Rebosis shares plunge on poor results

Rebosis, owned by well-known real estate entrepreneur Sisa Ngebulana, suffered from its New Frontier Properties investment, which paid no dividend due the slump in the UK property market blamed on Brexit.

The value of Rebosis's property portfolio, comprising retail, office and industrial space, fell almost 4% to R18.1bn

Rebosis Property Fund shares fell 13% to R5.23 on Monday morning after it cut its final dividend by 28%.

Rebosis, owned by well-known real estate entrepreneur Sisa Ngebulana, suffered from its New Frontier Properties investment, which paid no dividend due the slump in the UK property market blamed on Brexit.

The South African real estate investment trust said it also suffered from higher finance costs. Thus, the dividend attributable to its ordinary, or B, shares dropped 28% to 92.83c in the year to end-August, from the matching period a year ago.

Its A shares, which are akin to preference shares, will pay their stipulated 5% increase to 252.86c.

The value of Rebosis's property portfolio — made up of retail, office and industrial — fell 3.9% to R18.1bn.

The underlying retail portfolio grew 4.6% on a like-for-like basis, with commercial property 5.1% and industrial property 7%.

Property expenses increased year on year with an average net cost to income ratio increasing from 13.8% to 15.2%.

Net income from properties was up 4.7% and vacancies rose 5.5%  from 4%.