Emira Property Groups' Hyde Park Lane offices had seen a notable increase in interest and occupancy in the past financial year to March 31, 2026.
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Emira Property Fund, which last month surprised the South Africa market by buying 23.5% of Octodec Investments, increased distributable income by 3.7% for the year to March 31 and has positioned its balance sheet for further growth, CEO James Day said.
The dividend per share was raised 4.1% to 129,01 cents, the results showed, this after a final dividend of 64,61 cents per share was declared, slightly higher than 61,50 cents at the same time last year.
Emira, which invests in South Africa, the US, and Poland, also acquired a 6.9% stake in JSE-listed REIT SA Corporate Real Estate, which has a portfolio focused primarily on retail, industrial, and residential sectors, during the past year.
In an online presentation on Thursday, in response to questions from investors about whether Emira intended to further increase its stake in Octodec, Day said they saw their investment as a strategic investment, were “more of a long-term investor,” and would, where they could, work with Octodec’s management to grow their portfolio.
He said Emira would remain disciplined in its capital allocation and the group would “see what works for us in the long term.”
In response to questions surrounding his view that Emira’s results were “robust” for the past financial year when compared with results of other JSE-listed REITs, Day said the results were good considering the headwinds the group faced, including the impacts of tariffs, the Iran war, and rising inflationary concerns in all the markets where it operates, currency movements, and the extent of strategic initiatives that had been accomplished through the year.
In addition, their loan-to-value ratio that had reduced to 30.2% was “very low” and had left the group with a great deal of capacity to grow its investments going forward.
In South Africa, the Fund directly owns a portfolio of 35 properties diversified across the retail, industrial, office and residential sectors. Emira's directly held portfolio revenue decreased by 15.7% to R1.46 billion compared to R1.73bn for the comparative period, impacted by property disposals.
In the US, Emira has equity interests in six grocery-anchored dominant value-oriented centres in partnership with US-based The Rainier Companies.
In Poland, Emira has a 45% equity stake in DL Invest Group, a Luxembourg-based company with 42 industrial and logistics parks, mixed-use office centres, and retail parks, with seven new developments underway.
Emira’s vacancies stood at 4.1%, while its residential occupancy improved to 97.5%. Property disposals throughout the year realised R1.3 bn. Disposals of five retail assets in the US realised $64.8 million.
Emira’s share price was 0.7% lower at R14.90 on Thursday morning on the JSE, a price that was just shy of 40% higher than the R10.70 it had traded at a year before.
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