New Shoprite Malls Hit By Recession? ‘Postpones Further Development In Nigeria’

For those who had the hope that the recent expansion of Shoprite Malls, usually associated with convenient shopping, will come to their cities or add new structures closer to them can have a rethink following the recent statements of Des de Beer, the managing director of Resilient. Resilient is a real estate investment trust that owns 60.9 percent of Resilient Africa, a joint venture for the development of malls in Nigeria in partnership with Shoprite Checkers. The company however said that has postponed further development in Nigeria until the country’s economy recovers but was considering other direct investment opportunities to achieve its goal of having up to 50 percent of its total direct and indirect property assets in offshore assets.

Citing the challenges in Nigeria, De Beer said despite an improvement in the oil price, trading conditions in Nigeria remained challenging, largely because of the weak naira and currency controls.

“Rentals remain under pressure. Further developments will be postponed until the economy recovers sufficiently to provide an acceptable return. Results from the Nigeria property portfolio, although relatively small, were disappointing [as 1,8% of properties remained vacant],” he said.