Big companies reap JobKeeper rewards

More listed companies have detailed how they received funds under the government’s $100bn JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme.

Residential land developer and operator Lifestyle Communities counts former federal health minister Nicola Roxon as a director. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

Residential land developer and operator Lifestyle Communities – which counts former federal health minister Nicola Roxon as a director – revealed it received $858,000 in JobKeeper subsidies as it declared a $42.8m profit.

The details came as a fresh round of listed companies detailed how they received funds under the government’s $100bn JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme to support their workforce during the COVID crisis.

Although Lifestyle Communities full year profit was down on 2019’s $55m, it still paid a final dividend of 2.5c a share in the June half. That brings the full year dividend to 5.5c a share, flat on last year.

Lifestyle Communities Chief Financial Officer Darren Rowland said their dividend declarations came from community management cash flow, which excludes the JobKeeper payment.

“Lifestyle Communities qualified for the Job Keeper program in March after meeting the reduction in turnover and other eligibility requirements,” he said.

“We have maintained employment for all team members whose roles were directly affected by the reduction in activity levels and lockdown measures that were introduced in Victoria”.

“As a general principle, the Directors of Lifestyle Communities declare dividends out of post-tax, operating cash flow generated from community management”.

“Cash flow from our growing annuity stream increased this year, providing sufficient cash from operations to declare a dividend consistent with the prior year”.

“The JobKeeper payment was explicitly excluded from this calculation and has been used as intended to maintain the employment of our team.”

Online employment marketplace SEEK reported in its full-year results that it received $8.4m in COVID-related subsidies from Australia and New Zealand, as well as governments in South-East Asia, with JobKeeper comprising $8.1m of that figure.

However, the company recorded a net loss of $111.7m and stuck to its earlier commitment not to pay a dividend in order to fund its “long-term growth strategy”.

On July 23 SEEK paid an interim dividend of 13c a share

A spokesman for SEEK said that as well as receiving JobKeeper, the firm dedicated money towards customer relief.

“SEEK provided temporary customer relief in response to COVID-19 by its investment in support packages including pausing minimum commitments, extending contract lives and providing credits for job advertisements no longer needed in the fourth quarter of FY20,” he said.

“This was to the value of $13m across the Asia Pacific and Americas business, with the vast majority of this for Australian clients.”

Earlier this week The Australian reported on a number of businesses that received JobKeeper while paying out dividends.

The $8bn listed office and retail landlord GPT group received $4.1m in JobKeeper payments up but still paid out 99.6 per cent of its $182m free cash flow to shareholders. Dental Company 1300 Smiles received $1.8m in subsidies while booking a $7m profit and paying out almost $3m to shareholders.

Retailers Nick Scali and Adairs pocketed $3.9m and $11.9m in wage subsidies from the Australian and New Zealand government respectively, but lifted their final dividends to 22.5c and 11c a share.