroduction of the RAD retention for new residents is expected to support stronger earnings over time, and the core business, which generates substantial operating cash flow, is expected to support Regis' M&A and greenfield pipeline. With a strong balance sheet, substantial undrawn debt facility, and disciplined financial management, Regis will continue to actively pursue further material strategic acquisitions and greenfield developments that drive long-term value for shareholders. I would like to sincerely thank our more than 13,000 employees for their unwavering dedication, commitment, and compassionate care provided to our residents and clients every day. Regis remains dedicated to enhancing the quality of care and services for our residents and clients and supporting our people to achieve this. With that, I'll now hand back to our operator so we can take questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star, then two. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. The first question today comes from Steve Wheen from Jarden. Please go ahead.
Thanks very much. Good morning, Linda and Rick. I just wanted to start with the guidance. There's a number of very positive factors that are on display in your result, not only the underlying result, but also things like the strength in your RADs, occupancy, and even that, that guidance was issued before the acquisition of OC Health. Just trying to understand why you're keeping the guidance to where it currently sits at this point.
Morning, Steve. Been waiting for this one. It didn't take long, did it? I think if you go back in time, when I say from 2020 through to 2025, unless I'm mistaken, the split half on half on underlying earnings has been around 54% first half, 46% second half. The reason for that is that we're funded on a daily basis. You have less days in the second half of the year, but importantly, a lot more public holidays, so our cost increases in the second half. I start with the premise of 54, 46 as my, my sort of guidance point. To answer your question, the negatives in the second half for us is 6 months of this AN-ACC degradation of margin.
We've only incurred three months of that in the first half of the year, given the downgrade that we did in September. That's the major sort of negative going the other way, countered to a certain extent by six months contribution from Rockpool, and to your point, a small contribution from OC Health. RAD retention is still ramping up. Wouldn't think it's gonna be material going into the second half, be far more material going into FY 2027. If I look at the combination of all of that, AUD 130-AUD 135, maybe looking at the top end of that range is probably how I see it today.
Okay, that's, that's clear. Second question, just trying to understand the movement in the care minutes, second quarter on first quarter. I, I heard your comment about it reflecting the AN-ACC. Could, could you just explain that sort of relationship between the care minutes to the, to the AN-ACC and, and why it is actually, stepping down from, from first quarter?
Yes, I'll take that one, Steve. Every resident is provided with their own assessment under the AN-ACC classification system, which then comes along with their care minutes requirements. It changes as your resident mix changes. We are meeting our care minute requirements. What that shows you is that the care minutes targets came down in that second quarter, and that's just a resident mix issue, along with the changes that were made to the classifications with AN-ACC when we came out with that announcement in September.
Okay. So does that mean that from, you know, all things staying equal, that that actually just contributes to a potential margin improvement?
No, it doesn't. The government, the government has a philosophy that there should not be margin in AN-ACC funding. They are matching the AN-ACC funding to the care minutes requirement.
Got it. Last one for me. Just wondering if you could share the multiple that you look like you're going to receive on the divestiture of Ayr, I don't know how to say it, Ayr and Home Hill sites.
We're not gonna disclose that, Steve. That's commercially sensitive information. Suffice to say, I think we've, we've gone out with an earlier announcement that says we'll, we'll probably be making a one-off profit of over AUD 20 million on the transaction. Hopefully, it settles in the next week or so.
Okay, great. That's all from me. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question comes from Tom Godfrey from Ord Minnett. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, Linda. Good morning, Rick. Thanks for taking my questions. Can I maybe just start with some of the operating efficiencies you're looking to drive through the business? It sort of looks like outside of staff and resident costs, the other cost buckets reduced as a percentage of revenue. Can you maybe just sort of talk to where you're seeing some of those operational efficiencies and whether we can continue to see operating leverage around those cost lines?
Yeah, I think, the comment I made, Tom, was that if I look over the journey of, Linda and, and, and, and me being in place here, we've made now over AUD 30 million of investments in technology, platform, financial platforms, clinical platforms, back office platforms. Starting to see now, the reality of all that is and with the advent of AI as well and more automation, that we should be able to become more efficient in the back office end of the business. We're not talking about the homes here, we're talking about the administration of the business, and that's where we see the opportunity going forward.
Thanks, Rick. That's clear. Second one for me, just around room prices and obviously, you know, material uplift on the average incoming RAD pricing we're seeing for you guys. How are you seeing the broader market there? Are your competitors behaving in a similar way? How do you sort of think about room price increases moving forward, given what you've already taken? Just any sort of comments around that?
Yeah, thank you, Tom. Yes, our competitors are also increasing their room prices. Just a reminder that room prices were suppressed, during COVID, and when occupancy went down, so there's been quite a bit of catch-up, pricing movement to be made as well.
Great, thanks. Then maybe just last one from me, just around Camberwell. The AUD 56 million of RADs you've collected there, from memory, the build cost for that site was around AUD 40 million. Like, is that, is that sort of the rule of thumb we should be expecting for Toong and your, your other greenfields, that you're gonna get more than your, your build costs and potentially your land costs back through RADs relatively quickly?
Yeah, your numbers aren't quite right. The total cost of Camberwell, including land, was about AUD 70 million, and if you back the land out, I think that the construction cost was about AUD 47 million. Now, I'll just hasten to add that we locked in those prices due through COVID, and I think, you know, looking at where the cost of construction is today, we did pretty well. When we model these things up, I'll say this, we model up to have about a 75% return on our total cost to build. That's how we model it. Now, that could change going forward with RAD prices going up. You know, maybe it's gonna gear towards 80%, but certainly from a modeling perspective, we rely on a 75% payback.
Got it. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. The next question comes from David Stanton from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Morning, team. I've taken myself off mute. Can you hear me okay?
Yes. Thanks, David.
Thanks very much for this. Look, we've seen quite an increase in the half, in resident revenue per occupied bed day. Will this level of percentage growth continue into the second half and beyond, please?
I won't talk about beyond. We will continue to monitor pricing as we've done throughout the whole of FY 2026 and prior. To Linda's point, we were hamstrung to a certain degree through COVID, so a lot of what you're seeing is a recovery through that COVID period, and the fact that the room pricings were capped at AUD 550 for a long time there. We will have another look at it into March, and if the market can sustain it, we will go again, but I don't wanna put a number on it at this stage.
I think the, the other part, which is around the increasing resident revenue per occupied bed day?
Yep. Again, what you're seeing there is a shift, a shift from November 1 to residents where around hotel and supplement and non-clinical care. You're gonna naturally see an increase in resident revenue contribution to the overall pie as we go forward.
Understood. I noticed that you're getting, you know, higher RADs compared to DAPs in the period. I understand some of that's due to acquisitions, as a general statement, do you think that will continue as an industry trend?
Well, I can't answer for the industry, but that, I think that's the trend we'll see continuing.
Right.
On at Regis. Yeah.
Understood. Two more, perhaps, perhaps for Rick. Second half one-off costs you've mentioned you're gonna have an acquisition gain of about AUD 20 million. You know, can you give us sort of the balance of what you're thinking for one-off costs in, in the second half?
Well, David, the bulk of the one-off costs in the first half were M&A related, so unless we manage another one, I suspect there'll be very little one-off cost coming through in the second half, apart, apart from the things that are already there, like the remediation payments that we continue to make on historical underpayments. Outside of that, you know, you're probably looking at a net gain based on that Ayr and Home Hill divestment.
Understood. Understood. Finally from me, compared to the first half, AUD 48.2 million, you know, can you give us some color around second half FY 2026 CapEx, please?
CapEx in the second half, I suspect now that the land acquisitions are done for this half, we've got AUD 102 million in the first half. You probably should be expecting AUD 50 million to AUD 60 million in the second half.
Understood. Very clear. Thank you very much. I'll go back on mute.
Thank you. The next question comes from Craig Wong-Pan from RBC. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Look, great achievement in that staff turnover rate. Just wanted to understand what's driven that, and if you could also describe the broader aged care labor market?
Yep. Very happy to. Thank you, Craig. We've applied enormous effort to getting that turnover rate down. When I started in this sector, the average turnover across the sector was 35% per annum. Across the sector, it went up in excess of 50% during the Royal Commission and COVID. Terrible from an operating perspective and a resident and client experience perspective. We've worked hard to drive it down. We're doing things like providing better systems and tools for our frontline workforce. We've done a lot around our employee value proposition.
The Fair Work changes to the modern awards through the work value case was absolutely critical in making sure that we could attract and retain more people in the sector, and we were very heavily involved in that process. We're really supportive of the higher wage rates and making sure that people are compensated for the complexity of work that they actually deliver. It's been a range of things. We've also changed our learning and development programs, and just working really hard to make sure that people have a great experience while they're working here.
Just to follow up to that, I mean, do you think the industry, like, yours has improved, your rates improved, and the industry's, like, probably improved as well from those high rates, but do you think they've kind of done as well as you, or is, have you kind of, you know, outperformed your peers in this metric?
I think it's a mix. There's no doubt that turnover has come down across the sector. To what degree? We don't have line of sight to the metrics of our competitors. What I can tell you, though, is that our employee engagement, the sustainable employee engagement rate of 87% absolutely outperforms the sector and other sectors, so critical in delivering, you know, a really positive work experience to people in bringing down that rate. Apologies, you also asked me about availability of workforce. That has definitely improved again, with the higher wage rates, but also with other sectors struggling and laying people off. That certainly puts more people into our pool.
However, there remains a global shortage of registered nurses, and if you look at the, the numbers around the increases that we need for residential aged care beds and home care, it's gonna be very difficult to have that many nurses. That's something that we do talk to government about, extensively, because those workforce settings, migration settings, what they do with the tertiary education, sector, et cetera, really, makes or breaks the, the workforce for us.
Thank you. Just last question. On that 10,000 bed target by FY 2028, I believe the amount of contribution from greenfield developments has been tightened, I think the top end has come down a bit. Just wanted to understand if what's kind of changed or, you know, made or led you to narrow that range?
Greg, nothing really substantial, just timing. The range was three to 600. To be fair, you know, what we're trying to say here is what, what will be done and complete by 30 June 2028. I think one of the, one of the four that were in there might be July to September sort of completion.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you once again. To ask a question, please press star one on your phone. The next question comes from David Lowe from UBS. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I noticed in the written commentary that there's a comment that government funding must advantage new developments given the lack of new building, which is all very sensible, but is there any sign that that's actually on the cards at the moment?
Yeah. Hi, David. The review that the government is has commissioned and is currently underway around the accommodation supplement, that's where we would expect to see some differentiation between existing builds and new builds.
What's the approximate timing of that?
That's due to be delivered by 1 July . I know there's a lot of pressure on that group to deliver early. You know, I'd have a look at that as 1 July at the outside.
Okay. Thank you. The other question I had, just on the outcome in September and the AN-ACC settings, how confident are you now that the Independent Pricing Authority will or is managing to set payments in line with where costs are actually moving?
It's a really good question, and I, I still have high confidence that they, that they've got the right tools to be able to do that job effectively. The difficulty that we had was that the minister had issued an instruction to that pricing authority to remove the margin from AN-ACC, and that was unexpected in the way that they did it. The whole sector was blindsided by the AN-ACC funding changes last year. I think I would say to you that IHACPA will cover the, the costs. What we're saying is that there should be an appropriate margin included in that care funding. It doesn't make sense to have a zero-margin care funding environment.
Do you have any sense as to whether that view is being listened to or that this could change, or is this, is your expectation that it stays as is?
Look, the entire sector is advocating, but like everybody else, we'll have to wait and see, what the decision is.
Okay. Look, the, the last one from me, just the mix of supported residents is declining, and I understand some of the trends there with, with M&A, et cetera, but if we were to project into the future, do you think that Regis will have less supported residents in future?
I think that one of the issues that government has, and it's again, something that we have obviously brought to their attention, they have set pricing signals away from supported residents and away from complex residents. From a government policy perspective, I would consider that to be a bit of a disaster. The people who end up sitting in hospital beds, unable to be discharged, are often people with low or no means and really complex health conditions. Again, I think it's something that they will have to fix. Otherwise, in an environment where you still have so many operators losing money, they will force the sector to move away from supported residents.
Sorry, I did say last question, but just my understanding or my memory is that there were some regulations in place that required certain levels of supported residents, and it was attached to the way funding was provided, and there was some complication as to how it was enforced or if it was enforced. Sorry, long-winded. What, what's the status of regulation that affects how many supported residents Regis will have?
Yeah. You're absolutely right, David. There were those settings in place. They ceased to exist with the commencement of the New Aged Care Act on 1 November . We don't have those minimum supported ratios in place any longer. However, there are still some accommodation supplements that do turn on your proportion of supported residents. Again, I think we need to wait and see what comes out of this review of the accommodation supplement to see what settings they put in there.
Okay. Look, I'll leave it at that. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. At this time, we're showing no further questions. I'll hand the conference back to Dr. Mellors for any closing remarks.
Thank you very much. Thanks, everybody, for joining us this morning. We look forward to catching up with many of you over the coming week. Thank you.