L2D CONTINUES TO GROW TRADING DENSITY

Real estate investment trust Liberty Two Degrees
(L2D) says the attraction of its brick and mortar stores, complemented by
unique experiential offerings, continues to draw customers to its retail
landscapes.

The JSE-listed company last week reported that its
overall annualised trading density had grown by 3.3% at the end of June 2019,
which continued December 2018’s growth of 2.9% and June 2018’s growth of 2.8%
over the same asset pool.

L2D said trading densities across most centres had
shown considerable improvement, with Sandton City having grown its annualised
trading density by 7.9% to R57 563/m² and ending up 53%
higher than the Clur benchmark, which was R37 628/m².

Nelson Mandela Square (NMS) showed a substantial
turnaround with 6.5% annualised trading density growth in June, compared with a
contraction of 1.3% in December 2018 and a contraction of 4.7% in June 2018.

NMS had an annualised trading density of
R57 770/m² in June, which is 65.1% higher than the Clur
benchmark of R34 984/m².

Eastgate shopping centre is compared to the super
regional benchmark excluding Sandton City to remove the impact of significantly
higher trading density of Sandton City, which skews the benchmark. When Sandton
City is excluded from the super regional benchmark, Eastgate’s annualised
trading density of R36 587/m² is 7.7% higher than the adjusted
benchmark for the annual trading density of the super-regionals of R33 983/m².

“Continuous enhancements to our retail and office
environments are core to our ability to attract and retain tenants, as well as
draw consumers to our retail centres. This is evident in that we have spent, on
average, 2.2% of the value of the portfolio on maintenance capital
expenditure between 2014 to 2018,” said L2D.

The company’s overall portfolio vacancy rate of
4.6% was largely attributable to the office sector.

The retail vacancy as at July this year was 2.3%,
compared with a 2.4% vacancy rate reported in June.

“The resilience of the L2D portfolio is evident in
the annualised trading density and turnover growth generated, which continued
to gain momentum evidenced by comparing June 2018 to June 2019.

“While the portfolio’s vacancy rates have remained
in line with that of May, leasing strategies and engagements with prospective
tenants are well under way which has resulted in the reduction in the vacancy
rate including pre-lets.

“L2D has continued to deliver on the five building blocks
initiated at the beginning of the year.

Several initiatives have successfully been implemented with further strategies in the pipeline to ensure L2D is ready for the ever-changing retail environment,” the company stated. https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/l2d-continues-to-grow-trading-density-2019-09-13/rep_id:4136