The Far Property company Limited listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) say they have applied to the BSE to approve the listing of 13,767,297 new linked units.
It is anticipated the new linked units will be listed on the BSE on November 22, 2022. This means that the number of issued linked units will increase from 460,336,206 to 474,103,503.
The Far Property Company Limited (“FPC”) is a property investment company with an internally managed, diversified portfolio of retail, commercial, industrial and residential properties in Botswana, South Africa and Zambia.
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The company said this in response to the offer by the company of scrip in lieu of 100 per cent of the distribution (of dividend and interest) on linked units, declared in respect of the year ending June 30, 2022. The offer closed on November 4, 2022.
- The Far Property company Limited have applied to the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) to seek approval for the listing of the 13,767,297 new linked units.
- This means that the number of issued linked units will increase from 460,336,206 to 474,103,503.
- It is anticipated the new linked units will be listed on the BSE on November 22, 2022.
- Last year in November, the Far Property Company (Botswana) – BSE approved the listing of 12,625,368 new linked units.
A scrip dividend is when a company instead of automatically giving their shareholders a cash dividend, gives them the choice of either receiving a cash dividend or the equivalent in additional shares of the company.
For example, let’s say company X’s share price is $10.00. The company pays $3.00 once per year as a dividend. You own 100 shares. If company X has a scrip dividend declared, then you can choose to receive either US$300.00 in cash, or 30 additional shares of company X.
If you elect to receive cash, you can still use the money to buy additional shares in the company, but if you elect to receive additional shares, the scrip dividend just reinvests the dividend for you.
According to a statement released on November 7, 2022, unit holders holding 133,167,204 linked units of The Far Property company, representing 28.93 per cent of the linked units in issue elected to receive linked units (in lieu of cash) of 100 per cent of the distribution
“Unitholders holding 132,717,953 linked units, representing 28.83 per cent of linked unit in issue elected to receive linked units (in lieu of cash) of 50 per cent of the distribution (of dividend and interest).”
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“Unitholders holding 194,451,049 linked units representing 42.24 per cent of the issued linked units did not elect to receive linked units (scrip) in lieu of 100 per cent of the distribution payable to them, and will receive the cash distribution net of withholding tax, where applicable,” read the statement.
Last year in November, the Far Property Company (Botswana) – BSE approved the listing of 12,625,368 new linked units.
“Unitholders are advised that the Botswana Stock Exchange Limited has approved the listing of 12,625,368 new linked units in the Company, for trading on the Botswana Stock Exchange, on and with effect from the 22 November 2021. And the number of issued linked units shall increase from 447,710,838 to 460,336,206,” read a statement.
According to the company’s Integrated Annual Report 2022, revenue increased by 2 per cent to BWP 141 million from BWP 138 million in 2021, while profit before tax increased 16 per cent to BWP 112 million (2021: BWP 96 million). Net income from operations increased 5 per cent to BWP 102 million (2021: BWP 97 million). Vacancies across the portfolio remain below 10 per cent, which is encouraging given the tough trading environment. The rent yield remained stable at 10 per cent while the loan-to-asset ratio is 21 per cent. The Board declared and approved a distribution to unitholders of 18.40 thebe per unit (2021: 17.80), comprising 18.23 thebe interest and 0.17 thebe dividend. This equates to a 3 per cent increase on the previous year.
The report further stressed that as the sale of residential properties is yielding modest profits, FPC has demonstrated interest in developments rather than acquisitions throughout the year. The company now have four developments under construction. The occupancy rate in Botswana is sitting at approximately 98 per cent and rates in South Africa dropped due to Choppies’ market exit.
The company’s top properties include Tati River Mall in Francistown, Botswana. The property comprises a modern retail complex which opened for Christmas trading in 2016. Choppies Hyper is a food anchor and there are 17 line shops from Block A to Block B that total 10 shops. The two-storey portion overlooking the Tati River is sold and excluded from FPC ownership according to FPC.
The second top property is Borogo Mall located in Kazungula, Botswana. The property is located on the prominent A33 main road close to the Kazungula ferry crossing. The new road bridge opened in 2020 which opened up ferry traffic into Kasane at the border post from Zambia and central Africa further north according to FPC.
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The last on the list is ERF 2282 located in Rustenburg, South Africa. The property comprises a large modern warehouse, with a double-storey office block and visitors parking at the front. The property is valued at R43 100 000 as of June 30, 2022.
Meanwhile, FPC closed on September 5, 2022, at 2.40 BWP per share on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE). The Far Property began the year with a share price of 2.45 BWP but has since lost 2.04 per cent off that price valuation, ranking it 28th on the BSE in terms of year-to-date performance according to African X’changes.
According to African X’changes, the Far Property Company is the 24th most traded stock on the Botswana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Aug 18 – Nov 16, 2022). FPC has traded a total volume of 58,649 shares—in 1 deals—valued at BWP 140,758 over the period, with an average of 931 traded shares per session. A volume high of 58,649 was achieved on September 5th for the same period.
But, the total indicative share trading liquidity for The Far Property Company Limited in the past 12 months, as of September 1, 2022, is US$256.44 thousand which is approximately BWP2.92 million. An average of US$21.37 thousand (BWP243.31 thousand) per month according to African Financials.
