Ryan Chigoche
HARARE – Listed real estate property concern Mashonaland Holdings has reported a 23% surge in revenue in the five months to May 2024 against the prior comparable period. The increase in revenue came as the company saw an occupancy rate of 88% which was a percentage point growth from the figures reported last year.
The group has seen a steady increase in revenue, which is a testament to its five years portfolio diversification strategy which is currently on its third year. The strategy was born out of the realisation of the drop in CBD occupancy, which constitutes the majority of its property portfolio.
In 2023, the group posted a revenue of US$6.4m, which was an improvement from the US$5.5m posted in the year prior and the 2021 topline of US$5.1m with 75% of the income reported to be all in US dollars.
Speaking at the company’s 57th AGM Acting MD Kuda Masundire said they will continue on the diversification plan as he reviewed that they are currently working on the feasibility studies of the Victoria Fall Hotel project and the Borrowdale office park.
”In terms of our strategy, we pretty much remain anchored on portfolio diversification to support our quest for better returns for members, for shareholders, but also looking at other aspects of our performance. We’ve already seen the Mashview Gardens, Newton Park Hospitals coming to a conclusion. Pomona Commercial Center is planned for conclusion this year before we move to the other projects in Victoria Falls and possibly Borrowdale Office Park. So these projects in the future are pretty much still at the feasibility stage in which we are just doing our number crunching as well as planning for the projects.” he said.
He added through this strategy the property portfolio is now more balanced in response to market development.
”Currently the group is pursuing a five-year model portfolio plan, which envisages for us to have a portfolio which is more balanced. Currently, from when we started, CBD Retail really was a major contributor for our portfolio. But we were going, we see that the portfolio will be more balanced, giving entrance in sectors such as tourism as well as retail, which we think speak to what the market is looking for in terms of our tenants” he added.
To date the group has already completed two projects that is the cluster housing development and Milton Park Hospital facility which has already been handed over to the tenant. The Pomona Commercial Center US$12 million development which is more than 60% pre-leased is set to be completed by October this year.
In the year ending December 2023 in United States dollar revenue grew by 16% compared to the 2022 financial period, driven by an improvement in our rental income, which grew by 23%. The improvement in the rental income came on the back of an improvement in occupancy, which closed at 89%, representing a 2% growth from the previous year.
In the revenue attribution, 79% of the company income is from property services with 21% of the revenue mainly from the Mashview Gardens cluster housing development, which gained traction over the course of the last year with 75% of the total income coming through the United States dollars.
Meanwhile net asset value per share has also grew close to 4.8 cents per share. Total dividends that were declared amounted to to $397,000. combining both the U.S. dollar
