Attacq Limited has reported a full year dividend growth of 19% to 69 cents per share with distributable income per share increasing by 19.9% to 86.2 cents per share for the year ended June 2024.
Operationally, the REIT’s occupational rate rose to 92.80% with collection rates remaining high at 100%.
“This financial year, we concentrated on executing against our strategy, which included concluding key deals over this period. We achieved a significant milestone with the R2.7 billion Waterfall City transaction, completed in October 2023. In this deal, GEPF acquired a 30% stake in Attacq Waterfall Investment Company Proprietary Limited (AWIC). This strategic partnership provides additional capital, facilitating the ongoing development of Waterfall City,” commented CEO of Attacq, Jackie van Niekerk.
The Group exited its minority investment in MAS P.L.C, reinvesting the proceeds in the acquisition of the remaining 20% of Mall of Africa that it did not own. A key asset, Mall of Africa is now fully controlled and managed by Attacq with continued high growth potential as an anchor in the Waterfall City precinct.
During the financial year, Attacq also repurchased 5.4 million of its shares, an average of R9.35 with its dealmaking extending to a further 25% acquisition in Waterfall Junction, a new logistics precinct in which the Group now owns 50% with an effective share of 313 791m2.
“On all reported metrics, the group performed exceptionally well. In addition to the 19.9% growth in distributable income per share, our balance sheet was further strengthened – gearing of 25.4% and an interest cover of 2.31x provides us with the ability to capture the growth from our development pipeline, which includes Waterfall Junction that has had strong enquiries despite not yet launching the development. Our strategy to exit investments that we do not control was reflected in Attacq entering into a binding sale agreement post balance sheet date to dispose of all our Rest of Africa retail investments. We are also proud about delivering against our debt strategy which has resulted in lowering our cost of debt. The next phase is to enter the debt capital markets with a listed, rated domestic medium term note programme, for which we are targeting Q2 FY25 and this is supported by our recent credit rating of A+ [ZA] by credit rating agency GCR,” said Attacq’s CFO, Raj Nana.
With developments under construction, the Group’s approved pipeline totals 43 766m2 of gross lettable area (GLA) (total share, not effective share) at Waterfall City which will cost R1.7 billion.
Waterfall City provides Attacq with a diverse development pipeline and on the 30th of June 2024, the Group held 1 116 723m2 (June 2023: 860 655m2) of effective development rights after increasing its investment in Waterfall Junction from 23.57% to 50%.
Attacq’s retail portfolio has seen the twelve-month weighted average trading density increase by 5.8% with Mall of Africa continuing to surpass expectations. There has also been an increase in demand for collaboration hub spaces which has led to growth in market rentals, particularly in Waterfall City and the Lynwood Bridge precinct.
