Ascencia’s total revenue and Net operational income have grown by 16.2% and 13.9% respectively. Ascencia runs the major malls on the island, namely Bagatelle Mall, Riche Terre Mall, Phoenix Mall, Kendra, So’flo, Bo’Vallon and Les Allées shopping centres.
According to the company’s financial statements, rental levels remained healthy on the back of an improved rent to turnover of 7.9% (2021: 8.6%) as well as a 16.8% and 9.6% increase in trading densities and footfalls respectively.
EPRA vacancy rate stood at 4.3% (2021: 3.6%) mainly related to boxes that were pre-let with postponed trading due to supply chain issues.
Some 22,383m2 were renewed (17% of GLA) at a rent reversion rate of 5.6% against a standard escalation of 5.0%.
The bulk concerns the 5 year renewals at Bagatelle Mall with some 15,441 m2 renewed at a rent reversion rate of 7.4% performance led to a total dividend payout of Rs 439m this year vs Rs 312m last year.
Hereunder the comments by Ascencia:
Major Events
- Key milestones were completed during the year and should create sustainable value for the Group.
- The refinancing of existing debt.
- The migration from the DEM to the Official Market of the SEM and subsequent inclusion in theSEM-10 and SEMSI have enhanced the share liquidity by 2.5X to a daily average traded of Rs1.1m compared to pre-SEM listing.
- The subsidiaries were amalgamated into Ascencia, the holding entity, with effective date 01 July2022.
- Ascencia launched its new digital operations platform, Infraspeak, in August 2021, whichcontributes towards the objective of achieving operational excellence.
Outlook
Ascencia said it is on track regarding the major projects, namely:
- Completion of the Integrated metro station, the opening of the metro market, and the uplifting of the food court in Phoenix Mall;
- Bagatelle Extension Phase 3 – welcoming of hardware shop, home decoration and fashion brand with an additional GLA of 1,500m2; and
- Construction of a Biogas farm at Bagatelle Mall.
