JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) Redefine Properties on Monday posted a full-year distribution of 92c a share for the year ended August 31, representing year-on-year growth of 7%.

The group’s distributable income in rand terms increased by 22.2% to R4.8-billion during the year under review.

Revenue for the year was R7.79-billion, a surge of 17.3%, compared with the stagnant 0% growth experienced in 2016, on the back of a number of substantial quality acquisitions made in recent years, Redefine CEO Andrew Konig said.

Redefine recorded a net operating profit of R5-billion in the 2017 financial year, an increase on the R4.2-billion reported in the prior year.

The operating margin improved to 82.7%.

Meanwhile, Redefine’s active portfolio vacancy rate decreased marginally during the year by 0.3% to 4.6%, while tenant retention reached 92.6% during the year under review, up from 91.8% last year.

Leases covering 536 310 m² were renewed during the year under review at an average rental increase of 2.9%, compared with 492 126 m² at an average rental increase of 3.3%.

A further 406 406 m² was let across the portfolio.

During the year under review, the group’s property portfolio expanded by R11.4-billion to R84.1-billion, with the local portfolio accounting for R68.1-billion and the international real estate investments valuing R16-billion of the total property asset platform.

“Locally, developments have been our primary focus in order to expand, protect and improve existing assets that are well located, with projects totalling R3.2-billion completed during the year,” Konig said.

Redefine also generated R3.5-billion from asset disposals and deployed this into assets showing better long-term growth prospects, he noted.

The company expects distributable income a share to grow by 5% to 6% for the 2018 financial year.