{"id":844603,"date":"2025-11-26T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=844603"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:17:10","slug":"south-african-shopping-mall-giant-pushing-hard-in-two-european-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/844603\/south-african-shopping-mall-giant-pushing-hard-in-two-european-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"South African shopping mall giant pushing hard in two European countries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vukile Property Fund is one of South Africa\u2019s largest retail property owners, but most of its assets are actually found offshore in Spain and Portugal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vukile Property Fund holds a total of R54 billion in property assets, and owns 30 retail assets in South Africa, including East Rand Mall, Pan Africa Shopping Centre and the recently acquired Mall of Mthatha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a significant portion of its assets are found in Spain and Portugal through its 99.6%-held subsidiary, Castellana Properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the media following the group\u2019s interim results, Vukile CEO Laurence Rapp said that Spain and Portugal continue to be the growth engines of the European economies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain, for instance, is expected to grow 2.9% in 2025, with the economy being driven by strong household consumption, a resilient labour market, and a 20-year low in unemployment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal is also expected to grow by up to 2.4% in 2025, driven by rising private consumption and record-high employment levels, with wages projected to increase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism is set for a record year, boosting demand in key regions such as Lisbon and Madeira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Iberian portfolio continued to perform in a league of its own, delivering outstanding operating metrics,\u201d said Rapp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur newly acquired Portuguese assets have been successfully integrated, with value-add projects identified set to drive further momentum.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castellana\u2019s EUR 1.8 billion portfolio is effectively fully let, with marginal vacancies of 1.3% and more than 95% of the space let to blue-chip international and national tenants.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castellana achieved positive rental aversions and new lets of 7.5% (9.55% in Portugal, 7.12% in Spain), well ahead of growth in both countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapp said that the group is also looking at new markets across Western Europe to grow its footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African performance<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Laurence Rapp – CEO of Vukile Property Fund <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Although Portugal and Spain are Vukile\u2019s largest markets, Rapp said that its South African portfolio operates in a “sweet spot”, focusing on rural and township retail.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapp said that retailers, especially clothing retailers, are seeing a stronger performance, which has led Vukile to increase rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa saw like-for-like net operating income (NOI) growth of 10%, which was higher than 8.7% in Iberia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African portfolio continues to deliver consistent outperformance, benefiting from driving operational efficiencies and an improved macroeconomic performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStrong top-line growth is supported by proactive cost management and sustainability initiatives, encompassing both electricity and water, that operate as a growing profit centre for Vukile,\u201d said Rapp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStructural changes, particularly around electricity supply, are most certainly making the operating environment better than it\u2019s been in a long time, and this is starting to bear fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retail portfolio value increased by 5.9% to R17.7 billion, with vacancies at an exceptionally low 1.8%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total portfolio recorded a 5.4% growth in trading density, with the township and rural portfolios outperforming at 5.9%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group added that the redevelopment of the Mall of Mthatha added significant value to the South African portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following its acquisition in May 2024, the mall\u2019s turnaround has delivered measurable gains, with asset value increasing by nearly 40%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African portfolio\u2019s cost-to-income ratio rose from 15.3% to a record low of 12.5%, which reflected the benefit of additional solar PV installations and targeted efficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financials<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

With the group recording strong performances during the period, its revenue increased by 37% to R2.9 billion following the acquisition of five new centres in Iberia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic earnings per share also rose by 73.0% to 190.02 cents per share. However, with the group increasing its number of shares, headline earnings per share dropped by 2.5% to 85.24 cents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the group still increased its interim dividend per share to 9 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial performance<\/strong><\/th>Unaudited interim results<\/strong> 30 Sept 2025<\/th>Unaudited interim results<\/strong> 30 Sept 2024<\/th>% change<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Gross property revenue (Rm)<\/td>2 903<\/td>2 120<\/td>36.9 <\/td><\/tr>
Operating profit before finance costs (Rm)<\/td>1 667<\/td>1 765<\/td>(5.6) <\/td><\/tr>
Profit for the period attributable to owners (Rm)<\/td>2 365<\/td>1 244<\/td>90.1 <\/td><\/tr>
Basic earnings per share (cents)<\/td>190.02<\/td>109.82<\/td>73.0 <\/td><\/tr>
Headline earnings per share (cents)<\/td>85.24<\/td>87.40<\/td>(2.5)<\/td><\/tr>
Gross dividend per share (cents)<\/td>60.15773<\/td>55.18051<\/td>9.0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vukile Property Fund is one of the largest REITs in South Africa, but most of its assets are found in Iberia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":844609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[20473],"class_list":["post-844603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-vukile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844603"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848587,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844603\/revisions\/848587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}