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Chinese boost for Venfin

Sep 01 2008 16:17 Marc Hasenfuss*

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Cape Town - Unlisted technology group VenFin, which is controlled by the Rupert family, received a R450m boost from its investment in Nasdaq listed Chinese media company VisionChina Media.

On Monday VenFin - which holds largely technology investments - reported a 7% rise in net asset (NAV) to 3000c/share for the year to end June 2008.

The rise in NAV was mainly attributable to VenFin's growing cash pile and its investment in VisionChina, which saw investment value rise from R35m in at the end of June 2007 to R485m.

VisonChina specialises in supplying advertising space on LCD televisions installed on busses and trains in china.

The rise in value in VisionChina follows the group's listing in December 2007 on the Nasdaq, where the group raised $108m by offering shares at $8/share.

On 30 June 2008 VisionChina's closing price was $15.87 - which explains the marked jump in value in Venfin's investment. VenFin holds 6.1% of VisionChina.

VenFin's biggest holdings remains its 25.4% stake in Dimension Data, which grew in value to nearly R2.4bn. VenFin's stakes in free-to-air television station E-tv (Sabido) and vehicle recovery specialist Tracker also shifted up to R1.27bn and R685m respectively.

VenFin's stake in undersea cable specialist SEACOM was valued at R264m, while the other major constituent of VenFin's NAV - cash - was stated at almost R1.7bn.

In terms of earnings, it was Didata that really kicked bottom line growth with a donation of R122m (previously R44m), while E-tv and Tracker chipped in R85m and R48m respectively. VenFin also earned R85m in interest off its cash pile.

Overall earnings were up 15% to R268m, which prompted a 20% hike in the dividend to 36c/share.

* The writer holds shares in VenFin

- Fin24.com

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