International markets are firmly focused on the state of play around geo-political events (Brexit and NATO) and the continued fall-out from the US / China trade war.
Here is a summary of some of the interesting news from the small and mid-cap sectors on the JSE on Thursday:
Esor slides
Shares in construction group Esor closed down 12% in Wednesday trade to close at 7c share. Directors in the company disposed of over 4m shares that had vested in terms of the employee share plan.
Hendry continues to buy
Argent CEO Treve Hendry continued to acquire shares in the business. The company announced via SENS that Hendry had acquired a further 30 000 shares at R3.82/share. Argent is flat year to date and trades on a forward price to earnings multiple of 5 and offers a historic dividend yield of 5%.
RB Plats announces new CFO
Royal Bafokeng Platinum has announced that Investec portfolio manager Hanre Rossouw will join the company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective 1 October 2018.
Pan African Resources provides market update
Gold mining group Pan African Resources provided an operational update to the market. The company indicated that it was slightly ahead on production and construction targets for its assets. Shares in the company rose 1.47% on the day.
Lewis group down
Shares in retail operator Lewis Group were down 6.8% on the day. The company disclosed that operations director Rinus Oliphant had sold just over R700 000 in shares at around R32/share.
New lows still being touched
Liquidity continues to be a constraint for the small and mid-cap sector resulting in wide price swings intra-day. The following shares all traded at new 52-week lows during the course of Thursday trade: Gold Brand Investments, Niveus, Ayo Technologies, Taste Holdings, Blackstar, Esor, Super Group and Blue Label Telecoms.
DAWN rises sharply on thin volumes
Shares in industrial group Distribution and Warehousing (DAWN) were up 22.5% with 5000 shares trading at 49c/share. The company released fully year results after the market closed. In his commentary to shareholders, CEO Edwin Hewitt said: “Our results, albeit considerably better than last year, are worse than anticipated and disappointing, especially in light of all the hard work that was done by my management teams and every employee in the group over the year.”
Adrenna share price jumps
Shares in Adrenna Property Group rose 9.5% with just over 1m shares changing hands. Adrenna is up 23% in the last 12 months.
Wilderness gets new shareholder
Listed African tourism group Wilderness Holdings announced that social impact investment fund manager “The Rise Fund” had become a major shareholder taking on 34% of the shares in issue. A further 24% of the of the company was acquired by Africa Wildlife Holdings, an affiliate of FS Investors – a US based private equity company. Shares in Wilderness are down 7% year to date.
