EPP CEO Hadley Dean
JSE-listed retail property fund EPP has delivered a total return of 21% in 2018.
The JSE’s benchmark property index SAPY recorded a total return of minus 25% for the year.
“Our focus on retail, specifically in the Polish market, has given us clear advantages over some of our competitors who are more exposed to markets that are not as strong as Poland,” EPP CEO Hadley Dean said in a statement published on Wednesday.
Anchor Stockbrokers also confirmed that EPP was one of only a few companies on the JSE property index to have delivered a positive return.
Since EPP has focused its strategy specifically on retail properties, it has more than doubled its portfolio, adding more than 240 000 m2 in gross leasable area (GLA) to its portfolio in 2018 and increased the total portfolio value to more than €2-billion.
EPP intends to acquire six new properties this year, adding another 184 000 m2 of quality retail GLA to its portfolio.
Additionally, EPP will open its flagship property, in Warsaw, called the Galeria Mlociny, in the second quarter of the year.