Johannesburg - Tower Property Fund said on Thursday its offshore acquisition strategy had helped it boost operating profit by 38 percent to R133 million on revenues that were 55 percent improved at R183 million in the six months to November 2015.
A statement from the Cape-based fund, which has a diversified portfolio of 48 retail, commercial and industrial properties in Croatia and South Africa valued at R4 billion, added that distributable earnings had grown by 72 percent to R109 million.
Last week, Tower announced its largest acquisition to date with the purchase of a portfolio of four retail shopping centres in Croatia for R1.1 billion.
Tower's first acquisition was in August last year when it purchased VMD Kvart office property in Zagreb, Croatia. Chief executive Marc Edwards said its investment strategy was to expand the portfolio by targeting well located properties with strong cash flows and to ensure a diversified sectoral and geographic portfolio.
“Tower's acquisition strategy in Croatia enables the fund to diversify shareholder risk to South Africa's macro-economic challenges,” Edwards added. “We expect the value of the Tower portfolio to reach R5.5 billion by the end of the 2016 financial year.”
Tower is also reported to have benefited from the weakness in the rand relative to the euro, which had boosted the value of its Croatian property by R41 million at November 30 and by R110 million at January 11.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY