For a director’s dealings, R220.8m is eye-catching enough. More unusual is that former Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie’s latest transaction didn’t put a cent in his pocket.
Zipski Six, a private company of which Fourie is a director, donated 50,000 Capitec shares to Hoek Steen, another company he directs.
What Hoek Steen plans to do with them is harder to establish. Capitec describes it as a nonprofit, though curiously the announcement gives its name as Hoek Steen (Pty) Ltd, rather than the NPC suffix one would expect.
The timing adds quite a lucrative element to this transaction. The shares were donated on October 19, just ahead of Capitec’s dividend cut-off. If Hoek Steen still held them by the October 23 record date, it would have been entitled to a R1.56m gross dividend on October 26. At the rate of the bank’s two most recent ordinary dividends, the holding could generate about R4.2m a year without selling a single share.
Perhaps Fourie is helping establish a philanthropic endowment, with the dividends providing a steady source of funding. There could also be tax advantages if Hoek Steen holds the necessary South African Revenue Service approvals.
For a gift this size, one wonders who is ultimately meant to benefit.
At Bidcorp, CEO Bernard Berson sold 93,531 shares for R42.7m. A week earlier, he received 143,531 shares worth R63.3m through the vesting of incentive awards, cementing his position as one of the highest-paid CEOs on the JSE. He sold 93,531, leaving 50,000 from the award, on top of the 450,000 shares he held indirectly at the end of June.
Tax may explain some of the selling. In June, Berson disposed of a further 50,000 shares, specifically to settle tax obligations.
Bidcorp also repurchased 2.6-million shares at an average of R409, taking advantage of what management considered a weak share price. Berson sold at about R457. Shareholders seem untroubled, and 99.98% backed his re-election at last week’s AGM.
At iOCO, the IT services group still working to put its troubled EOH past behind it, the Milkwood Capital fund — linked to CEO Rhys Summerton — bought 2-million shares for R7.72m. The company has reported a 39% jump in annual profit to R357m, albeit on revenue growth of only 3%. Improved margins and lower finance costs have helped repair the earnings line, but finding stronger sales growth remains the next test for Summerton.
At Stadio, CEO Chris Vorster’s investment company sold R8m in shares and CFO Ishak Kula disposed of R1.29m, both citing debt management. Vorster still holds nearly 19.6-million shares through his company. Hardly a wholesale retreat, particularly as the Public Investment Corp had lifted its stake to 5.82% last week.
A2X
Prosus topped the trading charts on A2X with R334.4m worth of shares changing hands, giving the exchange a 16.99% share of trading in the counter. Absa followed with R200.6m (15.07%), while Glencore recorded R188.7m (13.42%). Richemont and Vodacom rounded out the top five, with R79.4m and R78.7m respectively.
