Delta Property Fund Limited (DLT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for joining us for Delta Property Fund's results webcast for the year ended 29 February 2024. There will be a question-and-answer session after the presentation. [Operator Instructions] I'll now hand you over to Ms. Bong Masinga, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Zwelifikile Mhlontlo, Chief Financial Officer, to take us through the presentation.

Thank you, Maney. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us as we unpack Delta's performance for the year ended 29 February 2024. I'll kick off today's proceedings with a business update before unpacking our operational performance. Then I will hand over to our CFO, Zwelifikile Mhlontlo, who will take us through the financials. Delta remains in transition. Based on the results of this year, it is clear that our turnaround is gaining momentum despite some tough economic headwinds, the prevailing high interest rates and political developments. We are coming to the tail end of the REIT reporting season. And it is important for us to remember how Delta differentiated -- is differentiated from other listed landlords. As the only specialist sovereign underpinned REIT on the JSE, both our challenges and opportunities are relatively unique. The one challenge is that the current political development could slow down the pace of delivery, although having the sovereign underpin means focus will -- [ fiscus ] will always pay. Looking at our internal challenges, we have restructured and now have a dedicated team focused on filling the vacancies on service quality and on capital investments into key properties. This unlocked the signing of new leases as well as a renewal of leases that supported an increase in our weighted average lease expiry profile. It further supported us in disposing of properties at or close to book and helped us to amortize debt. I will touch on this a bit later on this presentation, but facilities management was a key focus area [ during the year ] under review, where we [ bedded ] down strict control measures on CapEx and maintenance. We continued to prioritize CapEx spend on buildings with good tenancy prospects, notwithstanding stagnant economic growth and a higher for longer interest rate environment. Our consistent focus on cost optimization, debt reduction, lease renewals and disposals continued to gain traction with a much improved performance against financial year '23 key metrics. We have a clear flight path to reduced loan to value and an improved interest cover ratio that will reposition Delta for growth and the recommencement of distributions. Profit from operations increased significantly to almost ZAR 400 million from a ZAR 226 million loss in the prior financial year. This was primarily driven by increased recoveries and a reduction in administrative costs. Our ongoing focus on costs resulted in administrative expenses coming down by 11.5%. As I alluded to earlier, our focus on service quality and strategic CapEx spend supported the renewal of leases on favorable terms, increasing our weighted average lease expiry to 15.3 months from 13.2 months. The total loss for the period shrunk to ZAR 77.6 million from a significant ZAR 749.7 million in the prior financial year, predominantly as a result of the stabilization in our portfolio valuation, a reduction in administrative costs and an increase in dividend income from Grit and an improvement in ECL provisions. The portfolio value was written down by ZAR 180.1 million compared to ZAR 833.6 million write-down in the prior financial year. Most of our disposals during and subsequent to the financial year-end were at or close to book value, indicative of a fairly valid -- or sorry, valued portfolio. According to [ Rode ] report on the South African property market for the first quarter of 2024, the overall domestic office market has shown ongoing improvement with slowly growing nominal rentals and lower vacancy rates, albeit, off a low base. As of the end of the first quarter of 2024 calendar year, the national office vacancy rate was still well above pre-COVID levels of 10.5% in 2019 and the historical long-term average of 9.3% as per [ supported ] data. Vacancy rates into Johannesburg and Pretoria continue to be higher than the national coverage, although Cape Town and Durban have performed relatively better. Looking at the bigger picture, office cap rates are still well up from the pre-COVID 2019 level of just under 10%. This reflects a sector that is still suffering from an oversupply. From an operating environment perspective, we expect that interest rates are likely to remain high for the short to medium term on the back of a persistent inflationary pressures and potential ongoing rand weakness. Above inflation in municipal cost increases remain a concern and a challenge to maintaining healthy cost and recovery ratios. I am pleased to report that we are noticing an uptick in the interest of vacant B-grade space, especially in areas where supply of strategic CBD offices are limited. During the financial year, we concluded 69 new leases and another 15 post year-end, including the Competition Commission and several retailers. At the Marine in Durban CBD, advocates took up around 2,000 square meters as a result of the building's proximity to court. From a stakeholder engagement perspective, it's been a challenging journey to change legacy perceptions. Our focus on regular, open and frank engagement as well as attention to service delivery is bearing fruit with improved lease expiry profiles. Post year-end, we concluded another 15 DPWI leases, 2 of which are for 2 years and the balance for 3 to 5 years. In addition, we concluded 34 leases with other power [ stautels ] and private tenants as well as 5-year leases with the CCMA and the Auditor General in Polokwane. As Zwelifikile will elaborate on, we continue to engage with our funders on their ongoing financial support. As a key pillar of our turnaround strategy, we have deepened the expertise of our staff and increased our engagements with our brokers, who greatly supported the disposals during the post year-end. In terms of our priorities, we continue to focus on cost reduction. Since Delta is represented nationally, we've had varied experiences with municipal infrastructure and continue to engage with relevant councils on infrastructure failures. In addition to these engagements, we realize we must implement alternative solutions where feasible to mitigate business disruptions, although backup power and water comes with increased capital and running costs as well as the additional administrative burden. Investors often ask what Delta will look like post the conclusion of our portfolio optimization strategy. We have earmarked 43 non-core assets valued at ZAR 2.3 billion for disposals. Of this, 21 properties are held for sale. Over time, we will evolve into a smaller but much more sustainable REIT with core properties of around ZAR 4.4 billion and strong headroom for growth and a net operating income of approximately ZAR 610 million in today's terms. Key ratios such as loan-to-value and interest cover will be well within covenant levels at a projected ratio of between 40% and 50% and more 2x cover, respectively. Important to note is the impact that disposals will have on vacancies and operating costs. Post year-end, our vacancies reduced to 31% on the back of new leases signed and asset disposals. The vacancy rate, excluding the non-core properties held for sale, is 24.2%. It is common misperception in the market that we are forced sellers of our assets. This is evident from the number of opportunistic offers received or offers -- on offers that are not for sale. Most of the properties expected to transfer in the short term have all been disposed off at a book value or at a premium. This speaks to the fair valuation of the portfolio as much as it demonstrates our resolve to engage with serious buyers at market-related prices. Notwithstanding a challenging market, we successfully disposed off Bank Greyville, Nedbank Building, Enterprise Park for a combined amount of ZAR 88.4 million, of which ZAR 74.1 million was allocated to debt reduction. Post year-end, an additional 6 properties were disposed off for a gross amount of ZAR 144.9 million, with the proceeds also allocated to debt reduction. Finance costs for the year under review increased by ZAR 26.4 million, reflective of the higher interest rate environment. This was despite our ZAR 183.1 million amortization of debt, funded mainly from operational cash flows, the group dividend income and the ZAR 74.1 million from disposals mentioned earlier. It is very encouraging to note Nedbank's extension of their loan facility to 7 April 2025, in addition to a revolving credit facility of the ZAR 37.5 million that was concluded during the year under review. I am very happy to share that today, State Bank of India extended their facility by another 36 months. You would have noticed me repeating our ongoing engagements with DPW and focus on service delivery several times throughout this presentation. The impact of these efforts cannot be stressed enough. During the year under review, we successfully renewed 55 leases with a combined GLA of almost 155,000 square meters. The vast majority of these leases were offices, with only a small component comprising retail, with an average lease term of 3 years. In addition, we concluded 69 new leases with an average lease term of 3.4 years. These leases comprise around 11,500 square meters of GLA, with the bulk being office leases, followed by approximately 4,000 square meters of retail and just under 1,500 square meters of industrial space. Since March this year, we concluded another 9 lease renewals for 5,600 square meters and signed 15 new leases with a further 8,500 square meters. Several investors ask us for more information on CapEx budgets during our pre-result survey. I want to stress that it's not the ZAR 600 million purse that was communicated a couple of years ago. As a new management team, the focus for us is on doing the right thing by our tenants and also by the business. We've overhauled the systems and processes for CapEx extensively to eliminate wasteful expenditure. As an example, we were quoted ZAR 58,000 to fix the roller shutter door by a regular supplier. After engaging with the manufacturer, we managed to fix the roller door for ZAR 17,000, and they installed it for free. Going forward, we will further focus on work that can be done in-house. Properties with the highest capital expenditure for 2024 financial year were also those assets where we have the largest prospect of renewing leases or signing new tenants on. Investors also asked for an update on legal matters. Action against previous Directors is still ongoing. On the eThekwini property fund matter, the disputed amount of ZAR 26 million before interest is held in a trust which we are in the process of recovering as the case was awarded to us with costs. I am also pleased to share that the Orthotouch claim against Delta was dismissed and, this matter has now run its course. So ladies and gentlemen, this then concludes the first part of my presentation. I now hand you over to Zwelifikile Mhlontlo to run us through the numbers.

Thank you, Bongi, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Looking at some of the key financial metrics, I am pleased to report that both the SA REIT LTV and covenant LTVs are tracking in the right direction despite the ZAR 180.1 million fair value loss reported for the year. For interest sake, SA REIT LTV is calculated as a ratio between total liabilities and total assets adjusted for very specific items, whilst the covenant LTV is based on the ratio of assets funded and debt. The weighted average cost of debt increased to 10% from 8.8% in the prior year, reflecting the current high interest rate environment we are experiencing. This has also negatively impacted our interest cover ratio, which contracted to 1.3x. SA REIT net asset value per share was 3.5 or ZAR 3.50 at the financial year-end, slightly down from the ZAR 3.60 in the prior year, mainly as a result of the bottoming out of the portfolio valuation. Weighted average debt maturity decreased as at end of February 2024. However, this is expected to improve subsequent to the year-end on the back of the longer term -- terms negotiated with Nedbank and State Bank of India. Revenue excluding straight-line income accrual decreased from by 5.4% from ZAR 1.2 billion to ZAR 1.1 billion, as a result of a decline in contractual rental income, largely attributable to the [ reversions ] as well as renegotiated leases to market-related rates, as well as marginal increase in vacancy rates. This decrease was, however, offset by rental escalations and increases in recoveries. Going forward, we expect that the lease income will continue to rebase as we convert current month-on-month and other short-term leases to longer terms at market-related rates. Property operating expenses slightly increased by 0.2% from ZAR 483 million to ZAR 483.9 million as a result of ongoing cost containment initiatives. As a management team, we are pleased to have achieved this despite inflation increases in various costs. Administrative expenses significantly decreased by 11.5% from ZAR 109 million in the prior year to ZAR 96.6 million as a result of cost optimization efforts that Bongi unpacked earlier. Dividend income of ZAR 10.2 million was end from investment in Grit, which is ZAR 5.1 million higher than the dividend income received in the prior year. The dividend received in May 2023 amounted to ZAR 5.8 million, which was paid directly to the debt facility to reduce our debt exposure. And the ZAR 4.4 million declared in February 2024 by Grit has been accrued and is included in trade and other receivables. Other income increased significantly from ZAR 6.7 million in the 2023 financial year to ZAR 31.7 million as a result of reinstatement costs recovered from vacant -- vacated tenants and insurance proceeds on damaged properties. The ZAR [ 68.5 ] million improvement in SA REIT fund from operations is mainly attributable to improvement in utility recoveries, admin costs decrease, dividend income increased, other income increased, taxation reduced and lastly, movement in the Grit losses -- expected credit losses, ECL in the provision for -- of loans and financial guarantees in Grit Investec facility. In 2024, portfolio value is ZAR 6.7 billion compared to ZAR 6.9 billion as a result of fair value adjustment and disposals. Debt levels decreased from [ ZAR 4.2 billion ] in 2023 financial year to [ ZAR 4 billion ] for the financial year under review as a result of amortization and proceeds from disposals and dividend income. The equity position decreased slightly from ZAR 2.6 billion to ZAR 2.5 billion on year under review because of movements in the income statement. In the cash flow, the cash generated from operations for the year is ZAR 658.9 million. There is interest income amounting to ZAR 10.5 million and proceeds from disposal of ZAR 13.5 million, net of amount paid to financial institutions. The cash was utilized to pay finance cost of ZAR 474 million, taxation of ZAR 84.8 million, net CapEx of ZAR 36 million and net debt repayment of ZAR 103 million. Ladies and gentlemen, you will note that the above numbers exclude process from disposal of ZAR 74.1 million paid directly to the financial institutions. Delta continues to generate very strong cash inflows from rental income and a successful collection of outstanding [ arrears ]. However, finance costs and loan repayments remain significant and continue to place a burden on the cash flows. We continue to engage closely with our funders, negotiating more favorable debt terms, especially as our turnaround strategy increasingly gains momentum. To this effect, Nedbank facilities were renewed to 7 April 2025 from previously being month on month. As mentioned earlier, we also concluded the revolving credit facility with Nedbank of ZAR 437.5 million (sic) [ ZAR 37.5 million ]. As mentioned earlier by Bongi, the State Bank of India has recently extended its facility for another 36 months. As mentioned earlier, we netted a ZAR 7.4 million from disposal -- ZAR 74.1 million from disposal during the year under review, which was allocated to debt reduction, and paid a further ZAR 109 million towards debt reduction, which totals overall ZAR 183 million, inclusive of dividend income. Importantly, we managed to negotiate reductions in the monthly debt amortization, in particular, with Standard Bank and Investec. Standard Bank has, in addition to the amortization [ REIT ], has ceased or done away with the annual top-up requirement of ZAR 64 million. [ Returning ] of debt covenants is an important milestone to returning to paying distributions among others. Our immediate priority is, therefore, remain to improve LTV to at least plus/minus [ 45% ] and ICR to 2x or more to cover the short term to medium. Disposals remain a key part of the debt reduction strategy, alongside an ongoing drive to conclude new rentals and new leases with the aim of improving the weighted average lease expiry rate and reduce vacancies among others. We'll continue to review expenditure, negotiate funding terms and improve ICR. I now hand back to Bongi for the conclusion. Thank you.

Thank you, Zwelifikile. Despite significant economic headwinds, in particular in the office sector, we have made some solid inroads in the delivery of our stated strategy. Our priority over the short to medium term remains the successful execution of our disposal strategy of assets at or close to [indiscernible] as well as the filling of vacancies and renewal of leases within major tenants. I should emphasize that our strategy will remain firm until covenants have been met. Going forward, we will continue to focus on cost containment despite the difficult macroeconomic and improving liquidity by ongoing negotiations with our funders as well as the diversification of our funding base. I can confirm that we are currently in discussions with affordable housing developers on the repurposing of our assets. This will be done on an asset-by-asset basis as we are engaging with some of the banks on an SPV concerning their properties. Although this is still at an early stage and is likely to be a long process, feedback, so far, has been very positive. Over the medium term, we will evolve into a smaller but much more sustainable REIT with strong headroom for growth. To achieve this, we will continue to grow our corporate culture to become increasingly nimble whilst remaining pragmatic and solutions oriented in our engagement with potential buyers and specialists in [ offers ] to residential conversions. I know the big question on everyone's mind is, when will we return to distributions? The simple answer to that is we have a target disposal amount of ZAR 2.3 billion. If we can achieve at least 50% of this, the resultant settlement of debt should unlock approximately, and please don't hold me on this number, ZAR 100 million of savings in interest payments. This will likely give us an opportunity to negotiate a return to distribution payments with our funders. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. This then concludes our presentation, and I now open the floor for questions. Thank you.

The first question we have is from [ Vernon de Brian ], a private investor. It's actually four questions. I'm going to read them each individually. You said in the voluntary operational update of 7 September 2023, the company stated that the remainder of the assets with a total value of ZAR 1.5 billion are expected to be concluded within the next 12 months. Is that still the case? And will these assets be transferred before the end of 2024? I assume he's talking about disposals. Would you like to answer that, and then I'll go on to the next question? So would you like me to read all three questions to you?

Can you read all three then?

Perfect. The second question is, is the company considering share buybacks, given the current low share price? Does the company expect the core portfolio to be written down any further? If so, by how much and by what percentage? And the last question is, when will the company return to a positive cash flow position?

So the voluntary update that was done last year September, we had engaged a buyer -- potential buyer who had, we thought, who were all on track in us, I suppose, concluding this transaction. The short answer is no because he did have a deadline to pay a deposit, and he has failed despite renewed deadlines to come forth with an amount. So that transaction is now off completely. Should I give the two to you?

The question on share buyback, it's not an item that is in the agenda of the Board. It's not something that the company is looking at doing, at least in the short term. The point raised around it is noted. We will reflect on it and relay to the Board, but it's not on the agenda at this stage.

But also, I don't think -- if I may add to that, thanks, Zwelifikile, I don't think we even have the cash to buy back any shares at any amount. All our excess cash flow, besides going to operations, et cetera, goes down to reduce debt.

Agreed. Then the question about the core portfolio and whether we foresee that portfolio being written down, if it's any reference or any point of comfort out of the current valuation, is that the core portfolio had a small write-up at an overall level. So we would then -- I mean, all the factors that affect valuation are always external factors and of course, including some internal factors. But we've got no reason to believe that there will be a significant write-down going into the future. In fact, what we have experienced this year was a demonstration that the market in its entirety is stabilizing and also various interventions that are done in our properties are also having a positive impact. The last point asked about the positive cash flow, currently, from a cash flow point of view, we are almost at a breakeven. And then going forward, taking into account the budget and taking into account disposals, we will turn into positive cash. But it's also important to note that capital -- not capital, but debt repayment has a significant impact on cash. So from where we sit in coupled with disposal, it's really our returning to cash positive is very much linked to our success on the disposal front. So it's quite difficult then to say when will that happen, but we are driving to achieve that particular outcome in the short term. So I'll pause here on this.

A comment by [ Wayan Kenyan Slade ], a private investor, who says he strongly supports the company buying back shares as he feels this will give the company a positive boost in the market and some relief to shareholders. He also believes that it will demonstrate leadership's faith in the company. Our next question is from [ Luqman Hamid ] from [ 91 ]. He's saying that ZAR 84 million in tax leakage is something that Delta cannot afford. Surely, a [ script ] dividend option would be a beneficial option if shareholders would provide support for it.

Is that noted?

Noted. That part of your point is noted.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, this then concludes our presentation for today. There's no further questions. A recording of the presentation should be available in the next 24 hours on Delta's website. And if there are any additional questions or engagement requests for management, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Many thanks.