Four Seasons Health Care has reported “significant market interest” in its sale of 111 freehold care homes in England, Scotland and Jersey.

In an investor update, the care home provider said the sale process, which is being conducted by Christie & Co, should be completed in the second half of 2023.

The sale of the group’s core property portfolio and care home businesses was announced by the group’s joint administrators on 28 June 2022.

All non-core disposals of the business, including 29 care homes in Northern Ireland, were completed in 2022.

In its latest financial update for the year ending 31 December 2022, Four Seasons reported a £11.8 million drop in EBITDARM, excluding the impact of homes closed, sold or migrated, to £31.3 million.

Payroll as a percentage of income rose by 4 percentage points to 73.5%.

Four Seasons reported its strongest occupancy growth in five years, notwithstanding the impact of the Omicron wave in January 2022.

Q4 2022 occupancy was up 2.3 percentage points year-on-year to 83.1% with average weekly fees up by 9.8% to £968.

Net liabilities for the business were £1.6 billion up from £1.4 billion in 2021.