Roy Cokayne
LISTED property capital growth fund Freedom, which has a diverse mix of property assets with a focus on residential property, is making progress with its strategy of unlocking the potential of its existing development pipeline and creating further shareholder value.
Tyrone Govender, the chief executive of Freedom, said yesterday it had identified six projects it believed were key to ensure its strategic objectives of income generation and capital growth were sustainable and achievable.
These are its industrial property development in Steelpoort; Tweefontein residential estate in Steelpoort; the proposed La Bone Vie sectional title residential development in Montana in Pretoria; the mixed-use Langebaan Beach Resort in the Western Cape; the Miami Village residential development in the St Helena Bay area in the Western Cape; and the Gevonden residential development on the urban edge of Stellenbosch.
Govender said that (it) had developed a further six industrial units in Steelpoort, another two would be completed at the end of this month and it would continue to roll out these industrial facilities as demand required.
Transnet
He said the mining dynamics of Steelpoort were different to those in areas like Rustenburg and several new mines had opened over the past five years, creating growing demand for property for related industry and residential accommodation. Govender added that demand for residential property in Steelpoort was currently placed at between 15 000 and 20 000 units and a mining group had expressed interest in taking up 2 000 units immediately on completion.
He said the first 22 of the 90 sectional title units at La Bonne Vie would come to market in December with the remaining units completed over the next year and Langebaan Beach Resort bordering Saldanha was ideally positioned to benefit from Transnet’s proposed R10 billion harbour expansion.
Freedom yesterday reported a 6.06 percent growth in net asset value to 130.45c in the six months to February from August last year.
Total revenue of R42.8 million in the year to February was higher than the forecast R28.3m because of higher-than-expected sales of its stock of services stands.
Freedom shares on the JSE ended unchanged at 24c yesterday