Delta Property Fund to hold on to dividend due to Covid-19

Delta Property Fund, which has a mostly government tenant base, has opted to hold on to its dividend for its year to end-February due to uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group said in a trading update that distributable earnings per share for the year to end-February will be 37%-40% lower than the prior financial year’s 73.84c, and the group is seeking to be cautious amid Covid-19 uncertainty.

The group, which has about 714-million shares in issue, had previously paid a final dividend of 15.99c per share.

The group had a property portfolio of R11.3bn as of end-August, with national government departments its largest tenant category by revenue, followed by provincial government departments.

The group has previously said its state client base had helped it in terms of collection. On May 13, it said it had collected 73.8% of its April 2020 billing, with a further 21.3% expected to be collected once departments officially return to work.