- Afrimat has released results for the year ended February 2022. Yet again, this group has managed to deliver an excellent performance. Revenue increased by 26.7%, headline earnings per share (HEPS) was up 22.9% and the return on net operating assets was 33%. The group achieved volume growth at a time of attractive iron ore pricing and the benefits are clear to see. It certainly helps that all three group segments contributed strongly to growth. The share price traded slightly lower today and is 2.8% down this year. Over the past 12 months, the share price is up nearly 20%. I covered the results in detail here.
- Massmart fell 5.9% after releasing a sales update for the 19 week period ended 8th May 2022. After US retail stocks took a hammering this week, I’m quite surprised it didn’t drop further. Massmart has lost a whopping 39% of its value this year as the group struggles to compete in a difficult South African market. This sales update reflects like-for-like sales growth of just 2.3% vs. the same period last year. For continued operations only (i.e. excluding Cambridge, Rhino and Massfresh), comparable store sales growth was 3.9%. The growth on that metric is 3.1% vs, the same period in 2019 before the world broke, so even Massmart’s core businesses have largely traded sideways during the pandemic. I wrote about the results here and I didn’t hold back.
- Investec delivered its year end results presentation on Thursday, with the key point being that adjusted earnings per share is now ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Return on equity still has some way to go, coming in at 11.4% in FY22 vs. 12% in FY19. The cost to income ratio for the latest financial year is 63.3%. The South African bank’s loan book was up just 3.9% in this period, reflecting limited credit demand from the bank’s wealthy clients. To give you a flavour of the group exposures, 56% of adjusted operating profit is from Southern Africa and the rest is in the UK and Other. 76% of adjusted operating profit is earned by the Specialist Bank division and 17% is earned by Wealth & Investment. The rest sits in Group Investments. Learn more about Investec by referring to the results presentation at this link.
- BHP announced that the shareholders of Woodside Petroleum have approved the substantial deal that merges Woodside with BHP’s oil and gas portfolio. This is an all-stock merger but most South African shareholders of BHP will be paid out in cash when the Woodside shares are unbundled, as Woodside will sadly not be listing on the JSE.
- UK community shopping centre REIT Capital & Regional held its AGM and used the opportunity to update the market on its operations. Footfall for the four months to April 2022 was 76% of the level seen in the equivalent period in 2019, so there’s still a long way to go. The group believes that market sentiment has improved towards non-discretionary community centres, which would typically offer a convenience grocery store as the anchor. Through a lease with the NHS for a community healthcare centre, the group is experimenting with new strategies around community property needs. Occupancy at the end of April was 93%. The share price is 9% lower year-to-date.
- Netcare released a trading statement for the six months ended March, in which it guided that HEPS would be between 19% and 21% higher and adjusted HEPS would be 28% to 30% higher. Adjusted HEPS takes out impacts like hedge accounting, fair value gains on derivatives, loan impairments and tax rate changes.
- Frontier Transport Holdings, formerly called Hosken Passenger Logistics and Rail, has released a strong trading statement for the year to March 2022. HEPS will be 21% to 36% higher, coming in at between 85 cents and 95 cents. At R5 per share, the Price/Earnings multiple is around 5.5x. The group owns various transport businesses including Golden Arrow Bus Services.
- Renergen has been a favourite of retail investors in recent times and has released its financial statements for the year ended February 2022. The value of the company sits in the future potential of the Virginia project, not in the current numbers. You can quickly see this by noting that this R4.5 billion market cap company recognised just R2.6 million in revenue in FY22! The share price is still 3.3% up year-to-date, holding up well amid the market chaos.
- Vunani Limited released a trading statement for the year ended February 2022 that seems to tell a much better story for shareholders. HEPS will be between 34 cents and 35.4 cents, a massive increase on 7.2 cents in the prior period. The stock is highly illiquid and is down 12.8% this year.
- Des de Beer (via entities linked to him) is buying up even more shares in Lighthouse Properties, with the latest acquisition being worth R6.6 million.
- A non-executive director of Balwin Properties has bought just over R400k worth of shares in the company.
- Value Capital Partners has acquired nearly R3.4 million worth of shares in education group ADvTECH.
- If you are an Irongate Group shareholder, you should know that the Australian property fund is under offer from Charter Hall after attracting interest from a number of suitors. Deloitte has opined that the offer from Charter Hall is both fair and reasonable, so the board has recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the offer. The scheme meeting is scheduled for 29th June and the detailed scheme booklet (which we would call a circular to shareholders in South Africa) is available at this link.
- AYO Technology has released a trading statement for the six months ended February 2022. The headline loss per share has worsened by between 34.4% and 54.4%. With the share price down 92% over the past 5 years, I’m sure the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) must be thrilled to see another loss. Not.
- Chairman of Tongaat Hulett, Louis von Zeuner, will not be making himself available for re-election at the next AGM due to “personal circumstances” – he has also resigned from the board effective from 30 June 2022. Lead independent non-executive director David Noko has been appointed as interim chairman.
- Globe Trade Centre, an Eastern European property fund listed in Warsaw and on the JSE, released a quarterly update. Rental revenue and Funds From Operations (FFO – the key measure for REITs) both increased year-on-year. The net loan-to-value ratio is 43% and a dividend has been declared thanks to a strong cash position.
- enX Group has confirmed that the closing date to accept the R5.60 per share mandatory offer is Friday 3 June at 12pm, just in case you were planning a last minute Friday afternoon decision. With the share price trading at R8.30, I’m not expecting a rush through the door to take it.
