Sienna Senior Living (TSE:SIA) executives highlighted a year of expansion and improving operating fundamentals during the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, pointing to strong organic growth, increased scale through acquisitions and development, and a strengthened balance sheet supported by active capital markets.
Operating performance: occupancy and rate growth drove retirement gains
President and CEO Nitin Jain said 2025 marked the company’s “12th consecutive quarter” of strong organic growth, with both operating platforms delivering solid fourth-quarter results. Same-property net operating income (NOI) increased by 15.4% in the retirement segment and 5.6% in long-term care during Q4.
Management also pointed to sales and marketing momentum. Jain said year-over-year call center leads grew by more than 50% in Q4, while property tours increased each quarter during 2025. The company highlighted hospital outreach efforts and relationships with local healthcare partners as additional drivers of future move-ins.
Optimization portfolio results and long-term care stability
Sienna said its retirement “optimization portfolio”—assets undergoing renovations, service changes, or additions—also improved. Jain reported optimization portfolio occupancy rose 790 basis points year-over-year in Q4 and NOI increased by 22.1%. CFO David Hung added that the optimization portfolio included five retirement assets in 2025, with Q4 NOI up more than 22% versus the prior year.
Effective Jan. 1, 2026, the company updated the optimization portfolio composition, adding two assets and moving one renovated property back to the same-property portfolio. Hung said occupancy at that renovated home rose from the “low 80% range” before renovations to “over 95% today.” Based on the updated same-property composition, management said average monthly occupancy reached or exceeded 95% since last September.
In long-term care, management cited fully occupied homes with growing waitlists, higher revenue from private accommodations, and annual inflationary government funding increases. Jain described the government-funded long-term care operations as providing stability because they are “largely insulated from market volatility or economic uncertainty.”
Financial results: revenue, NOI, and FFO growth in Q4 and full-year 2025
Hung said that in Q4 2025, proportionate revenue increased 14.2% year-over-year to CAD 278.4 million, driven largely by retirement occupancy and rent growth, increased care revenue, and contributions from long-term care (including flow-through funding for direct care and private accommodation revenue), as well as revenue from acquisitions and developments completed in 2025.
Same-property NOI rose 10.1% to CAD 47.4 million in Q4. Hung said retirement same-property NOI increased by CAD 3.0 million, supported by occupancy and rate growth, higher care revenue, and expense discipline that drove a 300 basis point improvement in same-property operating margin. Long-term care same-property NOI increased by CAD 1.3 million, with private occupancy improvements cited as the key driver.
Operating funds from operations (OFFO) increased 24% to CAD 34.2 million in Q4, while adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) rose 19.8% to CAD 27.9 million. On a per-share basis, Hung reported OFFO and AFFO increased 7.5% and 3.9%, respectively, in the quarter. The AFFO payout ratio improved to 80.7% from 83.1% a year earlier.
For full-year 2025, Hung said same-property NOI increased 14.3% in retirement and 4.8% in long-term care. OFFO and AFFO for 2025 increased 27.1% and 25.7%, respectively, or 5.8% and 4.7% on a per-share basis.
Growth strategy: acquisitions, development pipeline, and funding
Jain said Sienna added over CAD 800 million of assets to its platform in 2025, including through acquisitions and developments, and expanded its workforce by about 2,000 team members. During Q4, Sienna completed three acquisitions in Ontario: Kawartha Gardens (a 192-bed long-term care community), LaSalle Park (a 123-suite retirement residence), and Highgate (a 213-suite retirement residence in Waterloo). Management said these Q4 acquisitions added CAD 193 million of assets.
Entering 2026, Jain said Sienna added another CAD 79 million through acquisitions, including purchasing interests in two majority-owned properties and signing a purchase agreement for The Bartlett, a 129-suite retirement residence in the Greater Toronto Area, for approximately CAD 59.4 million, to be financed with cash on hand. Management characterized the acquisition pipeline as “strong” and said it was confident it could maintain a significant acquisition pace in 2026.
On development, Jain said Sienna began seeing contributions in Q4 from two recently completed projects: a redeveloped long-term care community in North Bay opened in September and a campus of care in Brantford opened in October. The company also announced its largest project to date: a redevelopment at its Glen Rouge site in Scarborough, Toronto, consisting of 448 beds with an estimated development cost of about CAD 250 million and an expected development yield of approximately 7.5% to 8%. Management said the project is expected to be completed in 2030, replacing 363 existing beds and adding 85 new beds. Executives said improved government funding for GTA projects helped support the decision to move forward.
In Q&A, management said the redevelopment combines two homes and leverages land already owned by the company, with additional licenses secured through an application submitted four years earlier. On funding, management said it would look to “some form of debt,” including the operating line, a construction loan, or other debt.
Balance sheet and 2026 outlook
Hung said Sienna ended 2025 with more than CAD 500 million in liquidity and CAD 1.5 billion of unencumbered assets. He noted the company issued CAD 250 million of unsecured debentures in December and repaid a CAD 175 million expiring debenture, leaving no major debt maturities until 2027. The company also fully deployed its at-the-market (ATM) program in Q4, issuing shares for gross proceeds of approximately CAD 101 million, and announced the renewal of the ATM program to allow up to CAD 150 million of additional share issuance.
Looking ahead, Jain said the company expects 2026 same-property NOI growth of more than 10% in retirement and low single digits in long-term care, alongside continued acquisition-driven growth. Management said retirement rent growth assumptions underpinning the outlook remain “quite consistent” at around 4%, with contributions also expected from care revenue and potential additional occupancy gains. Executives noted retirement occupancy near 95% represents “uncharted territory,” with the company aiming to maintain around that level while seeking incremental improvement over time.
Management also said it expects operating expense growth in 2026 to be “relatively in line with inflation,” citing prior efficiency improvements and continued cost discipline. On staffing and culture, Jain said company-wide turnover reached a record low of approximately 19% in 2025 and that team member engagement increased for a fifth consecutive year.
About Sienna Senior Living (TSE:SIA)
Sienna Senior Living Inc (TSX:SIA) offers a full range of senior living options, including independent living, assisted living and memory care under its Aspira retirement brand, long-term care, and specialized programs and services. Sienna’s approximately 15,000 employees are passionate about cultivating happiness in daily life.
