Johannesburg – JSE-listed Real Estate Investment Trust Rebosis
Property Fund reports net property income growth of 74.6 percent for the six
months to February.
The company’s strategy is directed toward dominant retail
malls and it recently internalised its management team.
Total distributable income increased 32.7 percent to R389
million from R293 million over the period, it says in a statement issued on
Monday.
Following various acquisitions during the period, assets
under management rose 51 percent to R17.9 billion from R11.8 billion.
A dividend of 60.08 cents per share has been declared for
the six month period. This amounts to 7.07 percent dividend growth
year-on-year, which is in line with the 7 percent to 9 percent guidance
expected for the financial year.
Rebosis’ South African retail portfolio makes up 62
percent of its South African assets and consists of six shopping malls with
strong anchor national tenants delivering income streams escalating at 7.4 percent.
The office portfolio consists of 14 buildings in nodes
attractive to government tenants. These buildings are mainly single-tenanted
buildings let to the National Department of Public Works, providing for average
escalations of 8.2 percent, it adds.
Read also: Rebosis on a roll with profit of R2.4bn
During the reporting period Rebosis concluded a
watershed transaction valued at R5 billion which saw it acquire two large
regional malls – Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth and Forest Hill in Pretoria and
internalised its asset and property management entities.
“This gave rise to the increase in market cap growth and
share price appreciation and sees the fund further achieve its stated objective
of becoming a retail-focused fund with an internalised management function.”
CEO Sisa Ngebulana says “we achieved exciting growth in
both total assets and income during the 6-month period under review. We were
also able to hedge 100 percent of our debt and extend debt maturity profiles in
order to mitigate potential risks that arise as a result of a market downgrade
and low economic growth.
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