Tuesday trade on the JSE was characterised by a strong sell-off in Emerging Market currencies with the Rand being one of the hardest hit. After rallying at the end of last week to around R12.20 to the US dollar, the Rand sold off breaking through R12.50 to the US dollar.
These are some of the small and mid-cap stories we picked up on Tuesday:
Investec Property funds report growth
The Investec Property Fund (IPF) and Investec Australia Property (IAPF) Funds reported nominal growth when the funds reported full year results for the 12-months ended 31 March 2018. The Australia offering has now reached a milestone of over AUD$1bn in assets while the Investec Property Fund saw an 8.5% increase in dividend per share.
IPF traded down 0.3% while IAPF traded 1% higher.
Datatec bounces
Shares in the JSE-listed technology group were 5% higher. The company announced on the day that its Logicalis subsidiary would acquire Coasin, a Chilean ICT company.
Datatec is still down 14.5% over the past 7 days and is trading near its 12-month low.
Small and mid-cap portfolio manager Keith McLachlan has added an interesting write-up on the Datatec share buyback here –http://smallcaps.co.za/blog/the-coming-great-grand-buy-back/
ISA taking strain
The security-focused technology player saw its shares down 5% (on less than R40 000 of trade) following the announcement that headline earnings are expected to drop sharply when the company reports full-year results for the 12-months.
RH Bophelo does another deal
The listed healthcare player has announced the acquisition of a 30% stake in Rondebosch Medical Centre (RMC). The hospital currently offers 123 beds with potential to go over 200 beds. The facility offers high-care paediatric, maternity and ICU units.
RH Bophelo has extended a R49.8m loan to assist with expansion of operations at this facility.
RHB indicates that RMC has a net asset value of R28.5m and delivers an operating profit of R1.4m.
Rebosis to sell properties
Following a leadership change, Rebosis has indicated it will look to dispose of R888m of properties as the group focuses its efforts on retail operations rather than office premises. According to Sharenet, the analyst consensus forecast for Rebosis was updated to “Buy” on 10 May 2018.
Verimark appoints a chairperson
The company announced that Noluthando Gosa would take over as non-executive chairperson.Shares in the retail operator rose 6.8% (on less than R40 000 of trade)
Mazor warns of economic uncertainty
Listed steel group Mazor saw its operations slump to a headline loss of R926 321 compared to a R47m profit in the previous year. In commentary accompanying the results, the company said: “Looking ahead to the next two years we remain cautious. The economy is not expected to experience any significant relief as a clear direction for government policy has not yet materialised, even post the ANC leadership change. The stronger Rand is further putting pressure on the economy and challenging government’s ability to execute a more balanced economic approach. The prevailing uncertainty is alienating investors and constraining business activity in the industry.”
Ayo delivers maiden interims
The much-anticipated release of the technology group’s interim results saw revenue increase by 49% to R349m and operating profit up by 55% to R45m for the 6 months. Market commentators are however looking at the cash-flow line which indicates just R19m in cash from operations.
The company explains: “Cash generated from operations has decreased due to an increase in working capital requirements to fund the growth within all the divisions in the Group in order to service projects and potential contracts.”
