Township and community malls do well, says Vukile Property Fund

Vukile Property Fund reported increased footfall at its shopping malls in the two months to end-december, with Black Friday attracting more shoppers despite load-shedding challenges.

The Jse-listed company is in the process of acquiring 50% of BT Ngebs City mall in Mthatha. The R400m acquisition will likely close in six months, according to Creamer’s Engineering News. Vukile will own the mall jointly with Flanagan & Gerard Property Group.

In November, overall shopper numbers rose by 10% nationally at Vukile malls, with footfall up 13% in its rural portfolio, 9% in township centres, 10% in commuter centres and 11% in urban shopping centres.

“The SA portfolio continues to show improvement in all key operating metrics, with township and community malls continuing to outperform,” the company said on Wednesday.

Vukile is a Jse-listed specialist retail real estate investment trust (Reit), with a defensive portfolio of property assets in SA (44%) and Spain (56%). Spanish assets are held through a 89.6% stake in Madrid-listed Castellana Properties Socimi.

Compared with 2021, Black Friday attracted 18% more shoppers to Vukile’s malls, and overall, footfall was 15% higher over the Black Friday weekend. For December trade, shopper numbers increased by 11% at township malls and 13% at community malls.

Annualised trading density increased by 6.7% in November 2022 and by 6% in December. The township and commuter malls grew by 9.7% and 8.9% respectively, while the combined rural and township portfolio grew by 7.3%. Trading density refers to sales achieved per rentable square metre in a particular store or shopping centre.

Among the different retail categories, movies and travel recorded their highest growth levels since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Strong trading extended into the festive month and saw sales increase 15.5% compared with December 2021, and 15.6% compared to December 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite Cpi-driven price increases, shoppers continued to buy more than in previous years, Vukile said.

Picture: SUPPLIED LOOKING UP: Vukile-owned malls, such as Randburg Square in Johannesburg, saw a 10% increase in shopper numbers between November and December last year.