Only slight drop in Sirius’s April-June rent collection rate

CAPE TOWN – Sirius Real Estate, the operator of branded business parks in Germany, said on Thursday that its cash collection rate on rent and service charges through April to June was 95.9 percent, compared with 98.2 percent for the same period in the prior year.

Commercial property companies around the world have been struggling to collect rents during Covid-19 lockdowns, although rentals from industrial and storage properties have been less affected.

Sirius’ slightly lower collection rate resulted in uncollected rent and service charges for the period of €1.4 million (R28.75m), of which €212 000 related to insolvency cases, the company said in an update yesterday. Many of its tenants returned to work in June and July.

With its significant cash resources, Sirius was also actively seeking new acquisitions, said chief executive Andrew Coombs.

A third phase of Sirius’ Covid-19 response involved actively assisting tenants to operating on a business as usual basis, while working, where required, to adapt to changes in their space requirements.