What a difference a few months make. This time last year we noted how black groups were circling the McCarthy group, hoping to snap up bargains after the banks, which held 85%, had made it clear they wanted to sell out as soon as possible to an empowerment buyer. We also looked at the prospects of listed car hire and fleet management company Avis Southern Africa.
And today? McCarthy has been snapped up, not by Thebe or one of the other ambitious black institutions, but by Bidvest, the diversified SA conglomerate.
Avis, too, is independent no more. Barloworld, which was already a significant shareholder, bought up the rest recently for R1,4bn and delisted the company. Not only does the Avis deal extend Barloworld's reach into the rest of Africa, it also takes the buyer into Scandinavia.
Besides catching many market-watchers by surprise, Bidvest's R947m takeover angered McCarthy minority shareholders, who felt it undervalued their investments. The company's turnaround under CEO Brand Pretorius, and talk of an imminent empowerment deal, had caused the share to more than double to over 50c. Minorities finally accepted 36c after balking at a lower offer.
Bidvest, chaired by Brian Joffe, was able to buy McCarthy because its 26% black shareholding qualifies it as an empowerment company. Other listed transport and auto companies are moving in the same direction.
Bus transport company Putco, having been shunned by a succession of potential empowerment partners, appears finally to have found soulmates in Safika Holdings and DEC Investments, which recently expressed their desire to buy 50,5% of the company. If they do, Putco will be delisted from the JSE.
News of the agreement came just in time for Putco, which needs more government business to counter reduced passenger numbers. The company was already running into contract difficulties with provincial transport officials.
Imperial has also been in the empowerment news this year, with news of a R1,3bn deal intended to benefit the company's 14 000 black employees. But the reaction was perhaps less ecstatic than CE Bill Lynch might have hoped. The deal hands 10% of Imperial equity to a joint venture in which employees have the majority stake. The aim, says Lynch, is "to empower as many black employees as possible by providing them with the means to improve their living conditions".
The group continues to produce pleasing, if unspectacular, growth. More than 20% of turnover comes from overseas activities.
Given rising vehicle sales and continued high prices, it's hardly surprising that vehicle distribution should be such a strong contributor to bottom lines. Ask Unitrans. In the past full financial year, vehicle sales and finance turnover grew 26%, and operating income 35%. It was the major contributor to an outstanding group result in which turnover rose 23%, operating income 24%, pretax profit 13%, net profit 8%, headline earnings 20% and earnings per share 8%.
Recent interims show that the trend continues this year. Little wonder that, more than four years after major shareholder Murray & Roberts said it planned to sell its 45% stake, it still shows no sign of doing so.
