Cape Times 2021-08-30

Aims to simplify its capital structure and benefit from retail property and deal-making experience EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za Dipula Income Fund, the diversified real estate investment trust (Reit) said on Friday it was considering a strategic partnership with Resilient Reit in a R1 billion transaction. The aim would be for Dipula, which has a R9.3bn portfolio of some 191 properties, to optimise its capital structure and benefit from Resilient’s retail property and deal-making experience to create further shareholder value. Apart from its offshore interests, Resilient has 28 dominant regional shopping centres in South Africa. Dipula B shares shot up 7.4 percent to R4.50 on Friday morning after the potential deal was announced, while Dipula’s A shares fell 4.3 percent to R8.45. Resilient’s share price was up 0.6 percent R55.79.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za MASSMART said on Friday that it had put up 14 Game stores in east and west African for sale to focus on its core strengths as the group’s losses narrowed in the half-year to the end of June. Massmart has begun a formal process to divest of five Game stores in Nigeria, four in Ghana, three in Kenya, one in Uganda and one in Tanzania. During the group’s virtual financial results presentation on Friday, chief executive Mitchell Slape said the company was in discussion with potential purchasers to take over the stores. “We have reached the conclusion that the performance and complexity in running the 14 stores in five markets in east and west Africa is something, frankly, that we needed to address,” said Slape. The decision…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za DISCOVERY, South Africa’s biggest medical aid group, has set up a R2 billion provision for retail claims in anticipation of claims arising from the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group said on Friday as it flagged higher earnings during the year ended June 2021. The group said the R2bn provision established by Discovery Life had a R1.1bn net impact on the profits after discretionary margins for the previous year and had proven adequate for the retail business. Discovery said Covid-19 claims added further strain in the reporting year in the group Life business. The Covid-19 pandemic impact on Discovery Life was R2.4bn compared with the R1.1bn for the year ended June 30, 2020. Normalised earnings from the business will be more than 50…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE NATIONAL Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has handed the country a golden opportunity to manufacture and export 100 megawatt (MW) HTMR-100 nuclear reactors which do not require water and could be installed in landlocked areas anywhere. “A lot of African countries are looking to get these small nuclear reactors, South Africa has the resources and personnel to build up this industry. South Africa is a world leader. More than 140 South Africans are working in the United Arab Emirates, which just switched on 4 500MW of nuclear reactors – four heads of reactors are South Africans. In the US, South African engineers are working on nuclear projects because the local industry has been closed off,” said nuclear analyst Dr Kelvin Kemm. Kemm…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za STEINHOFF International Holdings share price on Friday closed 2.1 percent higher at R2.38 on the JSE after the group reported that the gradual easing of global lockdown restrictions had boosted its revenue. In a trading update on Friday, the global retailer reported a 15 percent increase in revenue to €6.81 billion (R118bn) in the first nine months of the 2021 financial year, up from €5.9bn in the same period, last year. The group said all operations performed well in the third quarter, while results in the comparative quarter reflected a period when significant lockdown restrictions were in force. Revenue rose by 16 percent to €3.03bn for Steinhoff’s Pepco Group in Europe as customer restrictions were progressively eased, following 18.4 percent total…

Liberty Holding was mauled by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and so was its parent, Standard Bank Group. Standard also recently made an offer to the minorities to acquire their shares. Is the offer fair and is Standard Bank Group fairly priced? Liberty’s market capitalisation (number of issued shares multiplied by the share price in rand) tracked the “group equity value” report published in Liberty’s financial statements that reflects the combined value of the various components of Liberty’s businesses. Liberty’s long-term insurance entities and related asset holding entities are valued by using the embedded value methodology which effectively is the present value of future profits plus the company’s capital and surplus. Liberty’s equity value excluding non-controlling interest over the past three years was about R8 billion higher…