Redefine Properties Limited (RDF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Redefine's 2024 Annual Results Presentation. As per usual, we'll follow the convention that we've adopted over the last couple of years, whereby I will provide you with an overview. Leon Kok, our Chief Operating Officer, will talk about investing strategically here in South Africa. I'll then touch on Poland. I'll then hand over to our Chief Financial Officer; Ntobeko Nyawo, to take you through optimizing capital, operating efficiently as well as engaging talent. I'll then close with talking about growing reputation and the wrap-up. So moving on to who we are. I think by now, most of you know exactly who we are, but I just want to remind you that our purpose is to create and manage spaces in a way that transforms lives, our mission, and this is by 2030, which is a mere a 5 years away, is to deliver the smartest and most sustainable spaces. This mission occupies our thoughts on a daily basis. It's not a 5-year kind of ambition. And then our vision is to be the best South African REIT in all aspects of what we do. And I think today, when we go through our presentation, you'll start seeing in action outcomes from our vision to be the best. Our primary goal remains to grow and improve cash flow, which underpins sustained value creation for all our stakeholders. And I'll just touch on our simplified asset platform, as you can see, 65% is invested or allocated to South Africa; around 35% to Poland, and we are in areas where we believe there's still growth opportunities, scale and very importantly, underpinned by liquidity. Moving on just to some key financial outcomes, Ntobeko will go through this in a lot more detail. We are very happy with our NAV. It's up about 2.9% to ZAR 7.88 per share. Distributable income is roughly a similar percentage, 2.9% down on FY '23 at ZAR 0.50-odd per share, mostly because of full year's funding costs that we've absorbed during the year. Our total assets stood at ZAR 101.9 billion. It is up on last year's ZAR 99.4 billion. Our REIT loan-to-value ratio is on the high end at 42.3% for good reason, mostly due to the acquisition of Mall of the South, but in due course, we believe it will moderate back to our comfort range of between 38% to 41%. We are very pleased with our South African occupancy. It is improving at 93.2%. We are exceptionally pleased to see the Polish core occupancy sitting at 99.1%. Interest cover ratio under pressure at 2.1x, bearing in mind that we've had a full year of elevated interest rates that we've absorbed during the year, and that will improve in due course as interest rates now ease. And then just lastly, the dividend per share at ZAR 0.425 per share. It is similarly down in percentage terms to last year's dividend, and it's a payout ratio of 85%. In terms of strategic outcomes, you'll see that we have been very focused on positioning Redefine for the eventual property up-cycle. We'll talk a little bit about that just now. But just in terms of some key outcomes under investing strategically or allocating capital, our property asset platform has expanded to (sic) [ by ] ZAR 2.8 billion to ZAR 99.6 billion. The acquisition of Pan Africa Mall came through during this period, and I'm pleased to report that on Friday, we opened the extension of the mall. So we've got a 25,000 square meter mall right on the doorstep of Alexandra. In terms of T22, we completed that disposal for EUR 413-odd million. We received a final top-up during August of EUR 38.5 million. In terms of optimizing capital or sourcing capital, we are very proud of the fact that we concluded a common terms agreement restructure, involving local debt of ZAR 27.7 billion. It's a significant achievement. It's a milestone for the REIT sector, and I'm sure Ntobeko will share with you some of the benefits that we see of this arrangement going forward. 35.3% of our group debt is green. We'd like to grow that in due course. And then we once again have a very stable liquidity profile with access to committed undrawn facilities and cash of some ZAR 4.8 billion. In terms of operating efficiently, our South African operating profit margin lifted to 78.5%. That's 0.3% up on last year. As an objective or as a target, we want that to be at 80%, and it will take some task, but we are working on getting to 80% in due course. EPP had a great contribution to our overall distributable income, increasing its percentage by 19.9% to ZAR 939 million. And as I said, our NAV grew by about 2.9% during the period, mostly on the back of stable to improving asset valuations. In terms of engaging talent, we have improved upon a very high SA employee engagement score of 90% last year, now 94%. Our 2024 cohort for the SDG Innovation Accelerator for Young Professionals program, was held during the course of the year. And we were ranked second in South Africa in this, and we're very, very pleased with that outcome. In terms of our learnership program, it's in its 11th year, and we expect to have delivered by the end of this year, 469 graduates. In terms of growing reputation, we've maintained our GRESB score at 82%, and we are very pleased that EPP has improved their score from 55% to 69% this year. We have 200 Green Star certifications here in South Africa and EPP and ELI both increased their BREEAM certifications to 30 and 37, respectively. Our solar PV generates 18% of our SA retail energy needs. And in Poland, we are making use of green energy in 25% of our retail properties, 100 -- sorry, 86% of our logistics properties and 100% of our office properties. I'm now going to hand over to Leon to take you through investing strategically, initially the group, but then delving straight into our South African asset platform.

Good afternoon, everybody. In terms of the group asset platform, as Andrew said, the property platform is now valued at ZAR 99.6 billion, 65% of that investment in South Africa and the balance in Poland. If you look at where the bulk of our cash was deployed to during the period, the bulk of that activity, particularly from acquisition and local development and CapEx perspective went to South Africa. That ZAR 2 billion, roughly ZAR 1.8 billion was spent on Mall of the South and the balance on the acquisition of Pan. We're giving you analysis of the development and CapEx expenditure. And I also want to invite all of you to refer to the back of the booklet, where we've got supplemental information, and we'll give you exact detail of where that development and refurbishment activity lie in the various sectors. In terms of the South African platform, it's valued at ZAR 63.1 billion. And you'll note there that the portfolio now continues to be biased towards retail. So 45% of our local portfolio has invested in the retail sector and then the balance in office and industrial. You'll note that, that improvements in the valuation per square meter over time has certainly been improved. Now there's two main factors driving that. Firstly, through active asset management, where we're typically selling out of the smaller lower-valued properties, and you can see that in the reduction of number of properties, but the increase in the value per property, and obviously, also valuations stabilizing, and we can deal with that on a per sector basis. From a risk management point of view, our lease expiry profile by GMR for the forthcoming year, and as you can also see for the next 3 years or so, is not very demanding in our view. So 16% by GMR, which will come up for renewal during the course of 2025, and that will be a key focus area for us. In terms of the portfolio outcomes, very pleased to report that improvement in our occupancy to 93.2%. We've given you analysis on the right-hand side. Now typically, when we report occupancy, it's by GLA. Just to give you an idea of where that occupancy sits, we try to give you a glimpse of what it looked like if we were to distribute it by GMR. Now particularly in our retail sector, where we believe the vacancy in our retail sector is not worth a lot from a GMR point of view, by GLA, it's at 5% and by GMR, only 2.2% vacancy at present. Similarly in industrial and office, but the position is not as pronounced. But again, it's typically at the lower end of the quality spectrum where the vacancy sit. In terms of our renewal reversions at minus 5.9%, a slight improvement on the prior year and in particular, driven by our retail and industrial sectors. Office continue to be a laggard in this regard, and we'll deal with that when we do come to the office sector just now. Tenant retention continues to be a key focus area for us at roughly 90%, quite pleased with that outcome. In terms of the core disposals, there at the bottom, so during the period, ZAR 386 million of disposals transferred. And I thought it's also important just to highlight that noncurrent assets held for sale of ZAR 521 million. Now those are not assets on the wish list. These are assets that have concluded sale agreements, and it's just awaiting transfer. So between those two, roughly ZAR 900 million of assets in the South African portfolio that has transferred or is imminent to transfer. In terms of the valuation outcomes, as you can see in terms of our valuation or reported metrics in terms of exit cap rates as well as discount rates, those have stayed fairly consistently year-on-year and that variation in the asset valuations was primarily driven from an income metric point of view. So particularly in retail and industrial, where we've seen far more positive outcomes versus what we have assumed in the valuations previously, driving that improvement in valuation and offer a slightly negative performance on the fair value adjustment. Then another point where we are particularly pleased about is our solar PV capacity, and you'll see that in that margin improvement in our South African portfolio, which certainly also assisted us to generate organic growth out of the portfolio. Currently, we've got 43 megawatts installed capacity, but for me, the more exciting part is that we've got roughly 40% of expansion in the pipeline. So a further 18 megawatts of solar PV project currently underway, hoping for that to be completed during the course of FY '25. In terms of our retail portfolio, portfolio that, in my view, is clearly well diversified from a type and format point of view. So as you can see, our concentration system, the convenience and the regional and the one super regional and then in terms of our fair value performance for the period, as you can see across the board, fairly positive performance. And again, the point to make, all of those improvements were on the back of actual income outcomes as opposed to change in valuation metrics. From a retail portfolio outcome point of view, our occupancy has improved to 95% and again, just to show there on the right-hand side, where the vacancy sit, our pure retail vacancy is only at 3.9%. So we've got some office element within the retail portfolio, which is relatively higher on the vacancy front and then two motor dealerships remaining, which is also fairly vacant. And those certainly are on the disposal list. In terms of our renewal reversions, a very positive outcome for us, and we are reverting in the positive territory. And we are -- this is for us a key focus area in our retail sector. And I think those annual trading stats as well as the rent-to-turnover at 7.7% would be very supportive of achieving a similar, if not more positive outcome during FY '25. That for us is going to be a key focus area. Given that relatively low vacancy, this is where the growth prospects within the retail portfolio sit. You can also just see there on the right-hand side, we've given you a renewal reversion analysis. The bulk of our renewals were either flat or positive and a small element negative. In terms of our tenant retention, also in 90s, which is very pleasing. And you can also see the letting activity at 280,000 square meters during the period, is certainly, in our view, also supportive of -- or indicative of good support. Our lease expiry profile next year at 18%. That 18% will be the target for us to ensure that we grow and get that rental reversions to be positive. On the office portfolio, aspect that we're really proud about is that 95% of our portfolio is invested in premium A grade, as you can see, with the skew towards the premium grade office sector. In terms of valuation outcomes, fairly marginal negative performance. And again, that's on the back of actual income outcomes as opposed to change in valuation metrics. Our occupancy has improved to 88.8%. Incidentally, as reported nationally, the office vacancy now for 9 consecutive quarters has improved. The vacancy has reduced nationally, which is positive, and I think speak to our point that we think we're at the bottom of the property cycle, and that certainly bodes well. The renewal reversions of minus 13.9%. I think that negative reversion will continue to be at that kind of level. In fact, 2025, we've got quite a large reversion coming up being Alexander Forbes. And our number for next year is probably going to be close to the minus 20%. But again, in my view, it's an outcome that will persist, particularly if we are achieving escalations of 7% and underlying market rental growth certainly not coming near that. But again, for us, the trick to maintain that is to make sure that our expiry profile is relatively smooth. And as you can see, next year is only 16%. And at the same time, we are quite positive that we should be able to improve our occupancy even further during FY '25. Again, if you look at that renewal reversion analysis on the right-hand side, it's not that it's one-way traffic, is only negative reversions. We're quite pleased that roughly about 40% of our reversions were either flat or positive, which is quite encouraging. In terms of the escalations, we continue to negotiate about between 6.5% to 7.5% averaging just short of 7%. And certainly, from a tender retention also for us a key focus area. You'll note in office portfolio, our solar PV penetration is relatively low, just given the construct, a small roof area, large consumption that doesn't really lend itself to that. So for us, the next opportunity within office from a green energy point of view is to access wheeled energy. We are in the final stages of concluding quite a large offtake agreement for our Eskom to Eskom connected sites within the office portfolio. And hopefully, we can report on that at our interim for FY '25. In the industrial portfolio, another defensive aspect of our portfolio and a consistent performer. As you can see, also very well diversified across the various formats. And you can see that playing out also in our fair value performance on the valuation front. Across the board, valuation improvement driven by actual letting improvement and income improvement that's playing out in the fair value performance. In terms of the outcomes, that slight dip in occupancy was as a consequence of Kraków. Happy to report at 1 November, post year-end, we've managed to conclude a lease for that site, so that will improve that occupancy substantially in the next reporting period. The other pleasing aspect for me in the industrial portfolio was that renewal reversion at plus 5.5%. Again, speaking to the underlying health within the sector and indicative of actual market rental growth, which I think is very positive and something I was alluding to the industrial sector for some time. So we're quite pleased about that outcome. In terms of the renewal reversion analysis, as you can see also, the bulk of our renewals happening at the flat or positive level. But again, the point to make, is a relatively small element of the portfolio. And as you can see also in that lease expiry profile, a very flat maturity profile. So that's why we do say this sector or this aspect of our portfolio continue to be defensive and well performing. The other pleasing aspects, as you can see, we look to double our solar PV capacity within this aspect and potentially also lends itself to wheeling where we can become the generator and secure offtakers within our office portfolio once that wheeling framework, particularly where municipalities are involved, is finalized. And then lastly, just to give you a glimpse of our alternative income activity, quite an exciting part of the business, and we're hoping to achieve in the next year to 18 months ZAR 100 million of income contribution from this aspect of our business. And that certainly is a nice element to add at the income front and help us to improve and preserve margins within the portfolio. And with that, I'm going to hand over to Andrew to take us through the Poland portfolio. Thanks.

Moving on to Poland. So on this slide, you'll see that we've actually provided for information purposes, the ZAR as well as the euro value of the asset platform. And I think why this is critical is because at the year-end, you would note that our rand-euro exchange rate has, in fact, appreciated from a ZAR point of view. So when you look at it on a translated basis, it would appear as if the Polish portfolio has actually diminished in value in rand terms. However, if you look at it from a euro perspective, you'll see that it is actually maintained at FY '23 levels. And I think what's important to note here, from a self-storage point of view is that we've deployed roughly 50% of our EUR 50 million commitment to this venture. In terms of some salient features, you'll note that we've had a very busy period in Poland. There's been a significant cost reduction process at EPP. We have a plan in place to eliminate unnecessary complexity and high leverage in the joint ventures. I've got a separate slide on that. I returned about 3 weeks ago from Poland with a very strong sense that institutional investment activity is beginning to normalize, which is very important, especially if you're going to be using transactional activity to -- as part of your JV solution and so forth. The M1 property and asset management functions have been seamlessly internalized at EPP. We have just signed a PPA contract for roughly 16% of EPP's energy usage, involving wind and solar farms, and we've restructured the Mlociny debt to improve dividend flow. The Horse Group JV or the M1 JV, as I prefer to call it, concluded during the year. The preliminary sales are four plots for EUR 24 million. And then the REIT legislation as well as the Sunday retail trading ban, we expect to be finalized during the second half of 2025 when the new Prime Minister takes office. Just in terms of reducing complexity and high leverage to focus on quality assets, as I said earlier, institutional activity starting to normalize. So now we're looking at each joint venture to see how we can solve our challenges going forward. So for the Horse Group, we're working on a plan to buy out our partner as a first phase of exiting this joint venture. It's early days, and we're still busy formulating that plan. In terms of EPP community properties, the introduction of Polish REIT legislation, we believe, could be a possible solution for an exit mechanism. Henderson JV, as you know, offices in Poland in the, let's call it, the secondary areas is challenging. So to dispose off Henderson at reasonable values will take some time to execute, but we are focused on that. Galeria Mlociny could well be an opportunity where we could recycle capital out of a core asset that is x growth into Mlociny, and we'll be announcing further details in this regard as we progress that thinking. Power Park Olsztyn is in the process of being sold. And ELI, there's a demerger process underway, and I've got a separate slide on that as well. In terms of the EPP core portfolio, you'll note that the asset base is stable, and it is very, very strong in terms of its outcomes. Occupancy levels at 99.1%. Weighted average rates of indexation, that's inflation playing out in the escalations at 5.5%. Positive renewal reversions first time for a very long time. I know it's only just positive at 0.2%, but we're coming off a very high negative 7-odd percent last year. Average unexpired lease term by GMR roughly 4 years. Tenant retention by growth, monthly rental sitting at just under 95%, it's good. Annual footfall is up at 37.5 million visitors per annum. And if you look at our renewal success rate by GLA, consistent at 74%. Rent-to-sales ratio is healthy at 9.2%. So in summary, EPP core portfolio is looking good. In terms of the joint ventures, we have got some work yet to do. Henderson, as you can see, 82% occupancy, is ugly on the eye, and this is mainly because of its office assets sitting in secondary locations being Lódz, Poznan and so forth. If you have a look at Mlociny, we've got some work to do with its rent-to-sales ratio at 10.9%. But I must add that it has a bias towards fashion retailers, which generally pay a higher rental per square meter compared to the other retailers. But in all, not a bad outcome and solid operating metrics overall by Henderson. If we look at ELI from a positioning point of view, we've broken the 1 million square meters GLA this past year with the addition of three new properties that were developed. We have developments in progress. It's actually one property, just on 11,500 square meters. And I must say all developments are 100% let. If you have a look at key outcomes, occupancy has lifted to 93.4%, mainly because of the three developments that came on stream at 100% let. The newer success rate, quite competitive market, sitting at 60%. Renewal growth 0.9% positive, but challenging given very competitive leasing market at the moment. The weighted average unexpired lease term by GLA, just over 6 years. The tenant retention by GMR, similarly, at 65.6%, similar to the renewal success rate, and the weighted average rental indexation sitting at 3.7%. And as I said earlier, three fully let developments were completed during the period, adding 62,500 square meters of GLA. Relets and renewals have been very busy for us. You'll see the 113,000 square meters were renewed at an average rental of EUR 4.51, which is a very good rental per square meter. In terms of the ELI demerger, we've concluded a term sheet for a mutual separation with Madison so that we can both pursue our own strategic priorities going forward. Redefine is going to end up with 12 properties located within 6 logistics hubs in Poland, roughly at GLA of half of 1 million, 500,000. The occupancy sits at 90%. And I must say that the leasing activity post year-end is taking up so that 90%-odd occupancy doesn't scare us because we've got a plan to get to a more palatable 95-plus percent in the next 6 months or so. We have got land holdings of 55,000 square meters as part of this package and the number of tenants is 40. The average unexpired lease term is healthy at 5.4 years. So negotiations are ongoing here. The final demerger is going to be concluded during FY '25, and it will be with effect from the 1st of September 2024. Until whoever departs from this arrangement, first, the other will continue to manage the portfolio. So it will be a seamless exit. It is on, as I said, a mutually acceptable basis. And you'll note there that Redefine will take on approximately ZAR 9.2 billion of logistics assets and ZAR 3.5 billion of related debt. This will result in an LTV uplift to the group LTV ratio of circa 1.7%. In terms of self-storage, you'll note here that we've had a busy period. There are 7 developments that are proof that we are looking at that we'll more than double the existing 26,000 square meters of net lettable area, it will add a further 33,000-odd square meters. The occupancy is picking up at 79%. We acquired Top Box. It added 4,500 square meters of net lettable area in Warsaw, and it's doing very, very well. And we believe that this portfolio will result in excellent coverage of Polish cities, offering the best storage prospects. In terms of focus areas for 2025, you'll note that we're not going to just sit back and rest on our laurels. We're going to continue to preserve capital through organic growth and asset management optimization. We'll continue to strategically allocate our capital to growth assets, which you can see below in terms of our committed capital allocation priorities, expanding occupies the bulk of that commitment. And then there's a constant focus on adapting spaces to ensure that they remain relevant to meet our stakeholders' needs. With that, I'm going to now hand over to Ntobeko, who's going to take us through the next phase of the presentation.

Thank you, Andrew. Good afternoon, everyone. From a balance sheet point of view, I think our focus of building an efficient funding model that supports growth continued during the period. And if we just look at some of the key outcomes, our loan-to-value ratio printing at 42.3%, increasing from 41.1% last year. And looking at the interest cover ratio, printing at 2.1x which also declined from 2.4x. But I think in this period, we did manage to relax our ICR just to manage the headroom. Our covenant was relaxed from 2x to 1.75x for the next 2 reporting periods, which will take us to August 2026. And then from a liquidity point of view, we're quite happy that we've got our undrawn facilities and cash at hand of ZAR 4.8 billion. We saw an uptick in our weighted cost of group debt at 7.5%. But if you break that out, the South African weighted average cost of debt improved from 9.4% to 9.2% in the period. And then you see the impact we hit a bit. It's from the FX debt, the cost of debt that increased from 4.6% to 5.1%. We remain relatively hedged in the period with 78.9% that we managed to keep hedging it. And then the group weighted average term of debt, we improved that slightly with some of our refinances that we took place during this year to 3.7 years. And we're pleased that we maintained our Moody's credit rating as well. If we move ahead, just to give a further breakdown on the loan-to-value ratio. I think really for us, the focus is to, on the medium-term basis to bring this back in line with our target range of 38% to 41%. But if you look at the movements that actually give you the key components, the key issue here is really just around our acquisitions, which was well guided with Mall of the South impact at 1.1%. That's what you see that 1.2% on your far right. The other items in terms of us generating cash and paying out cash, that plays out fairly well in the LTV. Then we also do provide some sensitivities in terms of the LTV. If you look at the bottom left of the slide, that the investment property valuations, any improvement in terms of 1% or 0.6% it comes through at about 0.3% of LTV impact. And our forecasts, which we've always kept a stedfast even during the year, it's just on that see-through LTV, well, which printed at 47.9%. And we are pleased on the covenants that there were no covenant breach that were recorded in the period, all our metrics printed solidly in line with our covenants. Then if we move along to our funding profile, I think for us, this year, it was a bit of a busy year. We proactively we dealt with the FY '24 maturities, but also over and above that. We also dealt proactively with some of the maturities, which are about ZAR 2.9 billion, ZAR 2.9 billion, which related to FY '25 maturities, and we're just progressing the residual. Apart from the liquidity area, but I think if I look in terms of the outcomes of our refinancing activities during FY, we saw a funding margin compression of 32 basis points, which actually assisted us in bringing down the weighted average margin to 1.82% of our ZAR debt, which last year was at 2.14%. And I will touch on the slide just now, just on the restructure that we completed of ZAR 27.7 billion of a single common time security pool structure. Then the graph below actually just gives you the comfort that if you look in terms of near-term liquidity risk, up until 2026, not more than 10% of our group that is coming up. That's what we proactively manage and we'll continue to flatten that as we continue with our refinancing activities. Just to cover hedging, I think the one thing here is that the high base cost that is resulting in the accretion of funding cost as and when interest rates are financed. So we actually, during the period, ZAR 6.5 billion nominals of interest rate swaps, they matured at a fixed rate of 7.3% and then we refinanced ZAR 9 billion at a weighted average fixed cost of 7.8%. So you can see debt refinancing of the instruments coming out at about 50 basis points higher than the expiry profile. Then also on the cross currencies, we had maturities of EUR 210 million that expired at a fixed rate of 1.7%, which we refinanced at 4.9%, also that impact is coming through. But where we also have been very proactive from a risk management point of view, in shortening our tenants is that more than 75% of our group debt is actually hedged for interest rate period movements of about 1.3 years. What this does? It gives us the opportunity as we expect the base rate to start coming off to actually have a point of intervention that is really and afford us to start benefiting those on an outward basis. This we continue with our efforts as well during the year. You can see in terms of how diversified our funding profile that we've built over the past couple of years, and we share with you the counterparties in terms of the sources of debt that we did in FY '24 and how that compares in terms of FY '23. We're quite pleased with that, and we will continue our efforts here. It's really just to continue and see how we can continue to broaden this effort in South Africa as well as in the Polish market. Then just to touch a bit quickly on the common security pool structure. We are very pleased with this outcome, where we collaborated with 11 South African secured debt funders where we took all of our security -- single security pools and put that together into a common security pool structure that is governed by a common terms agreement. The amount of debt that we have restructured into this is ZAR 27.7 billion and also the assets that constitute this is 127 properties that are valued at ZAR 46.3 billion. Some of the interesting features for us is like the standardization of covenants and also the building of flexible decision making in the structure. And just to give you a sense as well, how we're going to manage this going forward is that to actually manage the inherent concentration risk, we will not have a single clearing price, so we will refinance and create opportunity because the structure allows us to bring and onboard funders on a very similar basis. Also as an active asset manager, we're very pleased that the decision-making in terms of release of assets support our active asset strategy ethos at Redefine. If we -- just to conclude then on the balance sheet side, I think our focus areas in FY '25, it has to be around the majority of debt facilities that we always proactively look at managing that, extending the tenure and also broadening our funding sources. Then the interest rate environment that we're in, yes, we are very pleased that it has pivoted into a cutting rate cycle, but I think we still have to manage that effectively because we believe that that's going to be a bit of a shallow cutting rate, it's not going to be as steep as the increase that you saw. And then as part of supporting the gradual recovery of the LTV, also continue to recycle noncore assets. The outcomes of that is that we will manage lower liquidity risk as well as a concentration risk and then also continue to maintain the flexibility in terms of the shorter-dated tenants. And then also given the -- where we are also seeing the opportunities if we can source capital to reduce our loan-to-value ratio as well. If then I move on to operating efficiently. I think here, for us, the positive organic growth that continues to sustain our operating margins. You can clearly see from the outcomes that the focus on innovative and margin enhancing efficiencies is really paying off in terms of managing our operating margins. If we look at the active SA net income margin printing at 83.1%, which improved from 82% and equally so, the improvement in EPP Corp, which improved to 88.8% from 88.7% in the previous period. Then also, we're pleased with our digital ratio that has improved to 29.7% in the period. We also saw some reduction in electricity consumption in our EPP portfolio. Then we also -- if we look at the net areas, both in South Africa and in EPP improved. In South Africa, the net amount of areas is ZAR 58 million and that is an improvement from the ZAR 84 million in the prior period. And then in the EPP, it improved -- it's sitting at ZAR 52.2 million. And that is really evident if you see at the collection rate, in South Africa at 99.9%, we are able to collect our rentals. Similarly, also, we're pleased in the EPP core portfolio with that coming at 99.5%. And then we do keep the sensitivities, it's just in terms of the interest rate changes that if you do to move on our euro rate on the offshore, it will have a 0.4 cents impact on the distributable income per share. And then also on the South African side, it will also have a 0.3% (sic) [ 0.3 cents ] if it moves there. Then I think we're also pleased with our solar savings, which this year for the FY '24 are at ZAR 122 million. This plus all the efficiency in terms of the recoveries, you will see that it's part of us managing the cost where the costs have been running ahead of our revenue. Then just to unpack our distributable income. I think really, we are pleased with that we've delivered the solid operational performance. I think if you look at the active NOI in South Africa that grew by ZAR 175 million, also EPP contributing an additional ZAR 156 million. And then the properties that we also acquired, which largely was driven by Mall of the South, at ZAR 139 million. All of this, I think, is what is really for us is the offset that you see on the far right of the chart, which is the impact of the high funding cost. Just on the ZAR funding costs, an increase of ZAR 274 million, and also on the local euro debt that is sitting on our South African balance sheet, you also see that ZAR 207 million. Those two really offset what you see the left-hand side in terms of the solid operational performance that our business had delivered. That then takes if you build up the distributable income that we showed last year of ZAR 3.4 billion, going to ZAR 3.3 billion in the period. Then just to touch on the net asset value per share, which we are very pleased that it grew by ZAR 0.223 to ZAR 7.883, largely, if you look at the valuation outcome of the South African properties that contributed 3.1% to our NAV growth, which is the ZAR 0.23 that you see in the second chart in the step chart. And then the other items that are driving the NAV as well is really the profit that we generate, which has contributed ZAR 0.383 in this period. And then if you look at the distributions because now we are back at normal payment of dividends twice per cycle, then you see the distribution that has been paid and the one that has to be paid of ZAR 0.207 and ZAR 0.225, that gives us then the NAV of ZAR 7.883. Then just to touch up on the dividend payout policy. I think we are pleased that for FY '24, that 85% payout ratio is consistent. It's right in the middle of our 80% to 90% target range. And I think the considerations that you always look at in terms of maintaining relevance and defensively repositioning our portfolio from a CapEx point of view, managing liquidity through the market cycles and also ensuring that there is no tax leakage so that we can preserve shareholder value and also the efforts, our ongoing efforts in terms of lowering our loan-to-value ratio. And also for us, I think at this period where, yes, we are pleased with the shift in the interest rates, but also just managing the headroom in our interest cover ratio, those factors factored in, we are pleased that we were able to deliver a payout ratio of 85% for FY 2024. Then the second half payout of the final dividend. It is proposed that given -- we look at this on a case-by-case basis, but for this distribution, we are actually -- the Board has approved that we offer a DRIP to the shareholders, which we will price towards the end of the month and share with the investors. From a forecast point of view, in this section for us is that really it comes down to rental growth and being efficient and disciplined cost control, also continuously of reviewing our offering so that it's compelling value-added services and then we will focus as well on digital initiatives so that we can deepen our data insights and drive efficiencies in the business. The outcomes we expect out of this is to preserve our net operating profit margin across our key operating segments in the group. We want to intensify our efforts just to retain and attract tenants because that is really one of the key drivers of our margins and then also where we can simplify and improve the process for the benefit of our tenants, we'll continue to do that. If I can just cover then engaging talent. I think for us, it is very pleasing that I think if you look at the retention rate between South Africa and Poland, sitting in above the 90% level. That shows continued engagement that we see in our survey, which is way above the SA benchmark. If you look at our employment engagement at 94.4%, the SA benchmark printing at 66.5%. We are very pleased with that. And then also from an employee Net Promoter Score, the NPS in South Africa is good at -- is rated as good at 33. And then in Poland, it needs some improvement because it's sitting just lagged at minus 5. And then we're also pleased that we maintained our advanced ethical maturity score during the period. And then some of -- from a top employer outcome, I think for the ninth consecutive year to be certified as a top employer in South Africa that also just goes as a best testimony to our employee value proposition. And those are the guys that actually drive -- that help us to retain talent that is going to drive the execution of our strategies. And then also just lastly is that we are certified as an advanced in diversity and inclusion for the third year in Poland. Then just to conclude on this section, I think the focus areas for us is to build a future-fit skills, cultivate inclusion and diverse, high-performing talent and then review people structures and make sure that we build the future-ready skills so that we ensure a fruitful people's human capital resource capability. The outcomes in terms of that is to develop a transformed internal pipeline for scarce skills, is to also enable creativity and foster innovation. And then lastly, it is to develop a future-ready workforce that delivers on the strategy -- on the execution of our strategic priorities. With that, I'll then hand over back to Andrew.

Thank you, Ntobeko. Okay. Moving on to the last leg of our results presentation, growing reputation. You'll see that our vision is to be the best REIT in South Africa. And these recognitions from independent external parties just bears testament to our quest to being the best in all aspects of what we do. We often get asked, so what about ESG? What does it mean? And how does it translate into tangible benefits? The video clip we are about to play is but one example of how all of these environmental initiatives that we talk about actually translate into tangible outcomes. So with that, I'm just going to play you a short video clip on Blue Route Mall, which as I said, is an example of only one asset. We've got many other examples, but I do believe this one best illustrates what we're talking about when we are saying we are serious about ESG. [Presentation]

I'm sure you'll agree with me that Blue Route Mall is an outstanding example of what we can do by just applying simple business practices and common sense to all aspects of what we do. Moving on to Poland. You'll see that we are doing great work in Poland from an external recognition point of view. Our trophy cabinet isn't as full as here in South Africa, but I have challenged the guys in Poland to match or even better us in the year to come. Just moving on to key focus areas from a growing reputation perspective. We will continue to collaborate with key stakeholders. We will endeavor to create sustainable socioeconomic impacts through focusing on ecosystem, which you will see on the right-hand side of the slide, but very importantly, accelerating our ESG strategy. And then lastly, but not least, reduce reliance on municipally supplied utilities. That's absolutely critical. That is part of Property Management 101 in South Africa, where we will be looking to look at resource efficient solutions, solar PV expansion will continue, as Leon mentioned earlier, as well as a consideration of bolstering our energy supply through alternative energy providers where we are doing a lot of work in that regard. Moving on to the wrap-up. This flywheel year, I believe, best illustrates where we are in the property cycle, and it goes back to last year when we started talking about a sense that things are starting to improve. And we chose to be mindfully optimistic through opting for the upside. We have since seen progress in economic reforms, thanks to Project Vulindlela's scorecard, which you may have seen. The postelection environment is more favorable from a political risk perspective. And we've had improved electricity supply since the 26th of March this year. All of these factors confluence to improve confidence. This has led to improving property fundamentals, as Leon has illustrated in this South African overview and similarly in Poland. And now post year-end, we're starting to see easing interest rates. So with rising confidence in easing interest rates, turning the flywheel after having the boost from the confidence factors that I mentioned earlier, we are now starting to see lower REITs and bond yields, which means that the flywheel is getting more momentum for the upward property cycle. And as you can see, this confluence of positivity with interest rates and confidence working in tandem will deliver not only organic growth, but in time, inorganic growth as well. In terms of our game plan for 2025, you've heard of the focus areas that we are looking at specifically, but to reassure you, our focus on conservative balance sheet management will continue. We will seek to understand our stakeholder needs to ensure that the value delivery both ways is still relevant. We will continue to build a quality, diversified portfolio that deliver sustainable risk-adjusted returns through the cycles. And Ntobeko has mentioned new data and digital platforms, which we need to focus on to realize our mission, which is to create smart and sustainable spaces. We will continue to invest and transform our human capital to enable creativity and to nurture innovation. And last but not least, we will continue to embed ESG into everything we do. So with that, I'm going to leave you with our prospects, which is ZAR 0.50 to ZAR 0.53 distributable income per share for FY '25, and we'll continue to maintain a dividend payout ratio of 80% to 90%. So with that, I want to thank you for your time and attendance today. I want to thank you for your support throughout some very difficult cycles. But at last, we're at this point in time where we can see through tangible outcomes that we are finally heading upwards in terms of the property cycle. And with that, I believe, Redefine is well positioned itself to capture the opportunities that are going to present themselves in this next phase of our property cycle. I'm now going to move on to some questions that we've received, and I'll just read them out and then I'll use my democratic right here to allocate the question as I see fit.

The first one is from Nazeem from Investec, and he says, can you please clarify the action plan for the Metro JV on Slide 22? Why do you need to buy out the JV partner? Wouldn't it be better to sell assets within the JV rather than and I was under the impression that there are not puts in any of the JVs. Okay. And Nazeem, I'll take this question. The first part I want to address is there are no put arrangements. The reason for wanting to buy out the partner is to avoid a waterfall where they get a preferential income return over us. And then there's also an additional IRR return upon exit that we want to manage without any consequences that are negative to EPP. That will involve selling some assets. And if I could sell the entire portfolio in one single move, I would; unfortunately, not possible, and that's why we are taking it on a phased basis. And once we've crystallized our thoughts into actionable, implementable items, we will share that with all of you. Right. The next question is also from Nazeem. He's very active this afternoon. And this is a question, I think, for Ntobeko. He asks, DIPS guidance are flat to plus 6%, what needs to occur to top end and shouldn't this upside be utilized to reduce CCR exposure. So Nazeem, this is a very good question because I ask this of Ntobeko and his team the whole time. I'm not talking about the cross-currency equation, but more how do we get to the top end of the guidance. So I'm very interested like you to hear Ntobeko's response.

Okay. Thank you, Andrew. Nazeem, on your first part of the question, I think there's a couple of things that will probably need to play out to get to the 6% growth level in our DIPS. One is, if you remember, the hiking of the interest rate cycle was very steep. Within a period of 13 months, you had over close to 475 basis points hikes. So what will need to happen for us to get to the top is that in the cutting rate, if it was at least to have that pace, which we don't believe so because if you look at the SA Polish rate at the moment, sitting at about 8%, we think that's about 100 basis points from [ policy ] level. And also in Europe, you're looking at your 3 months Euribor that's currently trading at about 3.058%. And that also probably even though Europe started cutting early, we'd also like to see maybe that getting closer back to the 2.5% to 2% level, which will then be in line with the European inflation. The other aspect is just around the normal trading conditions. If we get an upbeat in terms of the economic growth, the GDP in South Africa, our base case has got about 1% in it. But with the GNU coming out publicly declaring a 3% target, and it will be how quickly you get to that because some of those will then absorb -- will create a demand in our view that will absorb the office oversupply and maybe deal with also some of the reversions and the tough trading conditions that we continue to see in our office sector. And then I think the last one in SA is just about the energy stability. If we continue on the trajection that we're in, that will be in a good pace. I think in FY '24, we spent about -- we bought about 3.3 million liters of diesel compared to 7.5 million liters that we bought last year. If we repeat that, and actually, we don't have load-shedding and we don't need to buy diesel, it doesn't translate in terms of what we'll recover from tenants. Those are all the aspects that will get us closer to the 6%. Thank you.

Thank you, Ntobeko.

Sorry, can I [Audio Gap] cross currency issue? So if the upside -- second part of your question, sorry, Nazeem, just on the upside, I think we first would like to have some positive prints in terms of the growth in the earnings. If we have that on a sustainable basis, definitely, it's a consideration. But at this point, we don't think -- we think it's too early because it will be our first positive print this year.

Thank you, Ntobeko. Okay. So moving then on. The next question is for Leon. And Nazeem once again asks, can you please provide an update on Wembley Square? Any interest to take up this space once Amazon leaves for new office?

So Amazon is vacating in December. Happy to report that we've got a call center that's going to do a staggered take-up. First be of about 60% of the space will be in March and then the balance towards November of 2025.

Thank you, Leon. Okay. The next question is also for Leon. It's from Lwando from Ninety One. His question is SA office net property income margins have improved year-on-year from a margin of 62% to 64%. What would Redefine's management attribute this to? And then the office sector property operating costs improved. What asset management initiative would RDF team attribute this to?

Yes, Lwando, I was initially very perplexed when you asked this question because my understanding were completely different. But I take it you refer to Page 63, which is the South African distributable income analysis. Just one thing you need to bear in mind, in the operating cost included here, the overhead costs were allocated to the various sectors on a per tenant level, which is not necessarily a true reflection. I prefer to look at it at a pure NPI and maybe what we can do in our one-on-one, we can talk you through that detail. But the outcomes were in fact that of the office margins have deteriorated marginally in that our costs grew by 4.7% versus revenue growth just over 3%. And you are quite correct, from an expectation point of view, retail has managed to improve its margin on the back of the contribution of solar PV. So if I can suggest, do not look at that page, rather look at distributable income analysis, which exclude the overhead costs.

Great. Thanks, Leon. Okay. So moving on, Nazeem from Investec asks, are there plans to sell any of the ELI assets or land post demerger? So Nazeem, look, every asset at the right price is for sale. However, if we were to prioritize ELI assets, the land that is unoccupied at this point in time, which doesn't have immediate or short- to medium-term prospects of development are in the for-sale list. A good contender of that will be the land adjoining M1 Marki called Targowek, where we are reasonably confident we will be selling that property quite soon, and we'll update everybody as and when we have a transaction that we are confident that is capable of completing. Okay. Moving on, Lwando, once again, from Ninety One, asks Leon, on office renewals and new leases, at what asking rents were the new office leases on a gross rent per square meter basis struck and in the Sandton area?

Lwando, it's a bit of a wide question, but just to give you an idea, our P-grade ranges from between ZAR 200 to ZAR 240 a square meter and our A-grade properties ranges from ZAR 175 to ZAR 200 a square.

Great. Okay. So moving on to Sandile from Umthombo Wealth. I think this is a question for Leon mostly. I can maybe help a little bit here, but the question is, what explains the lower renewal success rate of 89% to 60% between South Africa and ELI portfolios? What are you looking to achieve by targeting a 90% tenant retention rate for the South African portfolio? Why is it not important for RDF to consider a payout ratio of 75% of DIPS in dividends to shareholders? Can you speak about the total value of assets you're looking to monetize in the next 3 years?

Okay, and I'll deal with the first part. Just to maybe correct you, I think your renewal success rate in South Africa actually printed at 67%. The 89% was tenant retention. So I think it's quite similar to ELI. Now in the South African context, it was skewed by a lower success rate in our office and industrial portfolios, which is kind of the norm. We tend to -- our retail tenants tend to be far more sticky than it is in office and industrial. Now the simple reason why we like to target a 90% tenant retention ratio is cash preservation. It is far, from a cash flow point of view, more efficient to retain a tenant than to let a box go vacant, have the costs or the noncash for a period of vacancy than tenant fit out leasing commission and such like. So purely is a cash flow play. Retention trumps trying to let new. That's why we have got such a key focus on that. And internally, it's also just an indicator for us from a management team, a kind of indication for us in terms of our strength of our tenant relationships. So it doesn't necessarily translate directly into NOI, but for us is a key indicator that the tenants like what we're doing. And in terms of the payout ratio on DIPS, Andrew?

Yes. Thanks, Leon. So also just on ELI's renewal,rate, it is in respect of roughly 10% of the portfolio, Sandile, and for similar reasons to Leon in terms of why it is at that level. In terms of 75% level, that's a minimum payout ratio. We are comfortable as Ntobeko showed you earlier, considering a number of factors why we are comfortable to be paying at 85%. We don't believe paying at a lower end of the scale is going to significantly change our liquidity position or for that matter, hamper us from a cash delivery point of view or from a liquidity in terms of deployment, in terms of our committed capital expenditure programs and so forth to pay out at 85%. Also with that comes DRIP, as you know, which I hope is that we'll also clawback some of that payout and we are comfortable from a liquidity point of view being at the level we are. In terms of speaking about the total value of assets. We've got to the point now we're selling ourselves out of a situation is no longer a solution given that, that process is fraught with deal risk, it's fraught with valuation risks and also from a control over the process point of view, similarly. So we do -- as Leon has showed you earlier, we've sold about ZAR 1 billion of assets this past period. That will continue as a natural course of asset management, given the size of our portfolio, we're constantly looking to churn the portfolio to deploy that capital into assets with better income and capital growth prospects. That will continue. So we don't have a target that we want to sell x billion. But we are comfortable transacting at, let's just say, 10% of our portfolio, roughly ZAR 1 billion per annum in that regard. [ Chris Reddy ] asks a question, and I'll answer it in terms of the JVs. Given the various simplification initiatives on the JVs, some of which involves an increase in the group LTV, how close to the new relaxed 1.7x ICR covenants are expected to get over the next 12 months. What is the new LTV glide path from here over the next 2 to 3 years? I'm sorry, I said it was my question, but I actually upon reading it properly, Ntobeko, do you want to try -- answer this, please?

Thanks, Andrew. Chris, I think on the first part of the question relating to the relaxed ICR at 1.75x. When we do our stress testing and models, you're quite right, the simplification initiatives, some will have an impact where there is an increase in LTV, if you look like at the demerger of ELI, but equally so some of the initiatives will have an offsetting impact. If I look just in this current period, the T22 at EUR 38.5 million top up payment, we applied all of that to paying down debt and had a 0.5% reduction in the LTV. From an ICR point of view, we think that it brings closer to the tune, which is of the old covenant level. And then remember the relaxation is for a period is for actually for six measurement periods starting from this year. So it gives you 2 years and then it steps back to 2. So we believe there's enough runway for us to apply our de-gearing plan and manage that conservatively. Then from a glide path in terms of the LTV, I think just firmly within the next 3 years, we expect our LTV to be sub 40%.

Thank you, Ntobeko. Mweishö from SBG asks, this is a question for Ntobeko. He says, apologies if you said this already, but besides LTV covenants, what conditions must be maintained to keep the ZAR 27 billion funding arrangement?

Mweishö, it's the other key covenant other than the LTV, which is at two levels, the group LTV at 50%, then the portfolio LTV at 65%, is the ICR, which it starts at the relaxed 1.75x and then it steps back to 2x in August 2026.

Great. Thanks, Ntobeko. Okay. Luqman from Ninety One asks, can you advise what DRIP assumption is embedded in your DIPS growth forecast? Ntobeko?

Luqman, it's -- that really just relates to the expected or what we expect as a take-up. We fairly believe, depending prices at the end of the month, but if it's fairly taken up in our base case, we're working with a take-up that ranges between 40% and 50%.

But from a DIPS growth forecast point of view, Ntobeko, we have not factored in any assumptions around DRIP. We've assumed a cash payout of 100%.

Yes, on the payout, yes, yes.

So the payout is 100%, Luqman. So anything that comes through is going to be a benefit to on the finance cost. Although, yes, there'll be more shares in issue, which will result in some dilution. So should be neutral, I think, if we were to work it out on our calculations. Daniel from Risk Insights asks, he says that Risk Insights rate Redefine on ESG and have noted our strong reporting on environmental metrics over the years. Do you have plans on expanding your reporting to include water recycled metric as you have for waste recycled? Leon, do you want to answer that?

Certainly, Daniel. Firstly, thank you for your compliment. We do take great pride in our environmental reporting. I will actually take this point as is due. I can't say that we've got fixed plans to look at our water recycle. To be honest, I wouldn't even know kind of what quantum we're talking about. But thank you for that tip. We would certainly put it on our to-do list.

[ Sinclair ] from MSM Property Fund asks, considering the strategic plans you've outlined for the Polish portfolios, what does the international versus domestic portfolio split look like in the future? So Sinclair, I think the exchange rates do play a little bit of havoc with our allocation. But we're comfortable given our current balance sheet construct with a 40-60 split, 60% South Africa, 40% offshore given the balance sheet constraints. And that is where we feel that our portfolio will settle on a -- let's call it, on a constant currency basis. Okay. So that looks like we've answered all your questions. Thank you very much for -- once again for spending time with us this afternoon. If any of you have any further questions, please reach out to us via our Investor Relations e-mail. If you want a more direct answer, Leon, myself, and Ntobeko are available. And all I can do is ask you all to join us, please, in living the upside. Our sector has been through a very prolonged trough and at last, we're seeing now the flywheel turning and gaining momentum in the right direction. And I just want to thank each and every one of you for sticking the course with us. We believe that we are firmly on track now to realize our vision. Thank you.