Plaza Retail REIT T.PLZ.UN

CEO Message

[Predator2018]

Globe says for Plaza Retail boss, now's the time to buy 2020-03-20 08:58 ET - In the News The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that as stock markets were plunging this week, Michael Zakuta calmly bought back shares of his own real estate company. The Globe's John Heinzl quotes Mr. Zakuta saying Wednesday: "I bought today and I bought yesterday. I'm confident we'll look back and say, 'Wow, what a great buying opportunity this was.'" Mr. Zakuta is in a better position to judge the current crisis than most. As chief executive officer of Plaza Retail REIT, which operates primarily open-air retail centres in eight provinces, he has an insider's view of how novel coronavirus fears and social distancing measures are affecting business at Plaza and other REITs. Customer traffic has definitely slowed, he said, and some mom-and-pop retailers may need rent deferrals to get through the crisis. However, for the big chain stores that make up the vast majority of Plaza's tenants -- such as Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, Dollarama, Canadian Tire and Sobeys -- business is carrying on and Plaza sees no interruption to rental income. Yet Plaza's units are down 33 per cent from their high. "I just don't get it," Mr. Zakuta said of the huge drop in Plaza's unit price. "We think we have a really solid business."