With the market continuing to trend weaker on Thursday, much of the focus was on the announcement from the Health ministry around the National Health Insurance (NHI) offering which knocked medical insurers and private hospital groups.
Here are some of the small and mid-cap stories from the JSE from Thursday which we thought were of interest:
Broker consensus updates:
Sharenet has updated broker consensus forecasts on some of the key platinum stocks. These include Royal Bafokeng Holdings (Hold), Impala Platinum (Buy) and Lonmin (Sell).
Transhex slides
Shares in the diamond group slid 17% on Thursday with 75326 shares changing hands and the share closing at R1.50/share. The company released full year results for the year ended 31 March 2018 with a reported Net Asset Value of R2.18/share (Compared to R3.37/share in the previous year). Indicating that production for the 2019 financial year will rise to 240 000 carats (from 173920), the company told shareholders in its outlook: “Following positive sales for diamond jewellery during the United States of America’s holiday season, the need for the industry to restock led to strong rough prices overall, a trend that is set to continue as the market remains solid in the short term.”
Ansys warns on earnings:
The industrial group expected that headline earnings per share would be between 48% and 52% lower for the year ended March 2018. Ansys currently trades on a historic earnings multiple of 4.3 times earnings. The group also announced that Christi Maherry would join the board as an executive director. Maherry was previously the CEO of LawTrust, a business that Ansys is acquiring.
Grindrod Shipping joins the JSE
Grindrod has spun off its shipping operations onto the JSE under the sharecode GSH.
New lows on the JSE
A number of small and mid-cap shares continue to trade at 52-week lows as liquidity weighs on the bourse. Those which traded at 52-week lows on Thursday included: Ansys, Chrometco, Cashbuild, Arrowhead A Units, Grindrod (post the unbundling of shipping business) and SA Corporate & Real Estate.
Vukile director sells
Michael Potts, group CFO at Vukile has sold shares in the property group according to a SENS released on Thursday. According to the release, Potts 93390 shares at a weighted average price of R19.51/share.
Profits taken at Montauk
Directors at Montauk continue to take profits on their shares after a meteoric multi-year rise. Non executive director Bruce Raynor sold 180 000 shares in a transaction worth R17.6m.
Orion requests trading halt
Dual-listed Orion Minerals has requested a halt in the trading of its shares until 25 June 2018. The company indicates it is planning to make a “material announcement”. Orion is up 108% in the year to date.
CSG goes under cautionary:
Contract services group CSG Holdings has announced it is in talks that may impact the share price. No detail was provided to shareholders. CSG presently trades on a price to earnings multiple of 6 and offers a 3.7% dividend yield.
