Growthpoint Properties has published its audited annual results for the financial year ending 30 June 2024, showing a mixed performance across its various sectors and regions.
Key Performance Indicators in South Africa
The majority of key performance indicators in South Africa showed improvement across the office, retail, and industrial sectors.
Notably, the V&A Waterfront emerged as a standout performer, driven by increased tourism, with distributable income rising by 12.6% to R775 million, up from R688.4 million in FY23.
Despite these gains, high interest rates across the group negatively impacted distributable income. The total cost of funding increased by 16.2% to R4.394 billion, compared to R3.781 billion in FY23.
This increase was attributed to higher weighted average costs of debt in South Africa, Australia, and the UK.
Growthpoint said it continued to focus on improving the quality of its South African portfolio, disposing of 17 properties for R907.7 million and investing R2.1 billion in capex and development costs.
Improving the quality of the SA portfolio
Disposed of 17 SA properties, including three office properties, for R907.7 million (FY23: R1.2 billion)
Disposed of two Trading and Development properties, The Kent in La Lucia for R141 million and Woodburn Square, Pietermaritzburg for R153.3 million, generating profit of R38 million
(FY23: One property sold for R340.0m with a profit of R83 million)
There are six properties (FY23: one) with a value of R580.3 million held for sale at FY24 (FY23: R18 million)
R2.1 billion of capex and development costs spent, including the redevelopment of Arterial Industrial, Blackheath, Bellville; Bayside Mall, Tableview and Longkloof Studios (Hilton
Canopy Hotel), Cape Town (FY23: R1.5 billion).
Internationally, offshore investments contributed 32.4% to Growthpoint’s distributable income per share (DIPS), although offshore income decreased by 1.1% in Rand terms.
Liquidity and Capital Management
The group maintained a strong focus on liquidity and balance sheet strength, with R6.3 billion in unutilised committed facilities and R465.9 million in cash balances.
The group’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio increased to 42.3%, up from 40.1% in FY23, due to negative property valuations in Australia and increased interest-bearing borrowings in South Africa.
In a significant ESG milestone, Growthpoint entered into a Power Purchase Agreement for the annual purchase of 195GWh of renewable energy, representing 32.0% of FY23’s annual electricity consumption, effective from July 2025.
Financial Highlights
Total group revenue increased by 4.8% to R14.4 billion.
Group operating profit decreased by 2.0% to R8.7 billion.
Distributable income decreased by 10.3% to R4.813 billion.
Funds From Operations (FFO) per share decreased by 11.5% to 131.5 cents.
Basic earnings per share decreased by 45.9% to 37.49 cents, mainly due to negative fair value adjustments on investment property and interest-bearing borrowings.
The group said that the V&A Waterfront's performance exceeded expectations for FY24, driven by increased domestic and international tourism.
"The redevelopment of the Lux Mall, which commenced in July 2024, and the Table Bay Hotel, with a closure from February 2025, will have a negative impact on FY25's performance. Both redevelopments are scheduled to open towards the end of 2025," it warned.
The V&A Waterfront anticipates achieving mid-single-digit growth for FY25.
The group said that international expansion is constrained by high cost of capital, both domestically and offshore. "Consequently, we shall continue to focus on optimising our existing investments."
Growthpoint Properties said it is continuing to navigate a challenging macro-economic environment with a focus on strategic investments and ESG initiatives.
While high interest rates have impacted distributable income, the group said it remains committed to improving its portfolio quality and maintaining liquidity to support future growth.
Shares in the group are up some 25% in the year-to-date.
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