Second-quarter earnings calls continued Tuesday with updates from Brookdale Senior Living, National Health Investors and the Pennant Group.

Brookdale Senior Living

Brentwood, TN-based Brookdale Senior Living closed the second quarter with strong sequential occupancy gains, President and Chief Executive Officer Lucinda “Cindy” Baier told investors. Overall weighted average occupancy was 74.6% across the company’s communities in the second quarter.

The company delivered the best second-quarter sequential weighted average occupancy growth in more than 10 years and outperformed the industry in sequential growth. 

Occupancy increased 120 basis points (1.2%) on a same-community basis in the quarter, Baier said, and exceeded its three-year pre-pandemic average move-in performance by 9%.

“Revenue growth outpaced only a slight increase in facility operating expenses, even with a tough labor environment,” she said.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steven Swain noted that revenue per available room increased more than 10% in the second quarter compared with the same quarter in 2021. At the same time, he said, revenue per occupied room decreased slightly due to “flat” operating expenses, including labor.

See more coverage of the earnings call on McKnight’s Senior Living.

National Health Investors

The portfolio optimization that National Health Investors began about a year ago is almost complete, CEO and President Eric Mendelsohn said on Tuesday’s earnings call.

The Murfreesboro, TN-based real estate investment trust targeted additional sales of underperforming senior housing properties, which the company said are not expected to have a material impact on in-place rents. NHI is now beginning to see some of the benefits of the initiative, Mendelsohn said.

During the quarter, NHI changed to the cash basis of accounting for its four master lease agreements with Bickford Senior Living and wrote off approximately $18.1 million of straight-line rents receivable and $7.1 million of lease incentives to rental income.

Bickford’s occupancy improved throughout the quarter, with a 100-basis-point (1%) monthly increase in July. 

“We know that we’re not out of the woods yet, as Bickford, like the rest of the industry, continues to deal with elevated operating costs, so we will continue to monitor this relationship closely,” Mendelssohn said. “That said, our Bickford dispositions and rent restructuring put their company in much better operational and financial health.”

Revenues for the second quarter are $10.8 million higher than the second quarter of 2021, largely due to the settlement with Welltower of past rent due for Holiday Retirement communities, plus revenues from new investments, offset by reductions due to sales, lease restructurings and other tenant concessions, Mendelssohn said. 

See more coverage of the earnings call on McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

The Pennant Group

The Eagle, ID-based Pennant Group reported total revenue for the quarter of $116.3 million, an increase of $6 million, or 5.4%, over the same period last year.

Second-quarter revenue for the company’s home health and hospice services segment increased by $7.2 million, or 9.3%, to $85.3 million over the same quarter in 2021. Second-quarter revenue for the senior living services segment was $31 million, a decrease of $1.3 million or 3.9%, over the same quarter in 2021.

“We’ve been building momentum over the course of this year, improving our cash flow and balance sheet, and we are poised to return to a brisk pace of strategic acquisition that will propel our growth over the next several years and beyond,” CEO Brent Guerisoli said.

Chief Operating Officer John Gochnour called the home health and hospice quarterly results “solid” and said that the senior living segment is improving “in the face of turbulent economic conditions and lingering COVID flare-ups.”

The company expects to deliver stronger results in the second half of the year despite of labor, inflationary and regulatory headwinds, he added.

See more coverage of the earnings call on McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care.