Attacq’s Waterfall City developments ‘a sign of confidence in growth’
Despite adverse local property fundamentals, Attacq (JSE: ATT), the landlord behind Waterfall City development, says its Mall of Africa and investments in Europe has turned in what it terms a 'robust' six months which ended December 2019.
On Tuesday, the property group defied the odds by reporting a sector-topping performance for the period, with dividend per share growth of 11.1%.
Attacq’s distributable earnings per share increased by 23.9% to 49.8 cents per share; however, the group decided to declare a dividend of 45.0 cents per share.
The company’s performance can be attributed to its SA portfolio, developments at Waterfall, the investments into the Rest of Africa as well as the strong growth in dividends from its investment in MAS Real Estate.
Melt Hamman, CEO of Attacq, says, “since converting to a REIT, we have implemented a focused approach to deliver sustainable distributable earnings.”
Rental income from its SA portfolio increased 12.6% to R1.1bn, partly because of additional earnings from recently completed buildings.
The average trading density for the period increased by 5.7%, while the Mall of Africa continues to perform well with a 10.1% growth in trading density.
The Waterfall precinct remains a key driver in Attacq’s core business. During the period, six buildings spanning some 18 642m² of new space were completed.
Another six buildings are currently under construction, including the high-rise Ellipse Waterfall residential development and City Lodge’s new 168-room Courtyard Hotel adjacent to Mall of Africa.
Deloitte’s landmark new head office building, developed by Atterbury but co-owned as a 50/50 joint venture with Attacq, reached practical completion on January 31. The six-storey, 42 500m² office building will welcome about 3 200 new employees as of April 1, further boosting the Waterfall node and footfall to Mall of Africa.
Attacq is forecasting full-year dividend growth at the upper end of its target. Hamman sounded confident at the group’s results presentation that it will deliver double-digit growth of 10% for its 2020 financial year to June.
Its SA peers, such as Hyprop and Liberty Two Degrees, are expected to fall by as much as 5% in their 2020 financial periods.