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The Spectacle

Art for art’s sake

Finweek is certain the ears of many KWV shareholders would have pricked up at the news an Irma Stern painting sold for R34m on auction in London last week. Aside from its sprawling properties and brand stocks, KWV’s art collection was one of the so-called heritage assets that caught the eye when the asset register came under scrutiny during the recent Pioneer Foods takeover bid.

Aside from valuable paintings by Cecil Skotnes, Maggie Laubser and Gregoire Boonzaier, there was an Irma Stern that reportedly so enchanted the late (great) Anton Rupert that the Rembrandt founder apparently left a blank cheque with KWV. If KWV’s Stern could fetch anything near R30m, the price tag would represent a value that was three times more than the profit from continuing operations shown by the company in its half-year to end-December 2010.

Finweek wonders what KWV’s new shareholder of reference Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI, a company known not to endure corporate frills) thinks of having so much capital hanging on a wall…

A very marked man...

WHAT IS IT with Verimark and financial directors? We note that Siegfried Preller has again assumed the role as temporary FD at the specialist retailer following the resignation of Jeremy Thomas, who served less than 18 months in the key role. Preller, as Finweek recalls, stepped in as temporary FD a few years back in between the resignation of Daniel Reichenberg and the appointment of Mike Warwick.

While it’s probably reassuring to have Preller (who has served Verimark as a financial manager for a number of years) in the FD’s chair, we have to wonder why Verimark – which has made a seemingly strong turnaround operationally – can’t attract or retain a chief number-cruncher.

…and more temping

SPEAKING OF temporary financial directors, Finweek was interested to see the appointment of former Sekunjalo executive Peter van Zyl as temporary FD at struggling crane group SA French, which has been without an FD since mid-2010.

Appointing Van Zyl, an unassuming but very capable fellow, to SA French is perhaps not that surprising. He’s now associated with Afrasia Corporate Finance, which put together (all things considered) a rather inspired re-financing package for SA French a few weeks ago. While SA French would be happy to have a numbers man on board again, Afrasia will be reassured they have a man in the mix. It looks like Afrasia will end up holding a sizeable stake (perhaps as much as 20%) in SA French after agreeing to be an underwriter in a R20m rights issue.

Cautionary fizz

SINCE LISTING in 1987, plastic packaging specialist Bowler Metcalf has hardly been a serial issuer of cautionary notices to shareholders. In fact, Finweek doubts Bowcalf has issued more than a couple of cautionaries in its 24-year tenure on the JSE. So when it does issue a cautionary people tend to sit up and take notice.

As one of the great unsung profit performers of the small cap sector, the first alarmist reaction is that Bowcalf might be mulling an offer to minorities and a delisting. However, a more cheerful bit of speculation would be perhaps about a bulk-up deal for its Quality Beverages, a promising soft drink filling subsidiary that now generates more revenue (but not profit) than its core plastics packaging operation.

All matter of things could be entertained here: A deal with Pioneer Foods (which bottles Pepsi and fruit juices) to a deal with dairy group Clover (which has indicated a willingness to break into the soft-drinks market).

But our deep throats reckon it might be better to temper expectations about Quality Beverages, suggesting the cautionary might well point to something much more mundane. Currently, Bowcalf’s share price concurs…  
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