March 21 (SeeNews) - South African real estate investment trust Hyprop Investments said its distributable income from operations in Southeastern Europe (SEE) rose to 243 million rand ($13.1 million/12.2 million euro) in its fiscal first half ended December 2022, from 3.2 million rand a year earlier.
Cash generated from operations in the region amounted to 347.8 million rand, up from 3.2 million rand in the same period of 2021, Hyprop said in an interim financial statement last week.
In mid-2022, Hyprop increased its majority shareholding of Skopje City Mall in North Macedonia, City Center One East and City Center One West in Croatia as well as The Mall in Bulgaria. The South African group also completed the disposal of Delta City Mall in Podgorica, Montenegro, for net proceeds of 70 million euro ($75.3 million), thus significantly reducing its euro-denominated debt.
The boost in SEE exposure led to Hyprop's distributable income from SEE retail centres rising to roughly 101 million rand already as of June 2022 while revenue from operations totalled some 209 million rand.
According to the latest interim report, tenant turnover was up 14.1% year-on-year in SEE as of end-December 2022, mostly driven by a 31% jump at The Mall. Overall SEE tenant turnover was 17.3% higher on the year in January alone. Trading density and footfall also improved, although the spend per head declined by an annual 1.7% in the fiscal first half and 2.3% in January.
Bulgaria's The Mall had a 1.8% vacancy rate as of end-December 2022, with the retail centres in Croatia and North Macedonia fully rented out. In terms of gross leasable area (GLA), Zara owner Inditex, Interspar, Peek & Cloppenburg and H&M were the top four tenant groups in SEE at end-2022.
Hyprop also said it is planning an extension at City Center One East in Zagreb.
($ = 0.9298 euro)