Owners of new plaza moot second phase

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Thursday April 1, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking this week in Gaborone at the announcement of their financials for the year ended 31 December 2009,Group Managing Director Guido Giachetti said the centre, in which they have a 53 percent stake while the rest is owned by citizen companies, has had overwhelming demand from potential tenants, bringing excitement into the market. The centre, which Giachetti says will transform Gaborone's city space, comprises a 155-room hotel and retail space for restaurants, a cinema, boutiques and office blocks.

'With the hotel already taken up with a lease with African Sun Limited (ASL) which shall be operating a four-star hotel under the Holiday Inn brand, the retail space is about 80 percent occupied with some tenants coming from as far as Brazil and some South African jewellery companies,' says Giachetti.

'The office space is about 30 percent occupied at the moment, but we have a pending deal that will see all the office space taken up. Because of the high demand we have experienced for this quality facility, plans are already underway to build a second phase of the Masa Centre. 

'We feel the market is becoming even more selective in terms of location and the Gaborone market is turning towards the new CBD, which is where we are. However, these plans are still at an early stage.'

 Construction of the centre is scheduled for completion by September this year at a total cost of approximately P250 million with the total costs of the centre expected to balloon to around P450 million when all the tenants, including the hotel, are set up.

Apart from the Masa Centre, which is expected to start contributing to the company's bottom line in the year 2010/11, the RDC group is opening a new four-star lodge in Madagascar this year. The Isalo Rock Lodge will open to the public in June this year and will start contributing positively to the results in the year 2011.

In the last financial year, the company disposed of one of its properties in Botswana, Professional House. During the year, the company says that it was able to grow both its property portfolio (58 percent) to P363 million while gross income rose by three percent to P29 million despite the absence of income from Professional House.

Profit before fair valuations and exceptional items increased by 18 percent to P18 million while profit before tax increased significantly by 45 percent to P42 million.

The group, however, recorded an exchange loss of P1.6 million arsing from offshore investments in Madagascar, due to the appreciation of the pula against the US Dollar.

But interest rates volatility in 2009 had a positive impact to the group's share price which rose 20 percent in 2009 as investors shunned weakened returns on the money market, opting for the property sector. Listed on the BSE in 1992, RDC owns properties in Jwaneng, Maun, Kasane, Palapye, Serowe and Gaborone.