Our opinion on the current state of PPR

Putprop (PPR) is a property company which was spun out of Putco (the bus company) and separately listed on the JSE in July 1988. The company owns 16 properties in industrial, retail and office with a gross lettable area (GLA) of 98484 square meters and a value of R1056,4m. In its results for the six months to 31st December 2022 the company reported rental income up 7,6% and headline earnings per share (HEPS) down 40,9%. The company's net asset value (NAV) increased by 9,1% to 1614c per share and a vacancy rate of 3,7%. The company said, "We continue to see a definite trend of big corporates returning to the formal office environment either in the form of a hybrid model of working off site and in formal offices, or a full return to the office environment". In a trading statement for the year to 30th June 2023 the company estimated that HEPS would increase by between 0% and 10%. From a private investor's perspective, the main problem with this share is that it is very thinly traded with many days on which there are no trades at all. It is clearly not a share that the institutional investors are interested in. We believe that there are better counters in the property sector.