Retailers facing brunt of Covid-19 hit

CAPE TOWN – Retailers were facing the brunt of the Covid-19 virus impact on the business world globally, and it was too early to ascertain the longer-term impact on the industrial and office property sectors, Investec Property Fund (IPF) chief Andrew Wooler said yesterday.

Four real estate investment trusts (REITs)- IPF, intu, Capital & Counties and Stenprop – yesterday updated shareholders how their portfolios were effected by the disruption to consumer spending, closure of borders and travel restrictions as well as the slowdown in economic activity that has followed the pandemic in South Africa and in several developed markets.

Wooler said in a presentation that with most of IPF’s portfolio in retail, mainly in South Africa, management were dealing “hands-on” with the crisis every day, meeting with mostly small and medium sized specialist retail tenants on a one-on-one basis, businesspeople who had already been struggling financially due to the weak economy.

“We are not sure when consumers will return to normal consumption,” he said. “At this stage the office and industrial assets in our portfolio have been marginally affected,” he said.

IPF’s pan-European logistics operations were being affected by border closures and travel restrictions. Many government support programmes had been announced by countries in Europe, and IPF’s participation was being assessed.