Spearhead CEO Mike Flax attributed the improvement to lower finance costs and higher occupancy levels in the property portfolio.

Spearhead announced a distribution of 160c a linked unit, up from 142c last year.

Colin Young, fund manager of Old Mutual's South African-listed property funds, said the distribution was in line with his expectations.

"Spearhead is coming off a low base because it's a small company, but having said that, it is still an outstanding performance and bodes well for the future," said Young.

The value of Spearhead's property portfolio, including joint ventures, now exceeds R600-million.

Flax said the return on Spearhead's linked units since 2000 was on average a compounded 27% a year. The company's unit price was more than R16, representing growth of 260% over four years.

Basic earnings a linked unit jumped to 441,55c from 137,41c last year. Flax said this was influenced by a R58-million unrealised fair-value adjustment in the property portfolio.

Spearhead said the company was budgeting growth in earnings and distributions a linked unit at levels in line with past performance .