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Fascinating cautionary from PSG Group [JSE:PSG] -controlled investment company Paladin Capital [JSE:PLD] confirming its board had decided to proceed with the listing of private education venture Curro Holdings. While the Curro developments are pretty much old hat at this stage, the more intriguing admission was that Paladin “is considering other corporate actions…”
Paladin’s listing of Curro on the AltX and last year’s sale of its major stake in specialist distribution business CIC Holdings [JSE:CCI] are both fairly big transactions – which leads theSPECtacle to believe the company might again be looking at something on a fairly grand scale.
But what?
We might speculate Paladin may look at bargains in the building/construction sector, which might even prompt a decision to lump its various “infrastructure” investments (Erbacon, Pre-Crete Nozala, Top Fix) into a single listing.
If theSPECtacle was inclined to bet on an outcome, its money would be on a separate listing for 49% held empowerment associate Thembeka Capital on the AltX. After all, it does seem a little cumbersome to have an empowerment investment company tucked away in a private equity contender.
Containing change
THE SPECTACLE notes Hennie van der Merwe – a low profile but highly capable executive – has stepped down as MD of Trencor, the Cape Town-based company that owns a controlling stake in New York Stock Exchange-listed container business Textainer.
Van der Merwe now takes the role of “part-time” executive director – a title Trencor should patent, having previously applied it to another Trencor director, Cecil Jowell.
As a holding company with essentially a single operating asset it probably doesn’t make sense to retain the position of MD, as there’s not really much to manage outside the investment in Textainer (which is doing just fine, by the way).
Of course, more excitable investors – especially after the recent collapsing of the Mobile pyramid holding structure – might regard Van der Merwe’s positional switch as further evidence that Trencor might consider unbundling its stake in Textainer to shareholders.
Wearne number-cruncher
THE APPOINTMENT of Rob Devereux as CEO of building supplies conglomerate WG Wearne [JSE:WEA] has reinforced a rather wonky share price. Early in April Wearne’s price touched an all-time low of 10c/share, but since Devereux’s appointment in mid-April the stock has taken a far firmer tone.
Turnarounds in family businesses are notoriously difficult (remember MAS Holdings?), as various legacy issues can often preclude the implementation of pragmatic programmes toward profitability. In other words, it’s good to have an outsider at the tiller…
TheSPECtacle suspects what the market also likes is that the new CEO is a number-cruncher – and probably the fact that this chartered accountant has been involved in (as the Sens announcement states) “numerous successful turnarounds”.
Royal cash flows
TALKING OF turnarounds, theSPECtacle was encouraged to see Uitenhage-based poultry group Sovereign Food Investments [JSE:SOV] is showing signs of a full recovery (which must be a huge relief for a couple of institutional shareholders who backed two recent rights issues).
There were all kinds of good things to report: sales volumes up, earnings (off a low base) soaring and gearing ratcheted down. Nice… But without a doubt the standout achievement was cash flow from operations increasing 42% to 341c/share. That’s hopefully a sign the heavy investment undertaken by Sovereign over recent years (and the reason for the group being tightly geared) is starting to pay off.
Obviously, a number of external issues (the strength of the rand, feed prices and even interest rates) will still have a huge influence on Sovereign, but as long as the lifeblood of the business is pumping strongly then hopes of a resumed dividend can still be kindled.
Fascinating cautionary from PSG Group [JSE:PSG] -controlled investment company Paladin Capital [JSE:PLD] confirming its board had decided to proceed with the listing of private education venture Curro Holdings. While the Curro developments are pretty much old hat at this stage, the more intriguing admission was that Paladin “is considering other corporate actions…”
Paladin’s listing of Curro on the AltX and last year’s sale of its major stake in specialist distribution business CIC Holdings [JSE:CCI] are both fairly big transactions – which leads theSPECtacle to believe the company might again be looking at something on a fairly grand scale.
But what?
We might speculate Paladin may look at bargains in the building/construction sector, which might even prompt a decision to lump its various “infrastructure” investments (Erbacon, Pre-Crete Nozala, Top Fix) into a single listing.
If theSPECtacle was inclined to bet on an outcome, its money would be on a separate listing for 49% held empowerment associate Thembeka Capital on the AltX. After all, it does seem a little cumbersome to have an empowerment investment company tucked away in a private equity contender.
Containing change
THE SPECTACLE notes Hennie van der Merwe – a low profile but highly capable executive – has stepped down as MD of Trencor, the Cape Town-based company that owns a controlling stake in New York Stock Exchange-listed container business Textainer.
Van der Merwe now takes the role of “part-time” executive director – a title Trencor should patent, having previously applied it to another Trencor director, Cecil Jowell.
As a holding company with essentially a single operating asset it probably doesn’t make sense to retain the position of MD, as there’s not really much to manage outside the investment in Textainer (which is doing just fine, by the way).
Of course, more excitable investors – especially after the recent collapsing of the Mobile pyramid holding structure – might regard Van der Merwe’s positional switch as further evidence that Trencor might consider unbundling its stake in Textainer to shareholders.
Wearne number-cruncher
THE APPOINTMENT of Rob Devereux as CEO of building supplies conglomerate WG Wearne [JSE:WEA] has reinforced a rather wonky share price. Early in April Wearne’s price touched an all-time low of 10c/share, but since Devereux’s appointment in mid-April the stock has taken a far firmer tone.
Turnarounds in family businesses are notoriously difficult (remember MAS Holdings?), as various legacy issues can often preclude the implementation of pragmatic programmes toward profitability. In other words, it’s good to have an outsider at the tiller…
TheSPECtacle suspects what the market also likes is that the new CEO is a number-cruncher – and probably the fact that this chartered accountant has been involved in (as the Sens announcement states) “numerous successful turnarounds”.
Royal cash flows
TALKING OF turnarounds, theSPECtacle was encouraged to see Uitenhage-based poultry group Sovereign Food Investments [JSE:SOV] is showing signs of a full recovery (which must be a huge relief for a couple of institutional shareholders who backed two recent rights issues).
There were all kinds of good things to report: sales volumes up, earnings (off a low base) soaring and gearing ratcheted down. Nice… But without a doubt the standout achievement was cash flow from operations increasing 42% to 341c/share. That’s hopefully a sign the heavy investment undertaken by Sovereign over recent years (and the reason for the group being tightly geared) is starting to pay off.
Obviously, a number of external issues (the strength of the rand, feed prices and even interest rates) will still have a huge influence on Sovereign, but as long as the lifeblood of the business is pumping strongly then hopes of a resumed dividend can still be kindled.
