Good. Good morning, everybody. Sorry to keep you waiting, and thank you all for joining us for our pre-close presentation for the financial year ended 31 March 2026. The numbers that we're gonna go through cover 11 months actuals. Pretty much, you know, what the numbers should look like when we get to full year results. This has really been a tremendously busy period for us in the last six months, driven by very significant deal making, reshaping our portfolio and at the same time continuing with excellent delivery of operating results. If I look at Castellana, if we can just move to my first slide, please. If we look at Castellana, really outstanding metrics in both Spain and Portugal.
Footfall is at all-time highs. The portfolio is fully occupied and Alfonso will take us through that detail in a few slides' time. On the deal front, we really have been reshaping our portfolio. There was the disposal of our retail park portfolio for ZAR 279 million and to use those proceeds to go into higher growth shopping centers. Those deals are now all announced. It was the acquisition of 100% of Berceo in Logroño for ZAR 103 million, 100% of Islazul for ZAR 318 million, and 50% of Splau in Barcelona for ZAR 175 million. I will go through all of these in a lot more detail later in the presentation. In South Africa, we've had a tremendous performance.
Itumeleng and his team have delivered excellent results with double-digit NOI growth and a core retail vacancy sitting at 1.1%. We've also been very active in the South African portfolio in terms of asset rotation. We've sold four non-core assets for a total of ZAR 625 million. We acquired in December 50% of Chatsworth Mall for ZAR 620 million. The one that we've been you know waiting to disclose to the market, and that was finalized only last week, is we finalized agreements to acquire 100% of Botshabelo Mall, a dominant center in the town of Botshabelo in the Free State, and that's for ZAR 443 million. Again, we'll go through you know more details a bit later.
In December last year, we acquired a 35% stake in Pradera. Pradera is a leading Pan-European specialist retail property fund manager and asset manager. They've got over 25 years of experience. They have EUR 5 billion under management. This is very much a strategic deal for us because Pradera has over 100 retail specialists in the team. Therefore that positions us very well to explore expansion into additional European markets with expert teams already on the ground. I think you know that we believe one of our key differentiators is really operating as locals on the ground. I think that gives us our edge.
The fact that Pradera has got teams in markets that we are evaluating, I think really allows us to look at those markets through a very different lens. Really that is through a lens of being, you know, local experts on the ground through those teams. That's a very exciting development for us overall. I think before I hand over to Itumeleng to go through the detail in South Africa, I just want to highlight a very important point, that all of the above acquisitions that I've just mentioned have all been fully funded, they're all accretive, and there is no cash drag, and importantly, there is no requirement for any further equity funding. All the deals we've announced are funded through the deals we've done.
Again, I will take you through that in a few slides' time. I'd like to now ask Itumeleng to pick it up and talk through the detail of how South Africa traded in the past six months. Itumeleng?
Yeah. Thanks, Laurence. Yeah, good morning, everyone. It really does give me a great pleasure to provide the trading update for South Africa over the past year. Chad, if you can go to the first slide. Thank you. Yeah, the portfolio is projected to grow NOI by 10.1% on a like-for-like basis. So really excited with that print. This growth has effectively been driven by, you know, our deliberate focus on margin improvement. As was spoken in the past, you know, the cost saving strategies that have been executed on in the portfolio. These strategies have, you know, pretty much been really driving targeted growth around improving the quality of our occupancy.
We spent quite a bit of time looking to improve our recovery management. We've executed on additional PV, so that's driven PV margin, and a significant focus on optimizing our metering to ensure that both water and electricity are recovered adequately throughout the portfolio. Really happy with the net operating income and, you know, our sense is that figure is sustainable, you know, into the next low while. At a trading density level, we continue to grow our annualized trading densities within our portfolio, up at 5.1% in the past year. You know, we've also seen growth across all of the segments, which I'll touch on a bit later on in the presentation.
At a vacancy level, we've continued to, you know, have vacancies well managed. Overall, our vacancies are sitting at 1.7%, but if one excludes, you know, kind of the three retail offices that we have and just focuses only on the retail offering, our vacancies are sitting at 1.1%. Although it looks like when you're looking at the slide and you're comparing March 2025 to February 2026, it seems like there hasn't been much movement. We've done significant amount of deals on both the renewal and new deal front, doing deals that equates to about 20% of our GLA. Proud of our rural vacancies, as well as our township portfolio vacancies that are pretty much fully let at 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively.
We've also seen, you know, strong performance and high absorption in the urban and commuter centers. Those are now sitting at 2% and 1.5% respectively. At a reversion level, our reversions on renewal rentals is up from 2.4% to 3.5%. Our cost-to-income ratio continues to improve, you know, really show improvement from 13.3% down to 12.4% as at February 2026. Our effort rates continue to be low at 6.1%. When one considers, you know, the positive trade that we've seen in the portfolio, the high retention ratios as well as the low vacancies, all of this really points to a trajectory of growing top line and a strong performance in the portfolio looking forward.
Overall, you know, really satisfied with the performance of the portfolio over the past, you know, 11 months in all segments, and also across all of the provinces in which we have properties. Thanks, Chad. On to the next slide. When I look at our footfall and sales in a bit more detail, the overall portfolio, you know, grew sales by 5.3%. The urban portfolio increased by 6.3%, the rural portfolio up 5.3%, and the township portfolio up at 5.2%. From a trend perspective, we continue to see higher spend per head, you know, slightly higher than historical averages as our shoppers frequent malls slightly less. But when they do go to the malls, they shop a bit more per visit.
Notwithstanding this, we've increased our promotional activity within the portfolio significantly over the past year to look to increase and drive feet. You know, these campaigns have resulted in overall growth in terms of our footfall across all of our segments. Overall, in terms of sales and footfall, our township and rural portfolio continue to do well and, operating from a high base, which we have delivered on, you know, over the past couple of years. We've also seen a significant rebound in the commuter and urban markets. Again, these are the segments that are most sensitive to, you know, kind of interest rate relief and also higher job absorption. Those are kind of the key things that we've seen over the past six months. Thanks, Chad.
At a category trade performance, our like-for-like trading densities up at 5.1%. Our top 10 tenants that account for 55% of our GLA grew by 5.5%. Really pleased with our top 10 tenants' performance. 11 out of the 14 categories that we measure within the portfolio group, both in terms of turnover and trading densities, and then particularly over the past 5 months. If you look from our interim results up until February, you know, we've seen growth in both groceries and fashion, and those are the two biggest categories that we have within the portfolio. Groceries growing at 2.5% and our fashion category growing at 0.3%. Within these key categories, we've had winners and losers over the past 6 months.
As always, you know, in terms of how we manage the portfolio, we'll monitor the trade of both winners and losers and ensure that, you know, our effort rates remain low. We're particularly happy over the past six months with our menswear as well as our fast foods and childrenswear performance. We monitoring our womenswear as well as shoes as there you've seen a divergence between those that have done well and those that have been challenged. Overall, I think we are happy with the trade of the portfolio, across all of our categories. Thanks, Chad. Lastly, moving on to our leasing activity. We continue to see strong demand for space, you know, as vacancies have now stabilized at 1.7% mark.
We've had significant activity both in terms of new deals and renewals across the portfolio. As you'll see on the bottom right-hand side of this slide, we have done deals that equate to about 150,000 sq m. The run rate on closing deals is definitely ahead of what we've seen in the previous period. We're also pleased with the positive rental spreads that we managed to achieve. If we look at our new deals relative to budget, those new deals have been up by 2.6% relative to the budget that we'd set. Our renewals relative to closing rentals are up by 3.5%.
Majority of all the deals that we've done have really been with, you know, very strong covenants, being with national tenants and our second tier, significant regional retailers. To summarize before I hand over to Alfonso, just from a South African perspective, really happy with the portfolio, happy with the trade, happy with the growth in NOI, and also really happy with the delivery of strategic projects, particularly around PV and water. The team remains upbeat, and we're really looking forward to the next 12 months and sustaining this level of performance. Thank you very much for your attention. I'd like to hand over to Alfonso to take us through the Castellana update.
Thank you, Itu. Good morning, everyone. Greetings from Madrid. Hoping that everyone is well. Thank you for joining us on this pre-close presentation of our financial year 2026. That, as Laurence has already advanced in his introduction, performance of existing portfolio remains very strong. The new assets acquired during the period are bringing a lot of expectations as for their quality and opportunities that we'll be deploying in the future in the following years. Turning to our key metrics of footfall and sales directly, our portfolio continues the trend observed over the past five years, maintaining strong growth rates. The outstanding and consistent efforts made by our capable team at the asset level are clearly making a significant impact and helping us lead in most of the sector's fundamental metrics.
As of February, Spain and Portugal have maintained a steady growth in footfall, increasing by 3.3% to reach an impressive total of 92.5 million visits, building on last year's record figures. All assets have surpassed previous performance benchmarks, with particular attention to El Faro, which experienced a 21.3% year-to-date rise in footfall following the completion, opening and consolidation of the Hipercor repurposing project, closing the year with nearly 10 million visitors. Vallsur and Bahía Sur also sustained positive progress, growing 4% and 3.1% respectively, underlining the continued benefits of successful repositioning initiatives. Bonaire remains the only asset in the Iberian portfolio not yet demonstrating positive footfall growth. However, trends indicate improvement and recovery to pre-storm levels is anticipated.
The surrounding area has not yet fully rebounded after six months, and local residents are still working towards restoring employment and daily routines. Notably, sales show healthy growth since the center's reopening, indicating fewer visits but higher spending per visit, resulting in elevated average ticket sizes and turnover ratios. When looking at turnovers on the rest of the portfolio, our tenant sales have grown 4.1% year-to-date until January, our last month combined. All categories growing substantially with fashion and accessories at the lead with 5.8% and F&B with 4.6%. The Spanish portfolio grew more during the period with 4.3%. However, Portugal also grew a respectable 3.7% coming from a higher base later last year. Next slide, please. Hectic leasing activity during this period up to January.
The team has transacted 254 leasing deals, which implies transacting more than 50,000 sq m, achieving circa 3.3% growth in the rental income of the units negotiated. In Spain, 67 renewals with a positive revision of 3%. This is excluding inflation, as I always remind, because indexations will come in due course during the year. 127 new contracts with an increase of 14.3% with respect to the previous rent in those units. In Portugal, there have been 36 renewals so far, resulting in a strong positive revision of 6.6%.
However, what stands out most these periods is our team's consolidation on the ground, sourcing and closing 24 new opportunities in true Castellana style, which led to an impressive 43.6% increase in the prior rental income of these units. Next slide. Looking at other key operating metrics, we continue to maintain market-leading results in both occupancy and rent collection rates during this period, with figures nearing 100%. These results highlight the strength and appeal of our portfolio, the outstanding efforts by our team and the stability of our tenants. All these factors contribute directly to what matters most to our shareholders, certainty and predictability in our cash flows.
Now that the integration of the Portuguese portfolio is consolidated and that our teams are now at full speed managing, we have seen already a good improvement on both figures of occupancy and rent collection. I am expecting keep beating marks in the following years. This is the Iberian update from my side that I think underlines a great result towards our year-end. Thank you very much for your attention.
Great, Alfonso. Thank you very much. Itu, thank you, and again, congratulations to both you and your teams on an excellent performance, which we are exceptionally proud of. What I'd like to do is spend some time on the various deals that we've done. There have been a number of deals, and I've broken up the slide into both the sources and uses of funds to sort of really demonstrate not only what we've done, but timing, but also their costs as well. Let's start off on the sources of funds. In October 2025, we raised ZAR 2.65 billion through a book build process. That was a very successful book build for us. That was on an FFO yield of 8.7%.
We've also taken on additional debt between you know rands and euros you know at the asset level in the countries and locally in SA of ZAR 1.18 billion. Then we disposed of our 9 retail parks in Spain. That was at a yield of 7.1%. That deal is set to close on the first of April, being the beginning of FY 2027. Again, we've put these numbers down, so as you're looking at your forecast, you can see what impacts 2026, what impacts 2027. The sale of these assets does not impact the current financial year, FY 2026. For your models from the first of April, you should take out the income on the retail parks.
In addition, we are getting the management contract on managing that portfolio. We'll lose the income on the EUR 279 million at a yield of 7.1, and then you need to add back the management fees, and that will be approximately between EUR 1 million and EUR 1.2 million that we think we'll earn on top of those numbers. That's the sale of the assets. I think also important for us to be able to recycle assets. Why did we do this?
I think the feeling is that, number one, we're probably getting into a lower growth environment in terms of the retail parks, because of the tremendous work the team have done historically, and that we could take those proceeds and redeploy it into higher growth assets, going forward. In other words, it's the normal winnowing strategy that you've come to you know, see and expect from Vukile over the years, in South Africa. We obviously did it with Lar España as well. You know, in terms of these retail parks. That deal closes on the first of April. In South Africa, there are four deals that we've done. In December, we sold Midrand Ulwazi. That was the last of our big office exposures, and that deal has transferred.
That was for ZAR 160 million. Durban Workshop, we have agreements in place, signed agreements. That deal is expected to transfer in April 2026, so only the new financial year. That's for ZAR 250 million. Mbombela Centre is expected to transfer in June 2026, and Victoria Centre expected to transfer also in June 2026. All of these deals are effectively finalized subject to Competition Commission. The sellers have got their funding in place. When you take the four South African deals together, that's a yield of about 11.1%, all in all. Now, taking all of those sources of funds, what have we done with that money? In South Africa, we bought Chatsworth, which transferred in December 2025 for ZAR 620 million, at a yield of 8.9%.
You'll see that the cash on cash yield is pretty much the same, and that's because your cost of debt in South Africa doesn't really give you an advantage relative to your cost of equity. Those figures are fairly similar. I'm very excited about the agreements being signed on Botshabelo. That's now only subject to Competition Commission approval. We expect that to transfer in June 2026. Buying that for ZAR 443 million at a yield of 8.5%. We'll put 40% gearing against that, and that is being bought from Liberty Two Degrees. We're investing another ZAR 167 million in our PV plants, which should generate around ZAR 16 million over the course of the year ahead.
In Spain, in February 2026, we acquired 100% of Puerta Europa for EUR 103.6 million. The NOI yield was sitting at 7.4%. Cash on cash will get 8.6 on that asset. That is a very exciting asset for us. For those of you that have seen Puerta Europa, I'm gonna say it's a very similar kind of asset in the sense that it's completely dominant in its region. It's got a very good tenant mix, probably under-managed by the previous private equity owners that I think really sets itself up perfectly for Alfonso and the team to come in and look to add value and grow that. There are already some exciting plans in place, in terms of extending the food court at
is extending the food court and just generally, you know, upgrading the center. That's a very exciting asset for us. We've closed the deal, or rather we've signed the deal to buy Islazul, that is a dominant center in the south of Madrid. Purchase price of EUR 318 million on a yield of 6.5% with a cash on cash of 8%. That is a dominant center. I think what we've seen is that as our cost of equity has improved, we've been able to recycle the money from the retail parks. We've been able to look at more dominant assets.
I think when one looks at the growth of Madrid really being the powerhouse and the engine of growth for Spain overall, to get exposure in Madrid, we felt was a very important thing for the portfolio overall. I think to get an asset of the quality of Islazul has really been superb. That deal also has value add projects lined up in it. I think we'll be spending about a further EUR 23 million on those value add projects, and they should yield around 10%. That's a very nice accretive growth strategy coming through on that particular asset. Then the one that we announced last week was buying 50% of Splau in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco. They currently own 100%. Off the back of a very strong relationship that we have with them.
Initially through buying those four assets a number of years ago, and then most recently doing the Bonaire deal. They approached us as sort of being a, you know, a very strong trusted partner and, we had the opportunity to buy again into a dominant center in Barcelona. Just to clarify two things. There are rumors that we now need to fund the next 50%. People, that's incorrect. They are not selling the next 50%. This was not a staggered deal. They only wanted to sell 50%, and we felt we would buy that. Please do not factor into your models that, there's the capital raise to buy that next 50%. Just to clarify the pricing. That was bought on an NOI yield of 6.6%.
That will also give us around 8% in terms of cash on cash. When you look at the portfolio, the Castellana portfolio really is in pristine condition. We now have dominant assets in Spain, three largest cities in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. That goes together with an asset like El Faro, where I think footfall is now touching on 10 million. Bahía Sur is getting more and more dominant in its catchment area. Los Arcos, as that new development comes on stream, the refurbishment, that is going to, you know, we believe also be an exceptionally strong asset. I'm delighted where the Castellana portfolio has positioned, all in all.
Now, when you take all of these deals together, and it has been a very extreme six months of closing deals and finalizing everything, let me tell you what the impact is going to be on the balance sheet. For the end financial year, end 31 March 2026, we expect the LTV to be around 39%. Obviously we haven't yet started our valuation cycle. That starts in the next couple of weeks. If we do see valuation upticks, then that may drop a little bit as well from that. I'd say 39% for the LTV as at financial year-end. When you take into account all of these deals that are closing in the new financial year-end, the pro forma LTV is sitting at around 42%.
Again, subject to where the valuations are, and I think we do expect to see some level of valuation upticks from where we are currently. We would say that the pro forma LTV is sitting at 42%. Most importantly, the ICR is sitting at a very, very healthy 3 times. Strong cash flow is coming through, all in all. I hope the slide clarifies the impact of all the deal-making that we've done. What you've seen is that it's not only about raising money in the market, it's about recycling existing assets. All in all, I believe that the team has done exceptionally well in finding these deals and being able to redeploy the money at the right time.
All of these deals should be fully paid for and out the, you know, the money out the door by the end of April 2026. Hopefully that helps you in updating your models. Turning to our outlook and guidance. I think we closed FY 2026 in a very strong position. The portfolios are performing superbly. I think the underlying operating results that you've seen are very strong, and we feel we can continue to grow on that in the year ahead. Our portfolio has been further reshaped through what I've just taken you through now, particularly in Spain. Please let's also not underestimate the very significant moves that we're making in South Africa. It's selling non-core assets.
If you look at what we've bought over the last while, it's BT Ngebs City has been refurbished, renamed as Mall of Mthatha. That is doing exceptionally well. Chatsworth, which is trading fantastically since we bought it. We have very high hopes for that center. The new one that will come in, Botshabelo. Still very committed to investing in South Africa, if and when we find the right deals at the right prices. I think the excellent trading metrics really is speaking volumes about the ongoing asset management initiatives in the team. That's both in Iberia and in South Africa. That will obviously continue, and that remains always the number one focus of what we do, is operational delivery and value add projects in the existing portfolio.
Our effort will always be focused on those two and, you know, that's where our growth comes from. I'd like to just turn then to the general meeting that was held on the twentieth of March, that was on Friday. Which approved a 9% authority to issue shares for transactions. Unfortunately, I think that did create some kind of expectation in the market that we're going to be raising capital, off the back of that. That's not the case. What it does do is provide us with strategic flexibility to evaluate transactions. The reason why we did it is because, as I mentioned in October last year, we used our full 10% authority.
Therefore, we felt that to still be able to evaluate transactions, we're having access to capital is absolutely critical in terms of the negotiating stance that we take, how we can secure deals and really what's built Vukile up to now. You need to have that flexibility to raise money as and when in order to get things done. By having that authority in place, I think has been incorrectly interpreted as an imminent capital raise is coming. That's not the case. We do wanna say to the market, we'd like to really thank you and appreciate the unanimous support. I think the vote was around 99.5% in favor of this, which is pretty much unanimous support. I think that shows full market support for our capital allocation strategy and our approach in what we do.
Given the current market volatility, again, to iterate, we will not raise money in the current environment. We will, however, continue to monitor the situation, and we will only raise money when required, when we have tangible accretive opportunities in place and a more stable price advantageous environment. This really just allows us to stay active in looking for deals, but I think what I can say to the market is we will only look to deploy money when we've got tangible deals and that they are going to be accretive. Even though the share price has come off along with the market, it still means that some deals are in focus, other deals aren't, but we keep on evaluating and seeing what we're doing.
I think it's really business as usual for us in the sense of only looking to do deals that are accretive to our prevailing weighted average cost of capital at the time of deploying the money. We never do deals pricing in share price strength, etc. It's always at a point in time. If we can make a deal accretive, then it's worth looking at. Looking forward, for the year ending 31 March 2026, we can say comfortably that we will meet our guidance of growth in both FFO and dividend per share of at least 9%. That translates to FFO per share of at least ZAR 1.731 and full-year dividend per share of at least ZAR 1.436.
For FY 2027, we'll provide guidance as always at year-end results, which are scheduled for the 17th of June 2026. Really just to end before handing over to questions, again, very upbeat from the team. You know, we need to be cautious and mindful along with everybody around the global volatility at this stage of the game. Fortunately, all the deals that we've done, we have the cash ready. We don't have to raise money for that. It doesn't change the economics on the deals that we've already done. With regards to new deals, we have the authority which allows us to evaluate new opportunities, but only when we feel we have something tangible would we look to then raise money.
For the time being, those that have been positioning themselves for an imminent capital raise, it's not happening and, you know, we continue as we are. I'd like to thank you all for your attendance and I'll hand over to questions. Louise, if you can maybe take us through the questions on the podcast.
Thank you, Laurence. We do have a couple of questions on the chat. If everybody can hear me, I'll proceed with those. Right. The first one is from Naeem Tilly. He says there's speculation that Castellana is bidding for the entire Iberian portfolio and asked if you can confirm this.
Yeah. Naeem, certainly there's been a lot of speculation around that. I can confirm that we are not bidding for the whole portfolio. I think that is the seller's preference is to sell the portfolio. Speculation has been everything from, you know, a tie-up with NEPI Rockcastle to bidding on our own. None of those are correct. I guess some of the reasons why we're not interested, you know, one of their big assets is in south of Madrid called Plaza Río 2. That is in a similar catchment area to Islazul. We believe we've now got the much stronger asset in that catchment area. In Barcelona, they've got Gran Vía 2 also, you know, in a similar catchment area to Splau. We believe that Splau is a much stronger asset.
There's some assets in the portfolio that we just weren't keen on overall. Just to be clear that we are not bidding for that portfolio contrary to the speculation in the market.
Thank you, Laurence. The next question is from Nazeem Samsodien. He's asked for more color on the Botshabelo Mall. He says he thinks it might be close to its ten-year renewal cycle and asked if there's any risks to expected rentals to the up or downside and any potential opportunity to asset manage the asset.
Right. Itumeleng, could I ask you to please pick up that one?
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Laurence. Yeah, Nazeem, maybe let me start with kind of investment rationale. So you know that we've been looking at investing in, you know, from a population size, the top 20 townships in South Africa. We're currently in 7. Botshabelo then will put us in the eighth. Botshabelo is the biggest township in the Free State, and not only does it cater for the Botshabelo township, just up in eighth you've got Thaba Nchu. It's an hour away from the border in Lesotho. Really, you know, impressive footfall and support and significant dominance. We've been looking at this asset for probably 3 to 4 years, just really walking the site and understanding the market. We think the location is perfect.
The tenant mix is particularly strong, having the two main anchors. Even if someone were to look to build a competing scheme, we've got the Boxer and the Shoprite. Yes, your analysis is correct. We're nearing the first 10-year renewal, in fact the second tranche of national 5-year renewals. Looking at the trade and the performance, we actually think there's significant value for us to reposition, relocate tenants, work on an asset management improvement strategy. That's part of the kind of thesis that we had looked at when we put together the proposal. I think there are some additional asset management interventions that we would look to execute on the site.
The site has no solar PV, so that's gonna be a very easy one for us to pursue in the next six months. Again, you know, we'll overlay the, you know, our renewed strategy on water and look to, you know, decrease expenses and increase our margins at that site. Really excited. I think the asset is great, the market is strong, and there's some opportunity for asset management there.
Thank you, Itumeleng. The next question comes from Moesha Nene. He's asked if the savings from using borehole water were significant, and in which assets you have replaced municipal water with borehole water.
Yeah. Moesha, I mean, it all adds up. It's not as significant as, you know, the intervention on PV. You know, water expense is, you know, let's say 5% of our overall expense line item. If you drill boreholes and you recover 100%, let's say, of your water that you use for domestic use, and you get a water use license to then, you know, kind of sell the water at retail, it opens the doors. As you know, the top line's under pressure. You're saving your expenses and you open your doors. To me, I wouldn't look at it in isolation. I would look at it in line with all of the other initiatives that we have.
Overlay water on PV, on soft services, on hard services, and that puts together a strategy that manages costs, and I think more importantly, manages costs in a sustainable manner. You're not gonna see huge savings in one year and then challenges in the year after that. You know, the interventions are we're no longer just drilling 1 borehole at sites, and all of this is done with the Department of Water and Sanitation approval. We'll drill 2-3 boreholes. We'll, you know, save the water in tanks. We now have slightly longer than 4 days backup, and then we use that water for domestic, you know, water use within the mall environment. I think it's a strategy that should accrue some added benefits in the next 12-18 months.
It's really something that is exciting for us.
Thank you, Itumeleng. The next question is from Luqman Hamid. He says Resilient printed a 9% valuation growth in South Africa and your like for like NOI is 10% in SA. Can you give us a sense on the potential valuation uplift?
Yeah, Luqman, I mean, I think my sense is, you know, over the past, our valuation uplift has closely matched growth in NOI, if you don't consider any movement in kind of cap rate compression and movements in discount rates. I would expect that our valuation uplift should be very close to where our NOI has landed up. Yeah, I mean, I think expect a significant uplift in valuations in the SA portfolio.
Thank you, Itumeleng. The next question, a couple of questions from Suren Naidoo. He's asked who the Durban Workshop sale is with, then he's also said that Vukile had invested some in a revamp a few years ago, and he wanted to know if the workshop is being sold at a premium or discount considering it's in the Durban CBD.
Yeah.
Suren,
Yeah.
All I'll say is that it's a private buyer. It's not going to a listed fund. I think it's not appropriate yet to mention who the buyer is, but it is private. Sell price was sort of pretty much in line with book value. Remember, that property is on a land lease. It's not a freehold property. Thanks, Louise.
Thanks, Laurence. I'm just sticking with Itumeleng. We have a question from Nick Wilson. He's asked if Itumeleng's most optimistic about the performance of township and rural retail centers in the coming year, or if you're also confident about urban centers.
Yeah. Nick, I mean, I think, you know, our township and rural portfolios really outperformed consistently over time. You know, even if you look kind of pre-COVID, we printed significant growth. Those assets are dominant. We've had huge demand from national retailers. We've managed to get the occupancy very high and vacancies low. We've seen consistent support from our communities, especially because we focus on community engagement and making the community feel part of the mall, right? To me, I think those assets will continue performing well, even at the high kind of levels or base where they currently are, and we'll continue to see significant growth out of those assets.
What we have seen in the past 6 to 12 months is an improvement in the urban space as well as in the commuter space. I think that, you know, kind of that improvement will continue. We're watching it closely. We are seeing more demand from retailers. We're seeing footfall trend up in those areas. We continue to invest in terms of optimizing tenant mix and also promotional activity. I think it's too early to tell, you know, definitely where that trend will end up. But over the next 6 months, it's something that I'll be watching very closely. But overall, the portfolio is in a much healthier position than it's been in a very long time. It continues to trade well.
Thank you, Itumeleng. We have a couple of questions on Splau. The first lot from Mahia Hamdullay. Is the cash on cash yield of 8% in respect of the Splau acquisition net of the asset management fee paid to Unibail? If not, can you disclose the asset management fee to be paid to them? Do you want to go on to the others, or do you want to handle that first?
No, I think let's handle that one first.
Okay.
No, it's not net of the fees. Obviously, you know, if we own an asset 100%, we've got management costs that go against that as well. You know, here those fees are being paid to Unibail. But we also earn fees from that joint venture as well. It's something that, you know, we wouldn't disclose that fee. I don't think Unibail would want that fee disclosed, you know. But we sort of both earn fees out of it. I think this may then, Louise, deal the next question, as in what is our role in it.
What there is a strategic asset management forum which is run jointly by Castellana and Unibail that really drives the strategic nature and the asset management nature of the asset. We both earn fees on that. The day-to-day operational management of the center is what Unibail will continue to do. I think let me sort of perhaps expand on that because the question from Miguel is that it looks like a financial investment when you know when valuations have bounced back. This is by no means a passive financial investment. That's not the way we operate and what we do. I think what you can read into this is a tremendous respect and working relationship that's developed between Castellana and Unibail borne out of our experience of co-managing Bonaire.
Remember that when we did the Bonaire deal, because it was coming out of the floods, we had an income guarantee from Unibail, and they would manage that center for 18 months, and that runs up until June of this year. I think during that period the relationship has really cemented where we are able to learn from one another. I think there's a very similar culture in running shopping centers and ways of doing things. Excuse me. We just felt that the ability to partner with them on a long-term basis in an asset is very advantageous to Castellana and our group. You know, Unibail are a phenomenal company, and you know, we believe that it's great to be able to partner with them in this particular asset.
All in all, you know, it's a joint management deal at the strategic level. Day-to-day operations is by Unibail.
Thank you, Laurence. We had a follow-up question or another question from Miguel Simcovitz. I'm assuming it relates to Splau, but maybe not. He's asked what cost of debt are you assuming to calculate cash on cash yield? Have you revised your cost of debt estimate in light of recent development at short and long ends of yield, of the yield curve?
Yep. That is, you know, still work in progress on closing it. Berceo is closed. Splau and Islazul, the margins are set. Those agreements are done. We think that what we're trying to do is actually not fix that debt for the next six months. I think one's gotta wait and see how, you know, the war unfolds, how long it goes for, and what the impact on the curve is. I think, you know, to sort of try and make a long-term or a medium-term commitment of fixing debt now is probably not the right thing to do.
I think what we're trying to do is sort of say unhedged, given that the current group hedge rate is sitting at 91%, we've certainly got the flexibility to keep some debt unhedged while we look for markets to settle. It's still very much work in progress in what we're doing, and seeing sort of where we end up settling on cost of debt.
Thank you, Lawrence. The next question is from Mawisha Nene. He's asked Alfonso and Itu, with general expectations of inflation in the short term, have you made material adjustments to turnover growth expectations?
Let me go first. Thank you, Mawisha. Look, the prudence is that we had for our budget, say, a forecast over inflation, which was something around the 2% as we were having that in the past. Prudence and the uncertainty that we are working with these days, well, we haven't factored anything yet into our budgets. You can actually say that they are conservative at this stage in my view.
Yeah. I mean, I think aligned with Alfonso's view. I mean, Mawisha, maybe, you know, to me, I'd say, you know, that's pretty much kind of moving target, you know, how the inflation will impact kind of turnover. I would then take it to the next level and say what then happens to the portfolio, especially if your effort rates are, you know, kind of relatively lower compared to competitors, and, you know, one of the lowest in the sector. That means that retailers still need to trade. They're trading well. The rent-to-sales are low. They should be paying the rentals. To me, I think as to how it impacts turnover, I expect minimal impact on top line on reversions and renewals.
I think one area that we are watching, you know, very closely as it relates to number one inflation figures and also inflation targeting is discussions with retailers around future dated escalations of contracts. You know, you are starting to see a few retailers raise that in discussions. As you know, we're very data driven, so we bring out all of the data in terms of the labor intensive expenses that we have within the portfolio. We say the gazetted growth and security costs in South Africa are growing at, you know, circa 8%. That's a significant part of how we manage the mall. Therefore, you know, your view around inflation targeting and current inflation rates relative to the basket that we're seeing in the mall is totally different.
We'll continue having those discussions. In the short term, I see no impact on top line. Maybe the discussions with retailers will be slightly more nuanced, I still think that we've got a case that we can put forward to show that there's sustained growth in our NOI that will continue to come through.
Thank you both. We have a couple of questions. Sorry, just getting back to them. Regarding M&A, Ridwaan Loonat has asked if you're looking at further asset recycling initiatives in SA and specifically Spain, and are there further opportunities in Portugal or has that slowed down?
Ridwaan, we do our annual underwriting of the portfolio every year in August, which really identifies which assets, you know, we might sell, which assets we want to invest further in, you know, which are stable cash cows, et cetera. That always happens in August time. I think as the portfolio stands in Castellana at the moment, we probably don't have anything that's on the sales list. I think the assets are still growing. Certainly what we bought in Portugal has got a lot of growth, you know, still embedded in them. You'll recall, you know, when we entered Portugal and we spoke last year, a lot of the assets that we bought have been bought because they are pregnant with asset management opportunities.
It's now really up to us to start capturing those and taking them forward. Nothing immediately on the sales list that I can think of in Iberia. In South Africa, we probably also are getting towards the end of our sales list. You know, there are one or two small non-retail assets, but they don't move the needle, you know, either way. I think, you know, it's something that's always under review. You know, August is a time when we go through that. I think you could probably expect that, you know, there'll be limited you know recycling in the year ahead in both portfolios.
Thank you, Laurence. We have a question from Alistair Anderson, also related to M&A. He's asked if you are considering any European opportunities outside of Iberia.
Yeah. Alistair, I think, you know, this talks very much to the acquisition of our stake in Pradera. Pradera are very active in a number of markets. They've got deep insights and, you know, we are currently working through a few markets with them to understand those markets in more detail, and to see if there are opportunities. Obviously, again, I just want to be clear, opportunities today can only be considered relative to today's cost of capital. Okay? You know, that's still attractive. Not as attractive as it was a month ago. But at the moment, it's still very much about understanding markets, opportunities, you know, before we decide to proceed on any.
The benefit though, Alistair, just to again highlight it, is our level of knowledge so significantly increased through the Pradera acquisition because you're operating as locals on the ground. You know, and that's really important when you're looking at these markets. We're just feeling a lot more confident in our ability to evaluate new markets.
Thank you, Laurence. Next question is from Luqman Hamid. He's asked if your LTV guidance includes or excludes FV gains as at 31 March 2026.
Luqman, the figures that I gave you do include figures for some level of gain. My expectation is that they would probably be higher than what we factored in. Also just given sort of, you know, where long bonds have moved to, we have to wait and see what happens with, you know, with external valuers, especially in the Spanish market. You know, I'm gonna give you sort of one example. You know, if you take a center like Bonaire, which we bought at 7.2%, you know, that's quite comfortably comparable, you know, to Islazul, to Splau, which we've traded now at 6.5%. What's gonna be fascinating is to see what happens in that balcony portfolio that Naeem asked about earlier.
Because we do know that, you know, well, what the market is talking about is that pricing expectations there are in the range of 6%-6.50%. Now, if that comes in at, call it, you know, 6.25%, then we believe there is certainly upside potential on all of Islazul, Splau and Bonaire, you know, given the quality of those assets relative to what's there. So we're watching that side of the market very, very closely. On the SA side, we do believe that our valuations have generally been on the conservative side and that there is scope for higher growth. As Itso said, typically we've seen that our valuation growth matches our NOI growth.
Yes, I think there is upside potential on the valuations perhaps over and above what's in those current numbers we have. We only start our valuation cycle, you know, in the next couple of weeks. We'll wait and see what that, you know, what comes out of that.
Thank you, Laurence. We have a question from Ridwaan Loonat. He's asked if the NOI yields quoted on acquisitions are based on BV or selling price after taking into account CGT costs.
Look, when that's the, that's after taking CGT cost 'cause that's what we're actually paying. That 318 is what we actually pay. Can I also... Sorry, just clarify something 'cause I got myself confused earlier. The question was around the 8% cash on cash on Splau, if that was pre or post the Unibail fees. The 8% cash on cash is after the fees, but the 6.5 NOI yield is pre the fees. Okay. If you took 6.5 and you added on debt and the cost of debt, you'll get a figure higher than 8.
When you drop that down, you know, you get to the 8%, as sort of a net figure, cash on cash for Splau. Sorry if I confused people earlier with that.
Thank you, Laurence. The last question for now is from Moish Mennen. He says he knows it's difficult to call, but he wants to know if there is a realistic expectation that the SARB hikes rates in your opinion, and if so, would you consider applying interest rate caps in SA and Spain?
Moish, I don't know. You guys need to tell us if interest rates are gonna spike. You know, clearly we watch these things very closely. We are well hedged in the portfolio. As I said, I think our current hedging ratio is about 91%. You know, so sort of a short term spike really wouldn't hurt the numbers. Maurice Shapiro, our treasurer, is always active in the market, always understanding it, and will not be confined to any one particular strategy of only swaps. He may use caps, he may use collars. We leave all of that magic up to Morris and what he's doing.
I think it's more of a dynamic environment than saying there's one strategy that fits all markets that we're in. Yeah, Morris is certainly keeping a very close eye on that at the moment, as well as currency. You know, the rand has been moving, you know, in quite big moves the last few days. You know, we have been looking at doing some hedging on the currency side as well.
Thank you, Laurence and team. There are no further questions.
Great. Thank you very much. I know that we have bombarded the market with a lot of deals in the last short while. All of those deals that we've spoken about are now done. So there's nothing sort of imminent coming. Going into a closed period, I guess we, you know, we'll be speaking a little bit less than we have in the last few months, but we look forward to seeing all of you at full year results on the seventeenth of June. Take care everyone. All the best. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye.