SAREIT

JSE listed diversified real estate investment trust (REIT) Redefine Properties has announced that its recently renovated Centurion Mall and its newest retail property Kyalami Corner, both, won Gold at the Footprint Marketing Awards 2019. Centurion Mall’s efforts in digital marketing and the latter’s sales promotions and events won the accolades for Redefine.

Redefine also took home a Silver and eight Bronze medals across categories like Community Relations, Public Relations and Category Integration amongst others ending the evening with a rich haul of 11 medals.

An initiative of the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC), the awards recognise exceptional shopping centre marketing, innovation, creative achievements, with economic success and excellent customer service. This year the awards were held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

All Gold SACSC Footprint Marketing Awards are automatically entered into the International Council of Shopping Centres’ VIVA Awards.

Our properties are more than just shopping centres; they are avenues for meaningful conversations with the communities. We remain committed to leveraging the spaces we manage to change the lives and the future of the people and communities around them. The awards demonstrate our continued passion to find ways to engage and build audiences for our retail properties

Marijke Coetzee, Head of Marketing and Communications, Redefine Properties.

Centurion Mall, which took Gold for its chatbot, recently underwent a comprehensive R1.06 billion refurbishment and at a gross lettable area (GLA) of 130 000 sqm, is Redefine’s biggest retail property. In line with trends of offering experiences over shopping trips, the Mall’s new open air design concept, comfortable interiors, additional retailers and revamped movie theatres are amongst the many changes that are contributing to the growing number of loyal fans.

The chatbot is an automated online assistant which helps consumers resolve queries on the centre’s website. Centurion Mall is the first mall to implement this in line with future trends.

The trendy Kyalami Corner shopping centre, which opened in April 2017, perfectly responds to the retail, lifestyle and social requirements and aspirations of the Kyalami neighbourhood and surrounds. The elegant, energy-efficient design also complements the natural, equestrian environment and character of the area.

The centre took Gold for its initiative “Where we make traffic fun.” The roadworks in the vicinity of the centre caused heavy delays and slow moving traffic. The centre decided to make it fun for motorists sitting in traffic and handed out gifts on a weekly basis to motorists while entertaining them in traffic. Motorists were encouraged to post their gifts and pictures on social media and stand a chance to win additional vouchers to redeem at the various stores at the centre.

L2D and Liberty’s investment in Melomed offers further development opportunity in John Ross Eco Junction Estate

Situated on the outskirts of Richards Bay at the John Ross Eco Junction, Melomed Hospital was initially opened in January 2018, offering a 200-bed facility with state-of-the-art equipment that caters to a large underserviced community of Zululand. After obtaining the licence and being fully equipped with a catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) to add to the range of multidisciplinary services, the hospital was officially launched on the 8th of October 2019. The hospital offers an improved healthcare landscape in KZN through the inclusion of accessible health and life-saving services.

The recently installed cath lab has enabled the first successful heart bypass operation at Melomed and ensures that patients requiring specialised catheterisation and cardiac treatment no longer have to travel several hundred kilometres. This development makes Melomed the leading medical facility in the rural area of Richards Bay and a centre of excellence.

Our investments have always focused on bringing humanity to business and business to humanity. We are pleased to be part of making a real and meaningful difference to people’s lives as well as the community as a whole.

Josè Snyders, Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) Financial Director

The hospital is co-owned by Liberty Group Limited (Liberty), L2D and Tuscaloosa and is leased to Melomed on a long-term lease. Melomed occupies 13,809m² in gross lettable area (GLA) of the John Ross Eco Junction Estate which is a fully secured eco-friendly business estate located at the junction of the N2 (linking Durban and Pongola) and the John Ross Highway (connecting Richards Bay and Empangeni). John Ross Eco Junction is co-owned by L2D and Liberty.

The John Ross Eco Junction provides opportunities for developments that cater to the specific needs and requirements of prospective tenants and importantly the community, Melomed Hospital was one such development.

Roy Lighton, Development Executive at L2D

Commenting on the diversified capabilities of the team and its commitment to quality developments, Snyders concludes

I am proud of the team, having delivered another quality development. Through sheer hard work, commitment and determination, the Melomed development is one the region of KwaZulu-Natal can take ownership of and be proud of. We look forward to creating many more meaningful and experiential spaces that serve the community.

Josè Snyders, Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) Financial Director

JOHANNESBURG – After being named as a finalist in the 16th annual Standard Bank Top Women Awards by Topco Media and Communications, Ulana van Biljon, Chief Operating Officer at Emira Property Fund, was honoured with the top award in the property category.

The Standard Bank Top Women Awards recognises those whose efforts have been uplifting women in business and society in general over the past 25 years of democracy and who look set to continue to do so for the next 25 years. Van Biljon has shown a continuous commitment to building an inclusive economy and changing the face of business in South Africa.

Ulana is a pioneer for women in the property sector and was one of the first female executive directors to sit on a board of a JSE-listed real estate investment trust (REIT). Today, Ulana remains one of only a small handful of women to have earned a seat at the listed property leadership table.

As Chief Operating Officer of Emira Property Fund, Ulana applies her 23-plus years of experience in the listed and unlisted property sector to execute and implement the company’s strategy while making sure its operational results are achieved.

Known as an accomplished executive, who has contributed much to SA’s business landscape, Ulana is sought out as a mentor by women who are new to leadership roles, and the COO role specifically, both within the property sector and beyond. While extremely modest about being a role model for other women in the property sector, female colleagues and associates who have worked alongside her often credit Ulana as the inspiration behind their own success, and praise both her proficiency and empathy.

Known as an accomplished executive, who has contributed much to SA’s business landscape, Ulana is sought out as a mentor by women who are new to leadership roles, and the COO role specifically, both within the property sector and beyond. While extremely modest about being a role model for other women in the property sector, female colleagues and associates who have worked alongside her often credit Ulana as the inspiration behind their own success, and praise both her proficiency and empathy.

Ralf Fletcher, CEO of Topco Media and Communications

Being identified as an individual who is effecting meaningful change at South Africa’s premier gender empowerment event gives winners a platform to promote their achievements and become a source of inspiration for sector peers. With her many accomplishments, Van Biljon will certainly do the same.

I am humbled by this award. It is pleasing to see more directorships in the property sector being held by women, and I hope to see this increase even more in future. More inclusive and diverse boards and executive teams result in better businesses that are more relevant and sustainable.

Ulana van Biljon, Chief Operating Officer at Emira Property Fund

Emira is a medium-cap diversified JSE-listed SA REIT that is invested in a quality, balanced portfolio of office, retail, industrial and residential properties. At 30 June 2019, its directly held assets comprised 80 properties valued at R10.9bn. It invests indirectly in 22 lower LSM shopping centres valued at

R1.15bn through its exposure to Enyuka Property Fund. It also has a 34.9% holding in JSE AltX-listed Transcend Residential Property Fund. Emira is internationally diversified through its investment in ASX-listed Growthpoint Properties Australia (GOZ) valued at R759.7m, and its equity investments in nine grocery-anchored open-air convenience shopping centres with a combined value of USD75.9m through its USA subsidiary.

JSE-listed diversified real estate investment trust Redefine Properties’ Innovation Challenge was an honouree in the CSI category at the recently concluded International Council of Shopping Centers’ Solal Marketing Awards 2019 in London. The awards showcase the very best of retail marketing across Europe and South Africa, recognising best practice, and rewarding the most effective campaigns in the industry.

The Innovation Challenge which was launched at Maponya Mall in Soweto was the only South African campaign honoured this year. The Solal Awards are recognised as a benchmark of quality throughout the industry and in 2019 welcomed 164 entries from 22 different countries.

Launched in October 2018, the Innovation Challenge is a national competition developed by Redefine Properties inviting the general public to submit innovative ideas relevant to the property industry. Ideas with potential to revolutionise either retail, commercial or industrial space, enhance business opportunities and customer experiences, uplift communities and their integration in respect of any of the spaces and that embraced technology were considered.

In its first year, the competition attracted over 1250 entries from across the country.

In an ever-changing business environment further accelerated by the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, we realise that, in order to remain relevant, we need to embrace change. The Innovation Challenge helps us to identify young individuals who have the ideas that will future-proof our malls and to uplift and support them to become our future tenants, suppliers or even employees.

Marijke Coetzee, Head of Marketing and Communications, Redefine Properties

“We are looking for ideas which have the ability to fundamentally improve people’s lives.”

Cash4Trash, an income generating recycling concept powered by vending machines won the first prize at the Innovation Challenge. Entrepreneur Mary-Ann Mandishona who floated the idea won R1 million in prize money for her efforts and an opportunity to negotiate start-up support to the value of up to R9 million in the form of either monetary support, education, commercial space or concept acquisition.

The Innovation Challenge at the core is an endeavour to build a bridge to the communities that surround us. It encourages engagement, helps our efforts to manage spaces in a way that changes lives and most importantly provides a platform to boost entrepreneurship.

Marijke Coetzee, Head of Marketing and Communications, Redefine Properties

Emira leads the property sector’s response to tackling invasive bug infestation in Johannesburg

It’s not the beetle: it’s who it hangs out with that’s the trouble. And now the party is getting out of control, so much so that South Africa’s urban forests are under threat.

In 2017, the polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea fornicatus) – or PSHB – was detected for the first time on London plane trees in the KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Gardens, in Pietermaritzburg.

Since then, evidence of the beetle’s presence has been found in 151 species within the country, and the invasive little borer from Southeast Asia has spread all the way to Johannesburg, bringing with it a picnic of its favourite fungi.

And this is the real problem.

As they bore into the wood, the beetle relies on the fungus (Fusarium euwallaceae) to feed its adults and larvae. It is this fungus that slowly kills the tree, not the bug itself – the fungus grows along the beetle’s tunnels, blocking the tree’s vascular system, causing the dieback of the terminal branches and leaves, and eventually the death of the entire tree.

The advancing beetles have also been noted in Durban, Richard’s Bay, Pietermaritzburg, George, Knysna, and Hartswater.

However it is Johannesburg, with its dense urban forest that has been hit particularly hard.

To date, there had been no single successful treatment of the infestation: a heavily infected tree needed to be urgently treated or removed, as the contagion easily spreads. But now Johannesburg is hitting back hard too, thanks to a pioneering partnership between Emira Property Fund and the newly-formed Beetle Busters, who have successfully registered a ground-breaking treatment for the infestation.

During the upgrade of Emira’s Hyde Park Lane Office Park, it became apparent that the attractive wooded grounds were heavily infected with the shot hole borer. One infected tree can contain over 100 000 beetles, and the females can fly up to 1km, although most beetles only fly to the surrounding trees.

Our initial concern was that we would have to fell all of the infected trees in the park, which would substantially change the environment of the office park. Fortunately, we were introduced to Beetle Busters, who are partnering with Emira and using Hyde Park as a test case for the treatment and eradication of the borer – hopefully saving most of the trees in the park.

Justin Bowen,Senior Development Manager at Emira Property Fund

Historically, the treatment for PSHB has been to poison the beetle itself, but this often proves toxic to the host tree. Beetle Busters’ new treatment targets the fungus instead, technically starving the beetle while killing the fungus before it can kill the tree.

If successful, this will be a ground-breaking intervention for South Africa, which could arrest the nationwide infestation and save our trees. The treatment at Hyde Park Office Park has been completed and we hope to be able to confirm the results as we move into spring and the trees start their re-growth cycle.

Tim Conradie, of Beetle Busters.

Emira is exceptionally proud to be part of this ground-breaking test case and cannot wait to see the results in the coming months. We really are hoping that this will be the ‘silver bullet’ that we need to keep our treed cities.

Geoff Jennett, CEO of Emira Property Fund

Justin Bowen adds: “The response continues Emira’s environmental leadership in SA’s property sector. Emira was the first company in Africa to have our Science-Based Carbon Reduction Targets approved by the SBTi. The country’s trees are one of the largest carbon sinks that SA has as a weapon to combat climate change, and we are hoping that our pilot will be the first of many successful treatments to eradicate the devastation that the shot hole borer is having on our urban forests.”

Texton Property Fund today reported a total dividend of 71.37 cents per share for its full-year ended 30 June 2019.

This financial year has been the toughest in the company’s history. Texton is a diversified JSE-listed SA REIT with total property assets valued at R4.4bn, of which 58.5% by value is in South Africa and 41.5% in the United Kingdom. Besides facing weak and deteriorating property fundamentals in both SA and UK markets, the company reconstituted its board and executive management during the year to strengthen its leadership and stabilise its management. Its new management also dealt with several inherited legacy issues, including the PIC Put Option.

While Texton’s distributions were 20.1% down from 89.31 cents per share in the 2018 financial year as a result of negative market factors including rental reversions, vacancies, an oversupply of space, prolonged let-up periods, lower foreign exchange gains and increased funding costs, this was in line with expectations and the company made significant operational progress.

After his first full six-month period at Texton’s helm, new CEO Marius Muller says, “The tough macroeconomics in both our markets weakened property fundamentals. Rather than dwelling on factors over which we have no control, we remained firmly focused on what we can manage. We made pleasing operational advances that place Texton on a much firmer footing for the future.”

Muller, who has been tasked with the groundwork that will return Texton to positive performance, has declined his contractual bonus and increase in compensation, saying that difficult but necessary decisions have had to be made to bring Texton back in line with shareholder and stakeholder expectations.

We are confident that Texton will come through this challenging cycle and emerge stronger. We believe the necessary steps have been taken to provide a robust platform for growth. By focusing on the fundamentals, we are reinforcing Texton’s solid foundations and strengthening our portfolio and balance sheet. However, turning Texton around in difficult and unsupportive macroeconomic environments is proving to be a more gradual process than we would have liked. As a small market cap company, Texton is relatively more exposed to the impacts of the difficult operating environment. It would, however, be equally able to benefit from and capitalise on a future upturn in the market.

Marius Muller, CEO of Texton Property Fund

Texton achieved substantial success securing new lettings, retaining tenants and protecting property income streams through early renewals, which resulted in portfolio occupancies, including its 50% stake in Broad Street Mall in the UK, improving from 10.5% to 9.2% in the second half of the financial year. In the process, Texton increased its exposure to blue-chip, listed and national tenants in the portfolio by 5.5% to 69.7% and renewed 83.6% of leases expiring in the year. Texton’s collections also improved, reducing arrears from 4.5% to 2.0% of billings during the year. This translates to a 55.6% improvement in cash receipts.

In this market, however, securing tenants and protecting revenue streams is only possible at the cost of rental growth. Economic erosion and the resulting rental reversions in the portfolio reduced property revaluations. Texton’s like-on-like held property portfolio value decreased 13.2% to R4.154bn, with most of the reduction contributed by the SA portfolio.

Even so, Texton continues to maintain well-positioned and defensive portfolios in both its markets underpinned by good properties with strong covenants. Its office properties have performed well despite oversupply and intense competition. The industrial property portfolio performed as expected. Its retail portfolio has done remarkably well and enjoys high occupancies across all properties and regions.

Texton introduced more aggressive broker and tenant incentives to boost its leasing. During the year in SA, it concluded 108 new leases and renewals over nearly 95,000sqm, indicating the success of its focused and proactive approach in a challenging market. Its vacancy levels improved in SA from 12.6% to 10.8% in the second half of the financial year, with the weighted average lease expiry increasing 16% to 2.9 years. All of its wholly-owned UK assets remain fully let and income producing, contributing strong income returns to the company.

Texton’s refinancing programme is one of its biggest challenges and priorities and, having resolved the PIC Put Option in the first half of the year, the focus has shifted to decreasing gearing levels. However, the progress made is not yet showing in the numbers. Texton’s loan-to-value ratio increased from 42.7% to 47.7%. It aims to bring this below 40% and to diversify its lending portfolio.

An aggressive programme of non-core asset disposals, which is being stepped up, will support Texton’s drive to reduce debt and selectively reposition its portfolio. During the year in the UK, Texton disposed of Tesco Chobe at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle, let to Tesco Bank, for GBP12m. The property transferred eight days after year end. The proceeds were used to de-leverage the Santander loans repayable in February 2020 and significantly de-risk the repayment burden of this tranche of debt, while improving UK portfolio metrics. In SA, Texton completed the strategic sale of two non-core properties and allocated the proceeds to reduce debt. To further support its refinancing and achieve its debt strategy, Texton intends to dispose of a further 13 properties of R326.8m already held for sale in the year ahead.

We’ve made good progress in a short time with the full confidence of our board and an excellent team supporting us. We have endeavoured to improve our relationships with our shareholders and stakeholders and set a course towards enhanced total returns to support a re -rating of Texton’s share price. Texton’s 2020 financial year distribution is expected to decrease by around 20%, however, we are confident that we will resolve all inherited legacy issues during year.

Marius Muller, CEO of Texton Property Fund