The distributions of listed property loan stock company Resilient Property Income Fund have surged 19,71% to 67,97c a linked unit for the six months to June, compared with those of the previous corresponding period.

Resilient MD Des de Beer attributed the strong growth to the company’s “pipeline” of newly developed shopping malls it had been acquiring at earnings-enhancing yields, as well as the performance of the existing property portfolio.

He said on Wednesday that Resilient did not distribute share trading or property trading profit.

De Beer said it had acquired new shopping malls at yields of 10% and had been funding them by selling down its investments in listed property stocks at yields of below 7,5%.

“This (exercise) is very yield-enhancing,” he said.

Resilient received the full benefits of its acquisition of interests in the newly developed Jabulani Mall in Soweto and Highveld Mall in Witbank.

De Beer said that last year Resilient had the benefit of only one month of trading at Jabulani Mall, which opened in November.

This year Resilient received the full benefit of six months of trading from Jabulani. Resilient owns 55% of Jabulani.

The Highveld Mall, in which Resilient owns 60%, came on board in April this year. “We’ve had two months of earnings from Highveld Mall feeding through to the results,” he said.

Resilient’s property portfolio is valued at R2,45 billion. The portfolio will be revalued only at year-end.

Resilient’s investment in listed property stocks is valued at R800 million and the company’s market capitalisation is just under R4 billion.

Extensions to existing developments have also boosted Resilient’s bottom line. The company said the extensions to Mvusuludzo Mall in Thohoyandou were completed on schedule in April this year and the mall was trading well.

It said a further extension to accommodate a Pick ’n Pay Family Store was in progress.

Resilient said the 5500m² gross lettable area extension to Tzaneng Mall in Tzaneen was on schedule for completion in September next year.

Extensions to the company’s Diamond Pavilion shopping centre in Kimberley to accommodate Hi-Fi Corporation, and to The Crossing in Mokopane, to accommodate Nedbank, were completed on schedule and within budget.

De Beer said Resilient was “positive” about future earnings growth because it had a “strong pipeline” of new developments that would be coming on stream.

“And we will continue to sell down listed holdings to fund them,” he said.

Keillen Ndlovu, listed-property analyst at Stanlib, said Resilient had delivered a “solid set of results”.

Ndlovu said this had been achieved through management that had been pro-active with high-yielding acquisitions, extensions and developments in areas that had been starved of quality retail centres.

He said that over 78% of Resilient’s leases expired in 2010 and beyond.

“This bodes well in a shaky interest rate environment. The huge pipeline of developments, and the recent acquisitions that haven’t fully reflected in the numbers bode well for Resilient going forward,” said Ndlovu.