Brait SE has confirmed it has received final payment of £48.5 million for the 63.1% controlling stake it held in Iceland TopCo Limited.
The company initially acquired a stake in Iceland Foods in 2012 and a subsequent stake in 2015. Iceland Foods management has expressed an interest in owning 100% of the company again for some time, and diligent cash management, together with reduced capital expenditure have provided sufficient liquidity for them to do so.
Brait disposed of its shareholding on the 8th of June 2020, in line with a new strategy announced to the shareholders by the Brait board on the 27th November 2019. The strategy revealed an intense focus on realizing value from its existing portfolio for the next five years. The stake was returned to Iceland Foods founder Sir Malcolm Walker CBE, together with Tarsem Dhaliwal – chief executive – through their newly established company NewCo, at a sale consideration of £108 million. The first tranche of £60 million was received on the 8th of June 2020
The Virgin Active owner said in a SENS announcement, it will use the proceeds to partially repay a revolving credit facility held by its subsidiary Brait Mauritius where the balance outstanding will be R2.7 billion (R4.6 billion as at 31 March 2020).
JSE:BAT opened trade at 3.5% higher at R3.25 on Wednesday morning.
PSG Group – through their PSG Financial Services arm – has increased its controlling stake in Curro Holdings a week after the private education group confirmed a successful R1.5bn rights issue.
The group already held a 55.4% interest in Curro Holdings and have today confirmed a 4.6% purchase consideration to take their existing interest to 60%. This comes five days after Allan Gray Proprietary Limited’s clients, in aggregate, acquired a 5.39% stake in the private education group.
Curro recently reported a 7% increase in revenue to R1.59bn during the first six months of 2020 with a 12% rise in EBITDA from R415m in the corresponding period to R466m this year.
With the Covid-19 pandemic in full swing during the same review period, Curro experienced a decline in the number of learners for the first time since 2011, down from 62 698 to 59 967.
Lindsay Ralph, outgoing CEO of Bidvest Group Limited.
Bidvest released their consolidated annual financial results for the year ended 30 June 2020 this morning and highlighted an investment revamp that will change the future outlook of the group.
Filled with corporate action, Bidvest’s financial year was a year of strategic review – with acquisitions and disposals overshadowing the material effects of Covid-19. Chief executive Mr Lindsay Ralph opened his report by extending heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the 35 Bidvest employees that succumbed to Covid-19.
On the performance side, Bidvest’s revenue remained subdued at R76.5bn, a 0.6% increase from the previous year while gross profit margins increased 4% to R23.4bn. There were significant negative movements for both HEPS and BEPS; the former declining 59.5% to 553.2cents per share with the latter tanking from 1133.8cents per share to a mere 49.8cents per share. No dividend was declared by the group, underlining an uncertain economic climate as the reason for the hoard.
A strong focus on the management of working capital and an intense cost containment program saw the group generate R9.2bn cash from operations, a 38.2% increase from FY19. Although R1.5bn of the R2.5bn increase resulted from the adoption of IFRS 16.
Bidvest acquired UK-based hygiene group PHS Group plc
Bidvest finalized the acquisition of PHS Group plc for £495m through a GBP dominated bridge facility and consolidated two months of trading to their 30 June 2020 results. PHS Group plc is based in the UK and has over 120 000 clients in over 300 000 locations spread across the UK, Spain and the Republic of Ireland. They service schools, hospitals, restaurants, offices, etc with over 50% of their contracts classified as long term contracts.
Another notable acquisition was the maiden consolidation of a 53.6% controlling interest in Adcock Ingram which has, together with PHS Group plc, strengthened the balance sheet by 46.6% to R90.9bn. Adcock Ingram brought an additional R6.9bn to revenue and R823m to operating income.
Adcock Ingram has consolidated to the Bidvest Group.
The disposal list was rather eye catching, with the following associates; Bidvest Wits, Bidair Services, Bidvest Car Rental, Mumbai International Airport Limited, Glenryck, Mansfield Group, Commuter Handling Services, and Voltex Namibia all getting the chop and costing the group R247.2m in losses in the process. This has largely been offset by the 40% reduction in deductible tax from R1.4bn to R851.6m due to the disposals of these associates.
Bidvest Wits Football Club has been sold by the group.
Chief Executive Lindsay Ralph was also quick to highlight that the 150% rise in net debt EBITDA from R7.8bn to R19.7bn was due to the bridging facility used to acquire PHS Group plc, however, this is only payable in December 2021 and was still within the group’s gearing tolerance.
As at 13h00, JSE:BVT was trading at R149.13 per share.
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