EMIRA’S OCCUPANCY LEVELS HAVE REMAINED HIGH

EMIRA Property Fund said occupancy in its portfolio remained high, with vacancies slightly up at 4.5 percent in the first three months of its 2021 financial year, versus 4.1 percent at the past June year- end. Vacancies were anticipated to trend upwards over the balance of the new financial year. The full effect of the pandemic and lockdown levels on tenants were still uncertain, as the environment remained challenging for them, Emira’s directors said yesterday in an operational update for the three months to September 30. The diversified nature of Emira’s investments, sectorally and geographically, including its offshore exposure and its co- investment model, had proved defensive given that some sectors and regions were harder hit than others, they said. “Emira remains focused on the strength of its balance sheet, maintaining occupancy levels and collecting rentals,” the directors said. In its direct local portfolio, amounting to 78 percent of its investments, a further R15.3 million had been granted in rental concessions ( R12.1m to the end of September). These were in the form of permanent rental remissions, granted on a case- by- case basis to tenants whose operations were particularly hard hit by the lockdown restrictions. Emira said its balance sheet remained robust. There was no material change to the loan- tovalue ratio of 43 percent reported at June 30, and all funding covenants were being met. |