Local company news:
CMH is dealing with some significant disruption to the South African new car market. Not only are consumers under a great deal of pressure, but there's a huge onslaught of Chinese brands (and to a lesser extent, Indian cars) that have made a huge dent in the shiny bonnets of European brands and their market share. With a wide footprint and many different brands in the stable, CMH isn't an easy business to run at the moment.
Despite this, they've done a great job of maintaining operating profits. Sadly, with interest costs having gone up so much, the result at HEPS level is well down on the prior year. Working through the difficulties that CMH is facing will help you understand why WeBuyCars is my chosen fighter in this sector.
Speaking of difficulties, Gold Fields released a quarterly update that the market hated. Production has been full of challenges and the outcome is a substantial jump in All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC), which means margins are under pressure. This isn't what the market needed to see at a time when gold prices are doing well. The "physical gold vs. miners" debate rages on.
Finally, Attacq has bought the remaining 20% in Mall of Africa (and it wasn't cheap). The seller is Atterbury. The surprising thing here is that RMB Holdings didn't release a SENS announcement about this, despite the sale of this stake presumably being a pretty important step towards further value unlocks for that group.
Get the details in Ghost Bites at this link>>>
The next Unlock the Stock event is CA Sales Holdings, scheduled for Thursday 9 May at midday. This company has been a superstar on the local market and I highly recommend putting this in your diaries so you can engage with the management team. Attendance is free, but you must register here>>>
