(Reuters) -French care home group Orpea, which faces criminal complaints over how it runs its centres and treats its elderly residents, said on Friday it would not pay a dividend on 2021 earnings and announced a financing scheme with its lenders as it faces major debt repayments.
The firm said that with access to financial markets being closed off and and a planned asset disposal programme slowing down, it had signed an agreement with its banks for a secured syndicated facility of 1.73 billion euros.
Orpea saw its net profit plunge to 65.2 million euros in 2021, from 160 million euros a year earlier and its net financial debt increased by 1.23 billion euros to 7.89 billion euros end 2021 due to the sustained property development and acquisition strategy, the company said.
Its shares opened nearly 2% lower on Friday.
Orpea is at the centre of allegations of malpractice, which it has repeatedly denied, after a book by independent journalist Victor Castanet revealed claims of severe failings in hygiene care in a home for elderly people in a wealthy Paris suburb.
The French government said in March it planned to file a criminal complaint against Orpea over allegations.
Orpea is facing major debt repayments, including 850 million euros maturing in the second half of 2022 and 983 million in 2023. In order to reduce debt, it intends to sell more than 3 billion euros worth of assets by end 2025, it said in an earnings statement.
The firm, which operates across 23 countries and is one of Europe’s biggest for-profit care home operators alongside French rival Korian, has a real estate portfolio valued at more than 8 billion euros.
(Reporting by Diana MandiáEditing by GV De Clercq)
