Listed property loan stock Orion Real Estate, formerly Alpina Investments, had set its sights on acquiring further properties to increase its portfolio to more than R400m in the short term, the group said on Monday.

The planned acquisitions are part of Orion's short-term investment strategy to create a property portfolio of "significant" critical mass through acquisition of high-yielding properties.

In the six months to December, Orion reported a loss of R1,5m. The group's operating profit fell from the previous R6,9m to R3,4m.

It attributed the decrease in operating profit to the disposal of properties in the previous year.

The headline loss was 5,62c a linked unit. The loss in the previous corresponding period was 15,36c a unit. Revenue fell from the previous R15,2m to R10,2m.

The company did not make any distributions in the six months under review.

Orion was in discussions with various companies to introduce an empowerment partner. Negotiations would affect ownership, control, skills developmen,. procurement and investment in "undeveloped" areas.

Last month's launch of the property empowerment charter was is likely to increase the number of empowerment deals in the industry, widely seen as lagging behind in transformation.

Orion's units on the JSE closed unchanged at 35c a unit yesterday.

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Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge