A tough day on the JSE with only a handful of Top100 shares in the green.
The news flow came thick and fast – here were some of the small and mid-cap stories we picked up on:
That’s not very tasty
Taste Holdings has indicated to the market that it is expected to lose just under R400m in the current fiscal. To put this loss in context, at the close of business yesterday, the business had a total market capitalisation of R513m.
JP Morgan takes up more of Mr Price
US based financial services giant JP Morgan now holds 5.6% of the issued share capital in JSE-listed retail group Mr Price. The retailer is up 71% year to date.
New highs for small and mid-cap players
Despite a tough investment climate, shares in Finbond, Sabvest, Altron and Hulisani all hit new 52-week highs. Finbond is up 25% in the last 7 days.
Coronation ups its stake in Pan African
Asset management group Coronation has upped its stake in Pan African Resources from 3% to just over 4% according to an announcement made yesterday.
Arrowhead positive on South Africa
In the face of a lot of negative news flow, property group Arrowhead indicated that there was some good news in the market. The company was reporting its 6 month results to the end of March and commented: “While the environment remains challenging and the general market is under pressure, the positive political changes experienced have led to increased business confidence. This increased optimism, together with a strong focus on property and asset management, have translated into strong letting over the period and the sale of a number of non-core properties.”
Blue Label and CellC host analyst call
After a volatile few weeks in the Blue Label share price, the company hosted a conference call for analysts. The company has hit back at shareholder claims around its debt and competition related matters. There are two interesting articles which may be on interest. The first is from TechFinancials discussing whether a ratings downgrade should have been disclosed to shareholders. The second is from TechCentral outlining the response to the shareholder claims.
Seabrooke acquires more shares in Rolfes
Non-executive director Christopher Seabrooke has continued to acquire shares in the listed chemical group. The company announced that Seabrooke had bought another 1.5m shares at R3.25/share.
Consolidated slides
Shares in Consolidated Infrastructure were down 5% and all eyes will be on whether management has made the right noises around future prospects and the introduction of a new strategic investor in the form of Fairfax. Consolidated Infrastructure released interim results after the close and point to the next round of renewable energy projects as a potential kicker for earnings over the next 12 months.
HCI reports
The listed investment holdings group saw its portfolio businesses report results yesterday. We will cover these in a separate post later today.
