With the US and UK on holiday on Monday, markets had a chance to catch their collective breaths. This resulted in thin trade on the JSE.
These are some of the small and mid-cap stories we picked out from yesterday:
INTERVIEW: Ryk van Niekerk from Moneyweb has had an interesting interview with Vanessa Van Vuuren who runs the Sanlam Small-cap Fund. Van Vuuren spoke about the opportunities in the small-cap sector plus portfolio construction for some of the other small-cap funds. You can find the transcription of the interview here.
Reunert slides on interims
Shares in electronics group Reunert were down 4.6% at the close, following the release of interim results for the 6 months ended 31 March 2018. The share closed at R77, having traded as low as R72.10. Reunert trades on a price to earnings multiple of 10 times earnings and offers a dividend yield of 5.6%.
Mustek concludes buy-back
Technology group Mustek has concluded a share buy-back of 3.03m shares. This was in line with an announcement made in November 2017. The company has spent R17m repurchasing these shares. Mustek is up 62% year-to-date.
Building a base
Brick manufacturer Brikor has indicated that headline earnings per share for the 12 months ended February 2018 will be between 1.1c and 1.3c/share.
ArcelorMittal rises
Having lost 73% in the past 12 months, former industrial giant ArcelorMittal has slumped into the mid-cap universe. Shares in ArcelorMittal were up 5.3% yesterday on news that the company intended to divest of its 50% stake in Macsteel International Holdings.
Where to for Grand Parade?
Market commentators are shaking their head at the announcement that Grand Parade Investments may now divest of its stake in restaurant operator Spur , having spent a significant amount of time describing the stake as “strategic”.
Hulisani warns on earnings
Renewable energy investor Hulisani has warned that headline earnings will be down by more than 20% for the year ended 28 February 2018. The group has indicated a more detailed trading statement will be released shortly. Hulisani is up 10% year to date but is highly illiquid.
Oando jumps but …
Nigerian energy group Oando was the biggest mover on the JSE yesterday up 42.8%. This move should however be taken with a pinch of salt as it was on just 50 shares at 30c/share. Oando has had to deal with a variety of governance related issues in Nigeria which left the share suspended for a number of months. The share trades on an historic earnings multiple of 8 times earnings and a price to book ratio of 0.48.
Choppies also bounces
The Botswana head-quartered retail group saw its shares rise 7.6% on 184 639 shares (R3.10/share). Choppies is up 42% in the last 30 days.
Wescoal goes the other way
Liquidity was again an issue but highly-rated coal player Wescoal was off 5% with 147 749 shares trading hands. This was after a positive trading update released last week which saw the share trading higher.
Noticeable new lows
While lack of liquidity is now helping the case for small and mid-cap shares, a number of interesting counters have hit new 52-weeks lows including Zeder, Sibanye, Coronation , Curro and Consolidated Infrastructure.
