November 4 2026 11:10
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Exemplar REITail, the JSE’s only listed property fund dedicated solely to township and rural shopping centres, has declared an interim dividend of 90.58305 cents a share for the six months to 31 August 2026. That is 6.7% more than the 84.92758 cents it paid a year ago.
The REIT, led by chief executive Jason McCormick, also confirmed the guidance it gave the market in March. It still expects distribution per share (DPS) for the year to 28 February 2027 to grow by between 9% and 11%.
The interim growth rate is well below the 20.9% leap Exemplar delivered at the same stage last year, and below the 15.3% it achieved for the full 2026 financial year. But the headline number hides a business that is still expanding quickly. Revenue rose 13.8%, net property income grew 13%, and net asset value per share climbed 15.7% to R19.75.
The results, released on SENS on 2 November, land in the middle of the busiest development stretch in the company’s history. Since September Exemplar has reopened iTonka Square in Springs and taken on Leratong City in Kagiso. It is now preparing Ntuzuma Mall and KwaMashu Place in KwaZulu-Natal for March 2027.
Revenue for the half came in at R847.3m, up from R744.6m in the comparable period. Net property income before fair value adjustments rose 13% to R533.9m. Net property income was up 13.5% to R527.2m once operating lease equalisation is stripped out. Lease equalisation is the accounting adjustment that smooths rental escalations over the life of a lease.
Basic earnings per share jumped 39.1% to 175.58 cents. Basic earnings include revaluations of the property portfolio, so a rise of that size points to further fair value gains on the malls.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS), which strip out those revaluations, went the other way. HEPS fell 6.9% to 68.39 cents, and diluted HEPS dropped 7.7% to 66.11 cents.
Net asset value (NAV) per share was R19.75 at the end of August. That is 15.7% higher than a year earlier and up from R19.25 at the February year-end.
Results at a glance: six months to 31 August
| Metric | H1 FY2027 | H1 FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (R million) | 847.3 | 744.6 | +13.8% |
| Net property income before fair value adjustments (R million) | 533.9 | 472.3 | +13.0% |
| Basic earnings per share (cents) | 175.58 | 126.24 | +39.1% |
| Headline earnings per share (cents) | 68.39 | 73.46 | -6.9% |
| NAV per share (rand) | 19.75 | 17.07 | +15.7% |
| Interim dividend (cents) | 90.58 | 84.93 | +6.7% |
The gap between 13% growth in net property income and 6.7% growth in the dividend is the main question these results raise. The short-form announcement does not break it down, but three factors stand out.
The first is a bigger share count. Exemplar had 348,072,858 shares in issue when it declared this dividend, against 335,432,350 a year ago, an increase of about 3.8%. Some of the new shares were issued as part payment for acquisitions; the Steelpoort deal alone included 2,929,115 shares. More shares mean the same income is spread more thinly.
The second is costs. Property operating costs rose 15.1% in the half, faster than rental and recovery income. This is a familiar pattern for Exemplar. At last year’s interim stage, operating costs rose 17.3%. Municipal charges, electricity and security continue to rise faster than rentals across South African retail property.
The third is timing. Much of the new space that will lift earnings, including iTonka Square and Leratong City, opened only after the period closed in August. Development spending and the cost of funding it come through before the rent does.
HEPS, which carries interest and other costs but not property revaluations, fell for the same reasons. The full results booklet sets out the finance cost line; the short form does not.
Exemplar’s portfolio is close to full. Vacancies were 2.6% at the end of the period, in line with the 2.64% reported at the February year-end.
Anchor tenants, the big grocers and retailers that draw shoppers into each centre, grew their trading densities (sales per square metre) by about 2.5%. McCormick said that this was well ahead of food inflation of around 1%. But he conceded that growth had slowed. Higher diesel prices, he said, were pushing consumers to shop nearer home rather than travel to larger malls.
That trend cuts both ways for a landlord like Exemplar. Its neighbourhood and community centres sit close to where people live, which should help them. Its larger, destination-style malls, however, rely on shoppers making the trip.
McCormick argues that the forces behind township retail remain strong. He points to population growth, the spread of backyard rental accommodation, which adds households to existing plots, and the cash economy, particularly in Gauteng’s metros. He described Exemplar as a proxy for the wider township retail market, and said stronger growth rates have made investors and lenders pay closer attention to the sector.
The big event of the season came just after the reporting period. Leratong City in Kagiso, Mogale City, opened in late October. Exemplar has taken on the management of the mall, which is the main retail component of the planned R5bn Leratong Smart City development.
McCormick said almost 70,000 people came through the doors on opening day, a Thursday.
The project has been a long time coming. It was first recorded as a development initiative in 2010. Nedbank CIB Property Finance provided R573m in funding for the mall. In September Leratong City became the first township shopping centre in South Africa to receive preliminary EDGE Advanced certification, which recognises energy and water efficiency.
The mall’s catchment is set to grow. Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements Tasneem Motara has announced plans to deliver 3,500 homes in the area by the end of 2027.
With Leratong included, Exemplar now has 776,852m² of retail space under management. Its owned portfolio is 31 assets with a combined 501,606m² of lettable area, across six provinces.
Leratong followed the reopening of iTonka Square in Springs on Heritage Day, 24 September. Exemplar bought 50% of the centre, then called Tonk Meter Crossing, in September 2025; developer Landmark Property Investment owns the rest.
A R395m redevelopment turned the 7,475m² strip centre into an enclosed 21,500m² mall with two anchors, Boxer and Boxer Liquor. Clicks, Sportscene, Studio 88 and the Foschini Group joined the tenant mix, alongside Capitec, FNB and Standard Bank. Around 550 jobs were created during the eight-month build, 67% of them filled by local people.
At the opening, McCormick said Exemplar’s teams would have opened more than 80,000m² of retail space by the end of October.
Exemplar’s owned portfolio grew during the half through two acquisitions, both completed in April.
Vosloorus Crossing in Gauteng cost R177m. The 10,323m² centre counts Spar, Tops at Spar, Builders Warehouse, Burger King, OBC Butchery and four banks among its tenants. It sits next to Exemplar’s flagship Chris Hani Crossing, so the deal deepens a node the company already knows well.
In Steelpoort, Limpopo, Exemplar bought 50.38% of the existing 27,787m² retail precinct for R112.2m plus 2,929,115 new Exemplar shares, at an initial yield of 9.3%. The mining town has been through a multi-year rejuvenation, and Exemplar plans to expand the precinct to about 43,000m². That expansion is scheduled for 2028.
When the deals were announced in May, McCormick described them as deliberate, accretive investments in high-growth nodes, with redevelopment planned to improve the quality of the sites.
Next up are two KwaZulu-Natal openings, both due in March 2027:
- Ntuzuma Mall, a R388m Shoprite-anchored centre developed with AJ Property Holdings, in which Exemplar holds 70%. It is aimed at the densely populated Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu area north of Durban, and has been nearly six years in the making.
- KwaMashu Place, in the neighbouring township.
Both openings fall just after the February 2027 year-end, so their rent will mostly benefit the 2028 financial year rather than the current one.
Exemplar’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio was 38% at the end of August. That is up from 36.6% at the February year-end, reflecting the debt taken on for acquisitions and developments. It is slightly below the 38.5% reported at the same point last year, a level the board described at the time as well within its comfort zone.
The 15.7% rise in NAV per share to R19.75 kept pace with the growth in the asset base. NAV per share has now risen from R14.75 in February 2024, an increase of about a third in two and a half years.
The guidance assumes that interest rates stay put, with the prime lending rate at 10.25% and three-month JIBAR at 6.625% for the forecast period.
There has been one change behind the scenes. PKF Johannesburg is now Exemplar’s auditor, replacing BDO South Africa, which signed off the 2026 annual financial statements. The interim numbers are unaudited, as is normal.
What the second half has to deliver
Confirming the guidance is a strong signal, because the maths puts most of the work into the second half.
Exemplar paid 176.85053 cents for the 2026 financial year. Growth of 9% to 11% implies a full-year DPS of roughly 192.8 to 196.3 cents for 2027. With 90.58 cents already declared, the final distribution in May would need to be about 102.2 to 105.7 cents. That is 11% to 15% more than last year’s final of 91.92 cents.
This year’s profile is the reverse of last year’s. In 2026 the interim distribution grew 20.9% and the final 10.5%. This time the interim is up 6.7%, and the final has to do the heavy lifting.
Several things work in Exemplar’s favour. Vosloorus Crossing and Steelpoort were owned for only part of the first half. They will contribute for the full second half. iTonka Square reopened in late September with almost three times its former lettable area, and will trade for the whole second half. Leratong City Mall adds to the portfolio under management from late October.
The guidance rests on a handful of assumptions. These are that no major tenants fail, rentals escalate and renewals are concluded largely on existing contractual terms, vacancies stay at current levels and interest rates hold steady.
Exemplar’s longer-term growth record is strong. Since listing on the JSE in 2018 it has grown distributions at a compound annual rate of 11.8%.
The interim dividend of 90.58305 cents a share will be paid on the following timetable:
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Last day to trade cum dividend | Tuesday, 24 November 2026 |
| Shares trade ex dividend | Wednesday, 25 November 2026 |
| Record date | Friday, 27 November 2026 |
| Payment date | Monday, 30 November 2026 |
As a REIT distribution, the dividend is taxable as income for South African residents but exempt from dividend withholding tax for them. Non-resident shareholders subject to the 20% withholding tax will receive a net 72.46644 cents a share.
alistair@propertyflash.co.za
