South Africa's Redefine Properties on Monday reported a 16% jump in full-year earnings, as the commercial landlord continued its recovery after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions.

Redefine's headline earnings per share, rose to 83.80 cents in the year ended on Aug. 31, up from 72.27 cents a year earlier. Its distributable income per share, the primary measure of underlying financial performance in the listed property sector, rose by 1.4% to 53.71 cents, it said.

The Centurion Mall owner said total group revenue increased by 11.3%, due to the acquisition of a controlling stake in Poland's largest retail landlord, EPP, offset by negative rental reversions - when a tenant pays a lower rental on a lease than they did before - and disposal activities.

The company that owns office, retail and industrial properties valued at 88.9 billion rand ($4.95 billion) said although the operating environment remains challenging, there are encouraging signs of recovery.

"The retail portfolio recovery continues to improve, supported by the increase in footfall at the various malls. Hard hit category retailers such as restaurants, health and beauty, cinemas and travel agents continue to trade below pre COVID-19 pandemic levels as consumer spend is focused on essentials and value items," Redefine said.

The oversupply of office space continues to place pressure on office vacancies and rental rates, however, Redefine has experienced good demand for quality rated office buildings, it said.

The active South African portfolio vacancy rate decreased to 6.7% from 7.1% last year, as vacancies in retail and industrial were down, while office vacancy rate rose to 14.4% from 12.9%.

On the Polish market, where Redefine owns 46.5% in ELI logistics and 95.5% in EPP, it said the economy is robust and should be able to withstand the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine. ($1 = 17.9690 rand) (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Rashmi Aich)