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The company told The Brief that it intends to pour in N$50 million next year under the first phase, which will see the introduction of an outside restaurant area.
The listed company’s mall expansion plans have already received board approval, and are at an advanced stage with letting of the phase 1 area currently in progress.
“The Maerua holistic plan will be implemented over several years. The first phase which will include a new area towards the Jan Jonker side of the centre will host outside restaurants and will bring a lot of convenience back to the centre. Phase 1 of the project has been approved by the Oryx Board which includes the funding structure thereof. Currently the team is busy with the letting of the new gross leasable area for which we have an 80% pre-let condition. This phase will address a lot of the changing consumer needs whilst bringing in new tenant sectors to the mall,” Oryx Properties CEO Ben Jooste told The Brief.
For the period up to 30 June 2022, Jooste said Maerua Mall had recorded an increase in feet count, a position which is expected to be buoyed by upgrades in the mall.
“Maerua Mall has come out as resilient and shows some very positive signs. Traffic in the centre has increased well beyond our expectations and turnovers across the spectrum have mirrored this. We do believe that the rejuvenation project is adding to this, but also that the new stores as well as the upgraded existing stores are playing a major part. We have seen some exciting new tenants move into the mall with I-Store, PNA and Jet Home leading the charge and some new entries in the fashion space on the way shortly as well as some very interesting outside restaurant tenants. Add to this the fact that several existing tenancies will be upgraded in the short term, it all makes for an interesting period ahead,” he said.
Property disposal
Jooste said the company was planning to dispose of its Channel Life building as it moves to reposition its property portfolio inline with its strategy to grow the fund to N$4.5 billion.
“As part of this strategy we are repositioning our portfolio. From an offices sector perspective, our focus will be on A and P grade office buildings. Therefore, any B and C grade offices will either be repurposed and or renovated, or if that is not feasible disposed of. The Channel Life building remains a great building and is currently nearly 100% occupied which proves its popularity - however it falls outside the current 2025 strategy aims and objectives,” he said.
Responding to questions whether the company planned more property disposals going forward, the Oryx CEO said: "Oryx Properties specialises in Asset Management and therefore, depending on the life cycle of any particular asset, may decide to dispose of it - if it makes sense. As part of our new strategy 2025 each asset will be reviewed on merit and if it does not fit into the strategy will be either repositioned if possible or disposed of.”
Property acquisitions
Jooste added that the listed property company was currently looking in other property sub-sectors which include rural and urban retail, medical and storage with a view to invest.
“Oryx is certainly looking to expand geographically in Namibia to build on our existing portfolio and create a diverse balanced portfolio in Namibia. The company sees a lot of potential in Namibia within various sectors. Whilst our core sectors which include Retail, Industrial, Offices and Residential will remain constant, new sectors and sub-sectors will be investigated which includes rural and urban retail, medical, storage and other forms of residential sectors,” he said.
Tower Fund investment
Jooste said the company disposed its investment in the Tower Property Fund SA to RDC, a property loan stock company in Botswana, for N$14.9 million and as part of their acquisition, existing Tower shareholders were given the option to sell the shares
“The rationale was to free up capital to help us improve our cashflow to be re-invested as part of our 2025 strategy to grow the fund in Namibia,” he said.
Outlook
The Oryx boss noted that the company expects the retail and tourism sectors to continue to face challenges.
“At this point in time with a lot of international uncertainty we believe that there will be challenges for the retail sector in particular. However, at Oryx our philosophy has always been to understand our tenant’s businesses as well as we can and this has stood us in good stead to prevent negative situations. On a strategic front we have started to address our retail tenant mix in our malls to speak to the changing retail environment. The tourism sector has been very hard hit by specifically the Covid pandemic, and it is very encouraging to see that the industry has bounced back. Although not on pre-Covid levels, the numbers are on the increase and we are very positive about this sector. However, we are keeping in close contact with our tourist related tenancies to ensure that we are always fully up to date with the movements in the industry,” he said.
According to its latest results, Oryx Properties reported a 949.8% increase in after tax profit to N$105.1 million, while its property portfolio was valued at N$2.84 billion by an independent third party, up 0.3% from the FY21 valuation.