Collins Property Group says it looking to sell down on its local office portfolio, which reported a 17.3% vacancy rate for the six months ended 31 August 2025, and which represents 7% of the Group’s total portfolio.
During this period, the REIT continued divesting non-core properties, transferring assets valued at R125 million in the first six months and selling a further R960 million worth of assets pending transfer. These disposals led to a slight 0.6% revenue decline to R624.981 million between reporting periods.
Proceeds from the disposals have been reinvested in the Netherlands, where the Group acquired 8 properties – 95% of these are leased on new triple net agreements averaging 14 years to Intergamma, the country’s third-largest hardware retailer. The Group says its strategy is to dispose of its local assets with shorter leases and invest in longer-term leased properties in the Netherlands.
“We are continually looking to re-invest in Europe and our physical presence there is now starting to pay off.”
Its SA portfolio reported an overall vacancy rate of 1.2% for the period with 0.8% of its industrial assets vacant and 0.82% of its retail assets vacant.
The collection rate of all income due for the period was 99%. The Group says its Weighted Average Lease Expiry (WALE) of 4.2 years, historically measured by area, continues to decline and is expected to improve by an estimated 6 months when measured by income in the next reporting period.
With its total assets currently amounting to R13,4 billion (August 2024: R12,1 billion), the REIT’s net asset value (NAV) per share stands at R16.31 compared to R15.01 in August 2024.
“As we head into the last 6 months of this financial year we do so with a sense of optimism. We have spent years selling down our non-core assets to free up equity for reinvestment and we are now reinvesting that equity. Our geographical and currency diversification into the Western Cape and mainland Europe is gaining momentum and we are seeing more and more deal flow. This diversification is expected to improve our security of income over the longer term. As we enhance the quality of the portfolio, it will enable us to focus on the cost of debt, which, together with falling interest rates bodes, well for enhancing long term returns for shareholders.”
Its Board declared distributable income per share (DIPS) of 63 cents per share for the period (August 2024: 54 cents per share) with an interim dividend of 52 cents per ordinary share (August 2024: 50 cents per share).
Collins’ loan-to-value (LTV) ratio currently sits at 51.8% with an all-in cost-to-income ratio in terms of SA REIT Best Practice of 20%.
