Whatever you say about the bookies, they sick for gambling and horses. Whatever you say about the suits in Phumelela, they only care about horse racing to the extent they can squeeze blood from a stone. The would sell anything provided they can make a profit and so it should be for a corporation representing its shareholders.
So now the old will meet the new and you have to wonder what the result will be. Things that used to be done in cooperation is now done in confrontation. Used to be P and GC, now more P vs GC. For a while bookies and TAB co-existed, not so much now. Punters spend their money 50-50 as they liked, but now P all is theirs. They say they "need" more money than they get from their Totalisator monopoly and their Tellytrack monopoly, but they fat with profits at the end of the year.
But the biggest owners call the tune in Phumelela Gaming and Leisure via their directorships, their RA votes, their personal holdings. We can't pretend that everything happening here is an accident. They can't pretend they don't understand their 3% on TURNOVER is a tactic to rip the game open with a massive take over play.
This article at the beginning of play last year:
DIRECTORS' TRADING activity in a company’s shares can speak volumes about its prospects. In Phumelela’s case the directors’ trading message is clear: it is a share worth a closer look.
In a strong vote of confidence in the horse racing and gaming company, five of its directors have been on a buying spree, executing trades on the open market totalling R16,8m over the past 11 months.
Phumelela CEO Rian du Plessis led the field, notching up total purchases of R7,2m. He was followed by two nonexecutive directors: Investec cofounder and MD Bernard Kantor at R4,5m and Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste at R3,8m. Executive directors Andreas Heide and John Stuart rounded off the display of optimism with purchases of around R650000 each.
Phumelela has also earned a place in one of the top-performing SA equity funds over one and three years, Investec Emerging Company Fund. “It has an attractive dividend yield [5,6%] and is cheap relative to many other small caps,” says the fund’ manager Richard Middleton.
Phumelela’s big attraction lies in its offshore diversification, set in motion a decade ago in response to the deregulation of gambling in SA in 1996. The strategy is proving to be one of the more successful undertaken by an SA company venturing globally and, says Du Plessis, still has plenty of growth potential.
www.financialmail.co.za/moneyinvesting/2...-investments-pay-off
