Tough first year financially for HC-One

In its first set of accounts, HC-One, formed when the leases of 240 Southern Cross care homes were transferred following its collapse, reported revenues of £277.2m for the 14 months ended 30 September 2012, based on 11 months of trading. The company made an operating loss of £2.2m, taking into account £4.6m of non-recurring additional operating costs arising from improvements made to the quality and operational sales performance of several underperforming homes’ and expenditure incurred while setting up the business. After closure costs and interest, HC-One made a pre-tax loss of £5.9m. EBITDAR as % revenue was 15.7%, compared to 23.6% at Bupa care homes and 24.1% at Four Seasons for the calendar year 2011. Lease charges accounted for 13.3% of revenue, resulting in a rent cover of less than 1.2%.