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# Mall of Africa's landlord had a strong year and is telling investors the next one will be slower
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/attacq-fy2026-results-mall-of-africa-dividend/
- Published: 2026-09-16T03:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-16T02:59:59.000Z
- Description: Attacq lifted its dividend 17.2% and beat its own forecast, then guided investors to roughly half that growth next year.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

Owning a shopping centre is a rent-collection business with a maintenance problem attached, and two numbers decide whether it works: how full the place is, and how much of the rent actually arrives. Attacq, the landlord behind the Mall of Africa and the Waterfall City precinct in Midrand, reported both on Tuesday and both were good. It ended June with 94.9% of its space let, against 91.6% a year earlier, and collected 99.8% of what it billed.

That feeds the number REIT shareholders actually watch, which is the earnings the dividend comes out of. Attacq lifted it 15.5% to 125.1 cents a share, ahead of its own guidance, and pushed the full-year dividend up by a little over a sixth, to 102 cents. The final 54 cents is paid on 12 October.

## The solar panels on the roofs

Rent is only half of a landlord's arithmetic. What it costs to keep the lights on is the other half. Attacq has 18.5MWp of solar installed on its roofs, and those panels now generate 13.7% of all the electricity its buildings use, up from about a tenth a year earlier. That works twice: it cuts the municipal bill, and because tenants are billed for the power they use, more of what Attacq recovers stays in the business. The group also added 5.3 megalitres of backup water storage, including two tanks at the Mall of Africa that give the centre more than five days of supply.

Debt is where listed landlords usually come unstuck, and Attacq carries unusually little of it. Borrowings net of cash sit at 25.0% of the portfolio's value, barely moved on the year, where most South African REITs run at 35% to 40%. Rental profit now covers the interest bill 3.21 times over, and the average rate Attacq pays on its debt has fallen to 8.7%.

## What is going up at Waterfall City

The precinct around the mall is where the money goes next. Development under construction or already approved runs to R2.2 billion, of which Attacq's own share is R1.3 billion. The largest single piece is a hotel and conference centre on the south-eastern corner of the mall, 180 rooms at a cost of R634.3 million, three quarters of it Attacq's through its Waterfall City subsidiary.

Attacq is telling investors not to expect this year again. Its guidance for the year to June 2027 is growth of 6% to 9% in the earnings behind the dividend, well under half what it has just delivered, with the payout ratio easing to 80%. Management is pinning that on rising market rents, tighter costs and letting the space still standing empty, which at the end of June came to nearly 28 000 square metres of office space, concentrated at Waterfall Circle, Magwa View and Brooklyn Bridge Office Park. Filling those is the difference between the top and the bottom of the range.