September 27 2025 01:00
SOUTH AFRICA
Heriot Reit had a record-breaking financial period in the year to end-June 2025 with its distributable earnings jumping to R389,209m, reflecting a 26.1% increase on the 2024 financial year’s R308,754m.
The company sad the “remarkable growth was driven by several key factors including the acquisition of developer Thibault in late June 2024 which led to the first-time inclusion of Thibault’s comprehensive income, contributing R61.9m to distributable earnings, alongside R19.1m from Thibault’s 10% shareholding in Safari Investments”.
Thibault also benefited from significant distributions through its investment in Texton Property Fund which declared distributions totalling 120.10 cents per share.
Net proceeds of R15m from the disposal of an investment property were included in the earnings, along with a non-IFRS adjustment of R4.4m reflecting Thibault’s share of Safari Investment’s final dividend pre-acquisition.
Safari Investment’s alignment of its financial year with Heriot resulted in 15 months of distributable earnings being included, with Heriot’s increased shareholding lifting its share of profits from R103.389m to R111.366m despite Safari Investment’s year-on-year distribution decline.
Additionally, a 100-basis point reduction in the repo rate and lower weighted average cost of debt (9.73% versus 10.27% previously) contributed to its financial results.
Heriot’s vacancies were low at 1.6% compared with 3.1% the previous year, supporting overall earnings growth.
The company said the inclusion of Thibault’s statement of comprehensive income for the 12 months ended 30 June 2025 significantly contributed to its 14.8% increase in net operating income (NOI) when compared to the prior period with additional growth achieved through Safari Investment’s internalisation of electricity and water utility management.
Heriot REIT’s distribution per share (DPS) of 121.91 cents for the reporting period reflected a 14.3% increase compared with the 106.69 cents per share declared in FY2024. The company said this growth in DPS was not directly aligned with distributable earnings as the Thibault acquisition initially led to an approximate 4% dilution in DPS but delivered a 7% increase in net asset value (NAV) per share.
Heriot’s net asset value (NAV) per share increased 17.5% from R17.53 as at 30 June 2024 to R20.59 as at June 30 2025, driven by an increase in the value of its property portfolio and supported by positive rental escalations on renewals and re-lets across its assets.
Its board declared a final dividend of 65.07 cents per share for the six months ended 30 June 2025, representing a 14.5% increase compared to the final dividend of 56.81 cents per share for the same period in 2024 with its management pursuing growth of 10% to 15% in its dividend per share for 2026 financial year.
247@propertyflash.co.za
