Related Articles
Top Stories
May 25 2012 13:58
The costs of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project have increased significantly to almost R90bn, according to a report.
May 24 2012 17:31
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, and a considerable reduction in the local petrol price is anticipated, says governor Gill Marcus.
May 25 2012 11:36
The JSE has identified and stopped "incorrect" trades from one of its members, and will reverse the trades and lower the session's total value after the close.
Johannesburg - AltX-listed financial services firm African Dawn has seen its share price come under heavy selling pressure in the last week after announcing useful results. Management attributes the decline to overseas investors exiting their positions.
Marius van Tonder, CEO of African Dawn explains: "We have seen one British and one US shareholder decide to exit their holdings in African Dawn and this has driven the share price down."
African Dawn's share price has lost 26% (142c) since September 10 after touching a high of 532c. By mid-afternoon on Monday, the share was trading at 390c (down 13.3%) with approximately R7.8m worth of trade.
Van Tonder believes that both shareholders began exiting their positions last Tuesday and he estimates that they have now shed the majority of their holding. This should allay some of the selling pressure.
While not able to speak on behalf of the shareholders, van Tonder said that recent share price action is possibly a result of world equity market conditions rather than problems within African Dawn.
Global markets have been under enormous pressure lately as several financial institutions in the US and Europe have failed, leading to major declines in the stock markets.
Sound underlying business
Van Tonder believes that the company remains sound despite the problems faced in the global credit and capital markets.
Earlier this month, African Dawn released its interim results for the six-month period to end-August 2008. The company reported that revenue had increased by 415% to R307 million and earnings per share by 175% to 43 cents. "We're in a pretty good position and we anticipate that our full year results will surpass last year's results."
In the previous financial year, African Dawn reported a 275% increase in headline earnings.
African Dawn comprises two core revenue streams: structured business finance and small-scale home improvement and personal finance loans. These businesses are highly dependent on the company's ability to access affordable funding to meet its lending commitments.
Van Tonder confirmed that the company currently had sufficient funding in place and was not seeking any additional resources. Changes in the global credit environment would not affect these sources of funding nor the rate at which they lent.
In the pocket
While African Dawn may be operationally sound, the directors may be sweating a little.
A number of the directors have been active in the futures market speculating on the African Dawn share price continuing to rise.
In late August, deputy CEO Johnny Ramasehla, took a R3m single-stock futures (SSFs) punt on the company at 513c. At the current share price Ramasehla is out of pocket around R740 000.
Financial director Connie van Nieuwkerk is also down around R500 000 on futures contracts entered into between July and September.
Van Tonder himself has also been active taking on a mixture of SSF contracts and ordinary shares with the African Dawn share price at around 440c.
- Fin24.com