February has been an active month on the JSE so far with a plethora of Sens announcements revealing directors’ dealings and significant shareholder movements that might offer insights into market confidence and evolving dynamics at companies.
Several directors and associates made notable moves. At Collins Property Group, nonexecutive director Friedrich Esterhuyse offloaded 100,000 shares at R11 a share, netting R1.1m. Some believe this Christo Wiese-backed real estate firm is one of the hidden gems on the JSE’s property board, so the decision by Esterhuyse — who knows the business well — to lighten his holding can’t be ignored.
After a 32% increase in headline earnings for the first half and a healthy gain in the share price at consumer brands group Premier, CEO Kobus Gertenbach invested nearly R1m in shares. It’s hard to interpret this as anything but strong confidence in the group’s future. Conversely, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub sold shares worth almost R20m on February 11 and 12. But this was linked to structured executive compensation rather than a strategic shift.
At Purple Group, director Charles Savage’s wife, Sarah, who bought 240,000 shares in January, picked up another R63,000 worth on Valentine’s Day. The market keenly awaits interim results from Purple — owner of the EasyEquities share trading platform — in mid-April.
Over at Altvest Capital, WGW Capital — associated with Altvest director Warren Wheatley — made strategic purchases valued at about R100,000 across multiple share classes. Wheatley and his immediate family are the beneficiaries of the WGW Family Trust, the sole shareholder of WGW Capital.
At Mantengu Mining, director Warren Geyer’s wife, Jenny, and another associate, Parkview Trust, bought shares in the ambitious junior mining outfit. Is this a sign that those in the know are expecting good things from Mantengu, which continues to make selective acquisitions in specific niches?
February saw notable shifts in major shareholdings. Old Mutual acquired a 5% stake in hybrid mining group Afrimat and increased its holding in Spar Group to 5.15%. Both these counters are at delicate junctures, so continued confidence from a key institutional investor could mean the world to them.
Standard Bank Group expanded its stake in Trencor — a cash shell in a wind-down process — to 5.36%, while London-based investment manager M&G Plc increased its voting rights in the Rupert family-controlled investment company Reinet to 5.06%.
Telecoms group Huge saw mixed activity, with director associates both acquiring and offloading shares, potentially tied to structured financial arrangements. Peresec Prime Brokers trimmed its stake in Huge to 3.24%.
Coronation Fund Managers reduced its voting rights in paper and pulp group Mondi from 7% to 6.91%.
Intriguingly, Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, built up a stake of 5.49% in fishing business Sea Harvest, which has seen its shares under significant pressure of late. Norges has not been shy about buying select JSE small-cap shares in the past — including positions in Combined Motor Holdings, Afrimat, Omnia, Master Drilling, AECI and AdvTech.
Meanwhile, the A2X alternative stock exchange welcomed its latest listing, Mpact, the largest paper and plastics packaging and recycling business in Southern Africa, last week. A2X now has 175 instruments listed and a combined market capitalisation of R10-trillion.
The A2X highlighted a few large trades between February 7 and February 14 in Prosus (R982m, or 20.2% of market share); Richemont (R335m, 18.48%); Investec (R93m, 14.83%); and Glencore (R154m, 14.51%).