Centum Real Estate Limited has reported a consolidated profit of Sh650 million for the year ended March 31 2021, driven by profit from residential units, sales development rights, and gains on investment properties.
Residential units recorded sale deposits of Sh1.8 billion in the year, a 20% increase from Sh1.5 billion recorded in the previous year. In September 2020, Centum Investment Company reorganised its real estate business by consolidating its entire real estate holdings, with the exception of its 58% interest in Two Rivers Development Limited, under Centum Real Estate Limited as the holding company.
“The effect of Covid-19 containment measures was an initial slowdown in residential unit sales in the first quarter of the financial year and operational disruptions in some of our sites, particularly in Uganda, but this changed in subsequent quarters and our average monthly cash collections have increased by 73% compared to the pre-Covid period,” noted the Centum Real Estate Managing Director, Samuel Kariuki.
Pre-sell target
Centum Real Estate had cumulatively sold 1,281 residential units with a total sale value of Sh11.5 billion as at March 31 2021, representing 63% of the total units either completed, under construction or under market validation The company is now also the holding entity of four subsidiaries namely Vipingo Development Limited, Centum Development Kenya Limited, Uhuru Heights Limited and Pearl Marina Estates Limited, domiciled in Uganda.
It completed the construction of two projects in Vipingo and Uganda, in addition to launching three new projects in Nairobi. Two of the new projects attained the pre-set market validation threshold of 30% and their construction has commenced. In the sales-led development model, Centum Real Estate seeks to pre-sell at least 30% of a project phase before ground-breaking.
