EPP, which is listed on the JSE but operates in Poland, said on Monday that the majority of its shopping centres will be allowed to trade from Tuesday, after the Polish government lifted pandemic-related restrictions.
Daily Covid-19 case numbers and hospital admissions in the Central European country have steadily declined since peaking in early April, giving authorities and businesses a breathing space.
Hotels and outside dining at restaurants and bars will be allowed from May 8 and 15, respectively, EPP said in a statement. Fitness and entertainment facilities will also be allowed to operate.
Poland is also ramping up its vaccination campaign and aims to reach herd immunity by the end of the European summer. The country had administered about 11.5-million vaccine doses as at April 29, with more than 4-million administered in the past three weeks.
EPP and other Polish landlords gave their tenants millions of euros in rental relief in 2020 while they could not trade during lockdowns, the last of which was imposed from December 28 until February.
EPP, which owns about 29 shopping centres and six office portfolios was valued at about €2bn (R34.8bn) in March, opted not to pay a dividend for the year to end-December 2020, citing uncertainty over Covid-19.
“Future dividend payments will take into consideration the stability of the retail environment, progress made on disposals, refinancing of EPP’s upcoming debt and overall capital structure,” it said.
In the financial results for the year to December released in March, EPP said distributable earnings declined to €50.5m compared with the same period in 2019 financial year's €105.5m.
But the group still reported distributable earnings of €5.56 per share, exceeding its guidance of between €4.75 and €5.25 per share.
EPP provided guidance of between €7 and €7.25 distributable earnings per share for its 2021 financial year, assuming there are no further market disruptions.
The company plans to sell €500m worth of assets to reduce its loan-to-value (LTV) from 54.8% to between 40% and 45%, in line with SA property companies. LTV measures the value of a company’s debt relative to its assets.
EPP share price was up 4.38% to close at R12.38 , valuing EPP at R11bn .
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