Turnstar completes Game City expansion
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday May 5, 2017 14:30
The shopping centre was being expanded to include additional retail space, a fashion avenue, restaurant area including food court, entertainment area and a parkade.
The project was financed through a long-term loan facility of P250 million from the First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB).According to the group’s managing director, Gulaam Abdoola the additional space is pre-let to a large extent.
He also announced that the development of Phase 3, Mlimani City Tanzania is complete. Mlimani City is being expanded to include additional retail and commercial space including basement parking, additions to the conference centre and a botanical garden. The additional space is also pre let to a large extent. The expansion cost amounted to $25 million. Barclays Bank of Botswana finances the project.
“We have managed to achieve growth even though we had to displace tenants during the construction phase of Game City and Mlimani City. Also the trading licence issue for South African retailers caused a loss of revenue as the stores were ready for occupation but could not be occupied,” he said. However, he noted that the construction is now complete and the licensing issue has been resolved.
Tenants should be occupying the stores shortly adding that the additional revenue from these extensions will be recognised in the coming year’s financials.
The managing director further said they are negotiating to buy an office block in Dubai. “We have been actively looking at the existing property market in Dubai to identify an investment for Turnstar. This will give Turnstar further diversification in terms of geographic location as well as currency hedge,” he said.
He said the Dubai property will be bought for cash and will give them a yield of approximately 10% per annum.
On their financial results for the year ended January 31, 2017, the group has recorded P234.4 million profit before tax, which is a two percent increase compared to the P229.5 million that was recorded in the prior year. The group’s revenue went up by three percent from P252.8 million to P259 million.
The group consists of Turnstar Holdings in Botswana, Island View Propriety Limited in Botswana and Mlimani Holdings Limited in Tanzania.