Nampak is about to bank another disposal (JSE: NPK)

Here’s yet more good news for the Nampak turnaround

Back in November last year, Nampak announced the disposal of the I&CS business, which operates in the industrial inkjet printing, laser marking and case coding space. The disposal price is R142.5 million, so that’s a handy additional source of funds for the ongoing Nampak turnaround.

The good news is that things seem to have moved quickly, with Competition Commission approval having been obtained. The implementation (and thus payment date) is 28 February.

A tasty jump in HEPS at RCL Foods (JSE: RCL)

This is despite pressure on volumes in various categories

RCL Foods has released a trading statement dealing with the six months to December 2024. They expect HEPS to jump by between 31.2% and 38.6% for total operations. Purely looking at continuing operations (which is the better way to do it), the increase is even better. They expect it to be between 34.5% and 42.1% higher, which means HEPS from continuing operations will be between 106 cents and 112 cents.

The market loved this, with the share price closing nearly 13% higher on the day!

Although there was pressure on volumes in most of the Groceries and Baking categories, there were various initiatives around sales mix and input costs that did the heavy lifting and took the numbers deep into the green. The Sugar side of the business also did well despite a demanding base period, assisted by a partial recovery of the additional levy raised by the South African Sugar Associated after Tongaat and Gledhow stopped paying their obligatory amounts.

Detailed results are expected on 3rd March.

Nibbles:

• Director dealings:
  • Acting through Titan Premier Investments, Christo Wiese bought R496k worth of Brait ordinary shares (JSE: BAT).
  • The CEO of KAL Group (JSE: KAL) bought shares worth R190k.
  • The CFO of Stefanutti Stocks (JSE: SSK) has bought shares worth R97.5k.

• Netcare (JSE: NTC) is struggling to get its succession plan executed at CEO level. The candidate they had identified for the CEO position is unable to assume the role as planned due to contractual obligations. Based on this, Dr. Friedland is staying on as CEO until the end of September 2026, which feels like a particularly long extension. They need to start from scratch in finding a replacement.

• In further management surprises, there’s been a change of plan at Gold Fields (JSE: GFI) regarding the new CFO. Phillip Murnane is no longer able to join the company due to “personal reasons” – this has therefore allowed Alex Dall to take the post of permanent CFO after serving as interim CFO since April 2024. It seems they’ve now done the right thing, which is to appoint internal talent unless there’s an extremely compelling reason to do something different.

• Sirius Real Estate (JSE: SRE) had a rather modest uptake of its dividend reinvestment plan. On the UK register, holders of only 0.18% of total shares elected to receive shares instead of a cash dividend. On the South African register, it was at least a bit higher at 3.18% of total shareholders. Still, with the share price down 14% in the past year, shareholders aren’t exactly jostling to the front to get more shares.

• Telemasters (JSE: TLM) has been trading under cautionary based on a potential change of control after a B-BBEE company approached the two largest shareholders with a non-binding expression of interest. This has subsequently been withdrawn, with the excuse being delays to regulatory processes. Either way, that deal is off the table for now. Separately, Telemasters is in the process of looking at a substantial potential acquisition that would require shareholder approval. They have renewed the cautionary announcement in respect of this deal and a further announcement is expected later this month.