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TheSPECtacle

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Cooking with gas

TheSPECtacle thought his eyes were deceiving him when perusing a story on Brait and Premier Foods. Listed as one of the senior executives at Premier Foods, was Tjaart Kruger. Surely not the Tjaart Kruger who recently indicated he’d resign as CEO of the suddenly-rather-deflated gas business, Afrox?

A bit of checking confirmed it was indeed the Tjaart Kruger, who will now be serving as CEO of Premier’s operational company “responsible for baking and milling as well as organic growth”.

Kruger, we know, served at Tiger Brands before he was brought on board Afrox with a brief to reorganise and modernise the company to “reflect the realities of doing business in today’s challenging economic environment”.

Afrox shareholders – accustomed to steady stuff from their beloved company – no doubt have found the realities of Kruger’s tenure a tad harsh.

Hopefully Brait – the major shareholder at Premier – finds Kruger still has some tiger left in his tank.

Highly-strung quartet

TheSPECtacle has been monitoring Sens for news of the annual report of RECM & Calibre (RACP), the preference share-based investment vehicle.

Now, and completely by chance, TheSPECtacle – perusing a possible personal investment – happened on RACP on a shareholders’ register for a company that would not normally fit the institutional investor bill. With our good friends at McGregor BFA having a convenient tool to drill down into shareholdings, TheSPECtacle was rather taken aback to see McGregor BFA’s feed suggesting RACP held small positions in Amecor, Conduit Capital, Infrasors and Silverbridge at end-June.

Those are hardly stocks for widows and orphans, although each stock isn’t without intrigue. Damn, hurry up with that annual report.

Speculative seas conspire

FINWEEK – always long on speculation – has already cited Grindrod [JSE:GND] as a possible rival suitor for fruit exporting and logistics company Capespan (where PSG-owned Zeder is fast securing a dominant position). Well, TheSPECtacle notes Grindrod’s decision to sell its fruit, veg and fish exporter – Grindrod PCA – to Lonrho Africa for R50m.

Outlining its decision to snap up Grindrod PCA, Lonrho says it’s seeing increasing demand from global retail chains in the United States, Europe and the Far East for fresh produce from southern Africa. That’s no lie. The company is now set to supply local hake to Walmart in the US through its Oceanfresh subsidiary.

While Grindrod PCA does most of its business by air, TheSPECtacle wonders if the acquisitive Lonrho has taken a peek at Capespan’s profitable logistics arm. In truth, it’s probably too late – although anything’s possible at Capespan with PSG involved.

And Lonrho will probably be cautious about the high seas, having previously burnt its fingers in a short-lived investment in SA Independent Liners in 2007.

Rescue me

THIS BUSINESS RESCUE business is pretty new to the market, but TheSPECtacle already notes two listed companies – junior miner Miranda and debt-laden golf estate developer Pinnacle Point – the subject of such court applications.

Though the Pinnacle Point application – brought by well-known Cape businessman Sybrand van der Spuy under Cape Point Vineyards – is long overdue, shareholders in Miranda may have been a tad taken aback that a former CEO (and alleged creditor), Ron Nel, has served a business rescue application. The validity of the Miranda matter will be known next week, when the company will oppose the application in court.

TheSPECtacle wonders – with so many small cap companies looking brittle – whether business rescue won’t become more commonplace on the JSE landscape. Whether that’s going to be good for shareholders or not is debatable. However, as in the instance of Pinnacle Point such applications could bring a much-needed sense of reality to deluded situations. 
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