South African investors have wanted the group to pay dividends, having been concerned it held too much risk as a pure net asset value (NAV) play.
The company has seen strong NAV and net profit growth in its portfolio in recent months. It listed with the intention of attracting South African investors who wanted to invest in a currency hedge stock.
The company's NAV per share increased 20% during the year to December to 8.62 zloty ($2.18) from 7.21 zloty, financial results released on Monday, 20 March, showed. The group dividends are declared in zloty, while it reports its results in euros.
It achieved a net profit of €160m in 2016, compared with €44m the year before, showing 266% growth.
The GTC group was established in Poland in 1994. GTC, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2004, changed its strategy from development to one of development and asset management in 2015.
It has operations in that country, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria.
It holds land in Ukraine through a subsidiary.
In 2016, GTC increased its income-generating portfolio by expanding its asset base 20% to €1.261bn through investing €140m in value-accretive office properties and the completion of assets. The group's property portfolio is worth €1.624bn. As of 31 December, the group's completed properties in its three most significant markets - Poland, Hungary and Romania - constitute 44%, 17% and 15%, respectively of the total book value of completed properties.
"GTC delivered solid results in 2016, with several value-accretive acquisitions and completions of office projects having contributed significantly to NAV and net operating income growth," CEO Thomas Kurzmann said.
"We will deliver a strong performance over the next years " as our income-generating portfolio will expand and boost rental income through further accretive acquisitions and the completion of development projects," he said.
More than 139,000m2 gross leasable area of retail and office space were under construction. An additional 181,000m2 were at planning stages supported by a strong cash position. Chief financial officer Erez Boniel said GTC was in a position to reward shareholders with a dividend.
Source: Business Day
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