Finance Director Mohamed Osman told analysts that there is a new chance for the company to buy property in Namibia. He said this during the results presentation for the 52 weeks ending April 2025.
“We are in serious discussions to see if we can secure it because that is one of our best sites in Namibia. If we were to lose, it would be significant,”
he said.
He also said the yield, or return, will be less than 10%, “but strategic benefit is significant and you can’t quantify in terms of ratios.”
Sefalana believes it is a strategic decision to have property.
“We are likely to invest in this and you may not get instant return but at least you get the long-term security of having that return going forward.”
“We tend to find that when we set up a store in certain locations, sometimes it doesn’t have much of a presence, and once we are in, the rest of the area grows,”
he said, talking about housing and development.
As time goes on, the value of the property keeps increasing, Osman said. But this also means the landlord might ask for a much higher rent—like a 20% increase—and if they don’t get it, they might rent the space to a competitor instead.
To protect the group and its presence, he said it always helps to have “our own properties.”
Most of the company’s properties are used by the company itself. This means the group can stay in those places for a long time without having to move. The group has one property in Zambia, and about 80% of it is rented out. The company said it is always looking for good tenants to rent the empty space, well aware that many similar properties in the city make it hard to fill all the space. This property is a small part of the group’s business.
Zambia’s property segment
- Made P4.9 million in revenue and
- P3.3 million in profit before tax.
In Botswana, almost all the properties are rented out, and the rental agreements last between two and five years.
- Makes up 1% of the group’s total revenue (P65.7 million) and
- 10% of its profit before tax (P56 million).
The group said that soon it will likely start building a large warehouse in Gaborone North.
- This warehouse will be used as a main centre to support its procurement activities.
- The group said the cost to build the warehouse will be about P65 million
- It will be paid using some borrowed money and some money it already has.
