Company news in brief

  • 2 Weeks Ago
Resilient’s retail sales increase

Mall owner Resilient said retail sales in its SA portfolio increased by 2.9% during the 10 months to end October, despite ongoing construction activity at some of its operations, including Mahikeng mall in the North West.

Furthermore, the subdued performance of the mining industry, particularly during the last five months, has negatively impacted turnover at Kathu Village Mall and Northam Plaza, both in the North West and Tubatse Crossing, which is in Limpopo. Jabulani Mall in Gauteng achieved turnover growth of 15% following the introduction of a franchised Pick n Pay store.

The performance of Spar and the introduction of Unimart at Mams Mall (Mamelodi) contributed to the 13% growth in turnover at this shopping centre.

Resilient's strategy is to invest in dominant retail centres with a minimum of three anchor tenants and let predominantly to national retailers.

It had about a R32-billion direct portfolio as of the end of June, three quarters of which was in SA. It also has interests in Spain and France, which delivered sales growth of 8.7% and a sales fall of 0.5%, respectively, for the nine months to end September.

The group has guided a dividend of between 428c and 433c for 2024, having just guided about 428c at its half-year. - Fin24



Tiger Brands ups payout

Tiger Brands, South Africa's biggest food producer, has upped its shareholder payout as a turnaround strategy introduced a year ago helped boost the group's performance in the second half.

The owner of household names like Tastic rice and All Gold tomato sauce said in its annual results on Wednesday it had increased its final dividend by 1.9%, to 684c per share for the year ended September, which, while its total dividend rose about 4.3%.

Headline earnings climbed rose 4% to R2.8 billion, though its earnings per share grew 13%, with the difference due to profit on the sale of non-core brands in the second half - namely, Bio Classic, Crystal, Kair, Fiesta, Eulactol and Black Silk - which, together with the disposal of the Status deodorant brand in the first half, netted it R241 million in non-operational profit. "With our new federated operating model implemented and improvement in performance driving passion and internal pride, our teams are energized to deliver on our vision to grow Tiger Brands by placing the consumer at the heart of our business," Tjaart Kruger, CEO of Tiger Brands, said in a statement. - Fin24



Fortress reports buoyant demand

Logistics and retail-focused Fortress Real Estate said it now expects distributable earnings of R1.78 billion for its year to end June 2025, having guided R1.75 billion in August. This still represents a 2.5% decline on a per-share basis to 147.8c.

Fortress has a focus on developing and letting premium-grade logistics real estate in SA and central and eastern Europe while also having a commuter-orientated retail portfolio.

It directly holds logistics assets of about R20 billion and a South African retail portfolio of about R10 billion.

In addition, Fortress has a holding of about R16 billion in NEPI Rockcastle shares, which provides exposure to the best retail portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.

The group said high-quality, secure logistics space continues to perform well and has experienced buoyant demand with continued low vacancies across its portfolio.

Despite a consumer-constrained environment, the group said its retail portfolio achieved like-for-like tenant turnover growth of 4.5% and maintained a low vacancy rate, based on rental, of 1.1%. The satisfactory performance of the core retail portfolio has been led by recently refurbished and extended centres, it said. - Fin24



Super Group in asset disposal

JSE-listed logistics and fleet management group Super Group announced on Wednesday it has an offer that would see it dispose of its about 53.6% stake in ASX-listed SG Fleet for A$641.4 million (R7.53 billion), and leave it focused upon sub–Saharan Africa, Europe and the UK.

The potential buyer is Pacific Equity Partners, an Australian private equity firm, which manages and advises funds which have over A$12 billion.

Super Group said that if the transaction proceeds, and after preliminary expenses and settling up to R1.96 billion of SA debt, it will declare a special distribution of about R16.30 per share.

SG Fleet has been listed on the ASX since 4 March 2014. Headquartered in Sydney, it provides integrated mobility solutions, including fleet management, vehicle leasing, and salary packaging services.

The company has a presence across Australia, as well as in the UK and New Zealand, employing approximately 1 300 staff and managing over 277 000 vehicles. - Fin24