Vukile Property Fund has reported a 6% increase in profit at the halfway stage of its financial year, delivering strong operational results and solid trading metrics in SA and Spain.
Revenue for the six months ended September was 5.8% higher at R2.12bn, while attributable profit increased to R1.24bn from R1.17bn before, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) were 5.3% higher at 87.4c. It reported funds from operations (FFO) of 82.4c per share and an interim dividend of 55.2c per share was declared, up 6% on the prior period.
The group reported like-for-like retail net operating income (NOI) growth of 4.6%, while retail vacancies were contained at 1.9%.
SA-based Vukile owns a portfolio of shopping malls predominantly in townships and rural areas in the home market, while the Spanish assets are held in the Madrid-listed subsidiary Castellana, in which Vukile has a 99.5% interest.
Some of its shopping centres include East Rand Mall and Daveyton Mall in Gauteng, Hammarsdale Junction, Phoenix Plaza, KwaMashu Shopping Centre and Pine Crest in KwaZulu-Natal.
Vukile has significant available cash balances of R5.1bn and undrawn debt facilities of R1.3bn.
“The business is well positioned to execute on our growth strategy, both from an operational and financial perspective. The global economic environment is starting to see green shoots and access to capital in recent months has allowed us to pursue further potential deals that are accretive and aligned to our strategic objectives,” it added.
Post the reporting period, Castellana concluded its first acquisition in Portugal, acquiring three landmark shopping centres and significantly increasing the group's exposure to the Iberian Peninsula.
“Supported by a strong balance sheet, we enter the second half of the financial year positive and optimistic about the group's continued growth prospects. We remain well on track to keep guidance for the full-year ending March 31 2025 unchanged, with growth in FFO per share of between 2% and 4% and growth in dividend per share of between 4% and 6%,” it said.
It had an active pipeline of deals under consideration, it said.
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