Minda again records millions of dollars in losses – but chief executive David Panter insists the organisation is on track

SA’s largest disability provider has again recorded millions of dollars in losses – but its chief executive says things aren’t as bad as they seem.

Minda, South Australia’s largest disability provider, has again recorded millions of dollars in losses – but its chief executive insists the organisation is on track to fix its financial woes.

Statements lodged with the charities regulator revealed an operating deficit of $5.6m in 2022-23, after recording a $10.8m deficit in 2021-22.

Dr David Panter, who took over as chief executive at the beginning of last year, said the operating shortfall could be blamed on depreciation of Minda’s assets, including land and supported employment businesses.

But he said Minda was “at break-even” when its income was compared with its operating expenses.

Minda chief executive Dr David Panter. Pic Roy VanDerVegt

“The key thing for me is: is the money we’re getting in from delivering services paying for the cost of providing those services?” he said.

“That’s where we’ve got the break-even and that’s why, so far this financial year … we’ve seen a surplus each month.

“So we are predicting, by the time we get to the end of FY24 … even if we’ve got fluctuations in the valuation of assets, we’ll still break-even overall with no deficit.”

Minda also has a $26m bank loan facility, which Dr Panter likened to a line of credit and said the actual loan amount was currently at $19m.

“We want to eliminate it,” he said.

“That’s part of the overall sustainability is being able to make sure we can live off the income we gain from delivering our services.”

Dr Panter said Minda was reviewing all of its supported employment programs, which he said were “not a burden but … not our core business”.

“To our mind, it’s better that those are under the governance of an organisation that really understands supported employment,” he said.

An agreement has been reached to offload the WSL wine storage business, which did not have any supported employees. The future of the laundry and recycling businesses and creative agency are still under review.

Dr Panter said Minda has also undertaken a major review of all its properties and was in the process of selling a few individual houses in the community “largely because they’re not fit-for-purpose”.

“The income that we look at from some of these sales is to help reduce our debt,” he said.

He said Minda would retain the luxury retirement village Brighton Dunes, which is at full capacity.

“Now that it’s complete, it’s very popular, we’ve got a huge waiting list for people wanting to move in there,” he said.

“We’ve given assurances that there’s no intention that Minda wants to move that on to any other organisation or provider.”

Employee expenses dropped from $146.6m in 2021-22 to $137.3m in 2022-23. Minda employed 2150 staff over the year.