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SA Corporate, which owns industrial, retail and residential properties, has reported a fall in vacancies in its half-year to end-June, but distributable earnings still fell double digits.The group saw pressure from higher interest rates, as well as municipal service delivery failures, but is still extremely pleased by the performance of residential interests.The landlord will be looking to bulk up its residential interests in Gauteng.For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Property group SA Corporate said on Thursday higher interest rates and load shedding offset falling vacancies and robust demand for inner-city apartments in its six months to end-June. It is now looking to bulk up its footprint in Gauteng, viewing this as defensive, although it is struggling a bit in the wake of municipal service delivery failures.
Group revenue rose about 14% to R1.11 billion to end-June, the company said after markets closed on Thursday, but distributable income fell just over 12% to R318 million. Net finance costs, excluding lease liabilities, increased by 15.4% to R260 million, with the company also reporting increased diesel expenses of R3.6 million in its retail portfolio, while it benefitted from credit on rates in the prior comparative period.
Valued at about R4.6 billion on the JSE, SA Corporate owns industrial, retail and residential buildings located primarily in the major metropolitan areas of SA. Its portfolio consisted of 151 properties at the end of June, valued at R14.9 billion, while it has joint venture interests in three Zambian entities with properties valued at R1.6 billion.
Retail accounted for about 44% of its revenue in the six months to end-June, followed by subsidiary the Africa Housing Company (Afhco), which provides affordable apartments and retail spaces in Johannesburg, and which contributed 31%. Industrial contributed about 23% and commercial properties about 1%.
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Traditional portfolio vacancies by lettable area – excluding Afcho – fell to 2.1% from 2.7%, with its industrial properties fully let, while retail fell marginally to 3.1%. Afcho saw its retail vacancies fall to 3.1% from 4% in the prior period.
The standout highlight during this period was the continued exceptional performance of the Afhco portfolio, the group said, saying this could be attributed to management’s ongoing efforts to provide quality apartments and service at affordable rentals with value added benefits.
“Efforts to reduce vacancies further have been thwarted by municipal infrastructure and service delivery failures which has impacted the South Hills (near the CBD) and The Falls (Roodepoort) lifestyle estates in particular,” it said.
“Most pleasing is the continued exceptional performance of the inner-city portfolio with vacancies at only 1.3%.”
The group said it would be deploying capital from its R1.1 billion disposal pipeline towards improving the quality of SA Corporate’s retail portfolio and increase its exposure in the defensive residential rental sector in which Afhco is the market leader in SA.
The group’s shares were up just over 1% in morning trade on Friday but are down about 14% on a one-year basis.
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