MAS lifts earnings per share by 40 percent

MAS REAL ESTATE lifted distributable earnings per share 40 percent to

3.78 euro cents (R0.61) in the six months to end-December 2018 off the back of property acquisitions and developments in Central and Eastern Europe. The commercial property group, which is listed on the JSE and Euro-MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, said yesterday that continued investment in PKM Developments and distributions received from the Reit portfolio drove growth. MAS’ share price traded 10c lower at R22.10 on the JSE yesterday afternoon and closed at R22.85. Interim chief executive Malcolm Levy said the solid performance stemmed from a decision three years ago to restructure and grow the balance sheet. The strategy involved disposing of mature assets in Western Europe and investing in a mixture of income-generating assets with high organic growth and good potential to add value. The emphasis was to own a portfolio of mostly retail property assets in Central and Eastern Europe, to diversify from the Western European portfolio. During the period, comparable net rental income grew by 55.7 percent, to €23.8 million, while net operating income more than doubled, from €12.6m to €25.6m. On February 28, 2019 MAS, through the co-investment joint venture with Prime Kapital, acquired nine completed developments in Romania from PKM Developments for €108.6m.

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