Prime Time upbeat on prospects for 2018
Property Development Company, Prime Time sees prospects of good returns in 2018 with focus on its retail segment. The company Managing Director Alexander Kelly and Chairman Petronella Matumo said they are looking forward to Pilane Crossing Mall becoming a successful retail centre as tenants have now occupied the space. “In Botswana we look forward to Pilane Crossing becoming a successful retail centre, that it was originally envisaged to be,” states Kelly and Matumo. For its Botswana market, the company started construction at Setlhoa plot with a retail park concept for the home décor and design sector.
Two smaller extensions to existing centres are also underway with a one-shop extension at Sebele Centre and a fast food drive-through at Pilane Crossing where KFC will be opening in early 2018. Kelly and Matumo state in the Company’s 2017 annual report, that things are looking extremely positive for the 2018 financial year with Clicks, Jet, PEP and Ackermans having commenced trading in the final quarter of 2017.
In its year ended August 2017, the company achieved year-on-year increases in both revenues and operating profits before fair value adjustments. Lease revenue grew by 27 percent to P110 million, completed investment property by 34 percent to stand at P1.12 billion and the price per linked unit by four percent to end the year at P3.16.
Kelly and Matumo say the group is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities that may present themselves this year while management team is constantly searching for suitable investments, which will enable them to continue to grow the company and diversify into new markets. “We are pleased with what has been accomplished in the last year and look forward to growing the group further from the platform that has been established,” said Kelly and Matumo. In Zambia the company says demand for space at the newly-acquired Centro Kabulonga mall in Lusaka is strong with a waiting list for space including major regional and national brands. “The results of our geographical diversification into Zambia are now being seen.
“The Zambian operations contributed over 20 percent of the rental income for the current year and over the next few years this will increase significantly,” said Matumo and Kelly.