Johannesburg - New Frontier Properties, which has a primary listing on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and a secondary listing on the JSE’s AltX, intends to migrate its listing to the JSE’s main board and plans to grow its assets significantly in the next 12 months.
Mike Riley, the chief executive of New Frontier, said yesterday that the company was working with its corporate sponsor Java Capital to achieve a primary listing on the JSE main board. The company had identified a number of potential acquisitions, which it was evaluating, he said.
However, Riley said the investment market in the UK had slowed as it waited for the outcome of the UK referendum to decide if the UK remained within the EU. The referendum will take place on June 23.
Riley said they would expect to see more investment opportunities after the vote, regardless of the outcome.
Consistent with the group’s strategy to build a portfolio of dominant retail assets in towns in the UK, the company raised a further £43.9 million (R922.6m) in September via a private placement.
Purchase
Riley said these funds, together with a five-year loan for £59.7m provided by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank were used to purchase The Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool for £100.75m.
New Frontier Properties yesterday declared a dividend a share of 3.6 pence for the six months to February, its first dividend as a UK real estate investment trust. The group produced a recurring profit of £5.5m for the reporting period.
Riley said this was slightly ahead of expectations after taking into account the timing of the purchase of Houndshill part of the way through the period.
The group’s overall void rate had remained flat at 5.3 percent at end-February compared with 5.04 percent in August following the acquisition of Houndshill. The UK average retail shopping centre void rate is 13.8 percent.
Riley said the rise in New Frontier’s void rate was expected from 3.36 percent in November and was largely due to the loss of some temporary lettings, which were trading over the Christmas period.
However, Riley said they expected the void rate to fall below 4 percent in the near term because of the units under offer. The group completed 16 leasing events in the reporting period, 12 of which were long-term core lettings at an average rent increase of 4.42 percent.
Shares in New Frontier Properties were unchanged on the JSE yesterday at R26.
BUSINESS REPORT