Rental escalations and decreased vacancies enabled Hyprop Investments yesterday to report an almost 17 percent increase in its distribution to unitholders to R1.90 in the year to December compared with the previous year.
This was a record growth in the distribution by Hyprop, whose flagship retail property is Canal Walk in Cape Town. It exceeded the directors' forecast of R1.83 a combined unit and coincided with the value of its property portfolio increasing by R1.4 billion to R5.2 billion, also an all-time high.
Pieter Prinsloo, Hyprop's chief executive, said the distribution and capital growth in unit value delivered a total return of 61 percent. He attributed most of the distribution growth to "rental escalations, strict expense control and drop in vacancies". - Roy Cokayne, Pretoria