Fortress has reported distributable earnings of R1.956bn for the year to end-June and raised its guidance for the 2026 financial year.
The group expects profit growth in 2026 of 6%-7% as it benefits from stabilising vacancies and steady rental income across its logistics and retail portfolios, the group said in its results for the year to end-June.
This comes as the property market, both in SA and globally, has retained the momentum gained from the reduction in interest rates and better market fundamentals in the latter part of 2024, it said.
“Investor confidence has returned to both the direct and listed real estate markets, driving a 6.5% increase in our direct valuations from the 2024 financial year. Our shares are now trading at a 10% discount to net asset value (NAV), a marked improvement from over 20% at the start of the financial year,” the group said.
Headline earnings per share took fell 70.3% to 36c.
The group’s net asset value (NAV) rose 1.9% to R30.43bn, with NAV per share ticking up 0.7% to R25.27. Total revenue, including income from investments, was up 37.2% toR6.02bn.
It declared a total distribution of 162.44c per share for the 2025 financial year, with shareholders seeing a total return of more than 30%
Revenue from direct property operations climbed 9.9%.
The group reported strong earnings for the second half of the 2025 financial year, with distributable earnings rising to R1.04bn, up from R835.6m in the same period in 2024. Full-year distributable earnings amounted to R1.96bn from R1.79bn in the previous year.
The group reported an overall vacancy rate of 3.4% across the portfolio, with logistics vacancies at a record low of 0.4% confirming high demand in the sector. Logistics properties have been boosted by last-mile deliveries related to growth in e-commerce.
The retail segment within Fortress stood out, delivering 9.4% like-for-like net operating income (NOI) growth, well above the 3% inflation rate for the year. Contributing 35% to total NOI, the retail portfolio remains a key growth driver for the group.
“Our development team has once again made a significant contribution to our performance, reaching a milestone with 70% of our current logistics properties developed in-house in SA and Poland,” the group said.
Regarding its energy use, Fortress CEO Steven Brown said: “Fortress now operates 96 solar PV systems, including sites in Poland and Romania. We reached a major sustainability milestone this year, having generated 100-million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy since the launch of our first rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) installation in 2017.”
Correction: September 8 2025
An earlier version of this story referred to Fortress as a Reit, which it is not.
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