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29-11-2016 04:22 PM
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30-11-2016 09:22 AM
25-01-2017 11:44 AM
SimonPB, I don't think Choppies wants to compete for space in major shopping malls, like Sandton and Mall of Africa. Choppies is more the lower income spectrum areas.
You have to look at who you are going into business with and whether you trust them, Farouk Ismail and Ramachandran Ottapathu, they own 34% of the company, and their shares are worth R1.3billion at R3 per share.
I worry about risks, ethics and corporate governance, and dodgy issues will always occur when dealing in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, and Tanzania.
It's not easy doing business in Africa.
Botswana's president from 1998 to 2008, Festus Mogae, owned 4.8% of Choppies in 2014, 1.48% in 2015, and 1.49% in 2016 (19m shares x R3 per share = R57m)
It definitely benefited Choppies by having the president of Botswana as a major shareholder.
With Choppies expanding into Zimbabwe, I wonder if they will make Mugabe or other politicians a major shareholder.
The current share price is R3, at 24-Jan-2016.
When Choppies listed on the JSE in 2015 at R4.90 per share,
the bookbuild raised R1 359 million, of which R575m was from the issue of new shares, Mogae sold R49m of his shares, Ismail and Ottapathu each sold R367.5m of thier shares.
Mogae, Ismail and Ottapathu cashed out at the right time, at R4.90 instead of R3.
Botswana's currency is the Pula, and BWP 1 = RAND 1.27
"RMB and FNB Botswana collaborated to fund Choppies Enterprises Limited’s executive jet" for BWP 80 million. Reference: http://www.rmb.co.bw/dealsDone.asp
I refuse to invest in Choppies when they spend BWP 80 million on a jet and their profit for the year is BWP 85m.
The purchase of a jet is not a once-off cost.
I know from experience that the running costs of a jet are more expensive than the purchase price of the jet.
Fuel, pilots, maintenance, airport taxes, courier fees and import taxes for parts from US that cost USD$, and insurance at least 10% per year of the purchase price.
Director's often use company aircraft for personal travel.
There is no way of knowing if the Choppies directors use the jet for personal travel and holidays. I don't want to pay for them to fly around in a jet.
I saw photos on Facebook of the Shoprite jet at Sun City airport when the Wiese family took the grannies to the Palace hotel.
I saw the Choppies Cessna Citation Jet parked at Waterkloof airforce base, during the AAD expo/airshow (Africa Aerospace and Defence expo).
I doubt whether the Choppies jet being parked at Waterkloof airforce base was business related or had anything to do with selling groceries.
Shoprite owns 2 Falcon 2000 jets, but thier profit is R4.8 billion, not BWP 80 million.
Interestingly, the registration chosen for the Shoprite jets was ZS-CCW and ZS-JCC, the initials of the family members, parents CCW(Christo & Caro Wiese), and children JCC(Jacob, Clare, Christina)
I would not have known that Choppies owns a jet if I didn't see it at Waterkloof airforce base. Who knows what other aircraft they own?
It's annoying that company financial statements disclose nothing about how many jets/helicopters they own. The aircraft are usually held in a separate subsidiary.
Choppies "Profit and total comprehensive income for the year" for the group decreased -53% to BWP 85m (2016) from 181m (2015),
yet 2 director's remuneration was BWP 14,8m (2016) and 16,4m (2015) for Farouk Ismail and Ramachandran Ottapathu.
The 2 directors took 17% of 2016's profit as remuneration. (14,8m / 85m).
The shareholders were given a 41% decrease in dividends but those director's pay only decreased 10% in 2016.
And in 2016 the 2 directors received dividends of BWP 12,4m. (7,1m + 5,3m), (188 068 920 and 252 080 152 x 2.8266 Thebe per share)
Choppies Total Liabilities increased 111%, to BWP 1 382 542 (2016), from BWP 654 729 (2015).
30-11-2016 02:00 PM