18 Aug 2017

Local property firm RDC Properties Limited is looking to use some of the existing cash and shares they are currently sitting on to expand their business portfolio through acquiring new business ventures.

RDC executive chairman Mr Guido Giachetti revealed this during the company’s presentation of their half-year results in Gaborone on Tuesday. Mr Giachetti revealed that the company would reinvest some of the funds they have in reserve to acquire more properties, in addition to their existing regional expansion drive which expected to contribute to the company’s portfolio growth.

Mr Giachetti announced that they had made profit from operations of P31.4 per cent, up by six percent, and a profit before tax of P26.3 million which is up by eight percent. 

They company’s investment and property portfolio is now P1.26 billion up by 12 per cent from P1.124 billion in 2016. 

The company’s rental revenue was P43.9 million, up by 5 per cent, with P41.7 million having been posted in 2016. RDC, whose key properties include Masa Square Hotel in Gaborone and Chobe Marina Lodge in Kasane, are working on more developments, including the ICC Flats at Extension 9 in Gaborone, which are currently 60 per cent complete.

“Those flats are located in a prime area, and will deliver 45 well designed new apartments, and they will be a good test case on whether we can be successful with similar residential flats we are planning to build in Tlokweng, where we have another property,” Mr Giachetti revealed.

In terms of their regional prospects, Mr Giachetti revealed that RDC is currently constructing malls in Namibia, at Katima Mulilo, Tsumeb and Grootfontein as well as at Xai Xai in Mozambique.

Mr Giachetting revealed that RDC is working with Choppies on their regional expansion into Namibia and Mozambique, where the new malls being developed would have Choppies as an anchor tenant. RDC Properties South Africa is currently in the process of acquiring a controlling stake in a Cape Town based commercial property portfolio owned by a South African company.

The portfolio consists of a chopping mall, two mixed-use buildings and a parking lot, located in prime areas of Cape Town. ENDS