Our opinion on the current state of ATTACQ(ATT)Attacq (ATT) is a BEE level 2 property developer that converted to a real estate investment trust (REIT) in May 2018 and has been listed on the JSE since 2013. It is the owner of the Mall of Africa in Halfway House and the developer of the Waterfall City complex. It is now building the Ellipse Waterfall residential high-rise, which will have 590 apartments priced between R1.5m and R12m. Overall, Waterfall City is expected to consist of over 1 million square meters of multi-use space over the next 5 to 10 years.
In its results for the year to 30th June 2023, the company reported distributable income up 14.5% and full-year dividend growth of 16%. Occupancy was 92.5%, and trading density improved by 12.7%. The company said, "Attacq's interest cover ratio improved to 1.69 times from 1.58 times, with gearing increasing marginally to 37.3% (FY22: 37.2%). In FY24, the debt metrics will see significant improvement due to the utilisation of proceeds from the Waterfall City transaction with the GEPF in the reduction of debt."
In a pre-close update on 25th June 2024, the company reported occupancy of 96.1% and a trading density of R3999 per square meter. The share was trading at 1054c on 25th June 2024, at which level it was less than 60% of its NAV.
In our view, this REIT, at the current price, represents one of the better property investments on the JSE at the moment and very good value.
