I was taken by a comparison in last week’s FM of the fast-growing phenomenon of padel to tennis in the 1970s.
I was an enthusiastic junior tennis player in the mid-1970s, armed with my wooden Dunlop Maxply racquet and Bata takkies that, much to my poor mother’s dismay, I would duly wear through every three weeks. These were big years for Brocketts Sports Shop which, admirably, was never swallowed up by one of the bigger retail chains.
While tennis boomed in the 1970s and early 1980s, I suspect that was mainly because of hero worship rather than the appeal of being fashionably fit.
When I was growing up, South Africa had a surfeit of top tennis players who were able to compete internationally without being isolated by the prevailing apartheid policies in the country. There were literally dozens of local players (Cliff Drysdale, Linky Boshoff, Bernie Mitton, Ilana Kloss and Yvonne Vermaak, to name a few) competing at the major tournaments.
My early hero was the wild-haired Ray Moore, whose effortless style and easy-going court demeanour I tried unsuccessfully to emulate. Then came the glory years in the 1980s when Johan Kriek and Kevin Curren blasted their way to top world rankings — I think the former taking a major or two along the way.
Padel might not have the personalities tennis has — and here I am going back to characters such as Jimmy Connors, Buster Mottram and Ilie Nastase — but I have yet to see a deserted padel centre, even during inclement Cape Town winter weather. I suspect tennis clubs, mostly not receptacles of vast cash flows, will inevitably have to consider converting one or two courts to padel.
Having played padel only a handful of times (it’s a little expensive for 90 minutes of abridged thrusting), I can see that the game is far more inclusive than tennis. Anybody can pick up a padel racquet and, with the benefit of an underhand serve, knock the ball over the net, and — I reckon — pick up the tactical nuances of the game fairly quickly too. Tennis is complicated. Too many angles on a far bigger court to consider, strategically speaking. The longer racquet makes shot-making far more difficult. The overhead serve is difficult to master. In short, the learning curve from bumbling novice to authoritative player is far quicker for padel.
The sport, to my mind, will continue to grow — and particularly so when more proponents of the vibrant game start offering more competitive rates for hiring courts. Might we even see a padel company listing on the JSE, offering investors an intriguing hybrid of specialised real estate and health? I have not yet seen the much-mooted Virgin Active padel offering but, as a long-suffering Brait shareholder, I hope this initiative gains traction quickly.
Might we even see a padel company listing on the JSE, offering investors an intriguing hybrid of specialised real estate and health?
Speaking of sweating assets, I am rather keen to see (hopefully) the progress in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at Virgin Active when Brait reports its full-year results in June. I’m not sure if there will be an earlier trading update, but what I can say is that I cannot get onto half the equipment at my local gym. I’m not exactly doing a Reg Park regime, but some mornings every square inch of the stretch floor is occupied, the circuit requires brazen intervention to secure a machine for a single set of curls and the treadmills have hopeful punters milling about for their turn.
The Kauai health food eatery is bustling too.
Maybe I’m getting my hopes up. It’s still early in the year, and most new year’s resolutions around fitness are probably still holding. The long, hot summer Cape Town is experiencing also means beach bodies are du jour. The UK, where Virgin Active has a considerable presence, might be a little damper.
Solid doubles
I attended the Nampak AGM last week, which came not too many days after smaller packaging rival Bowler Metcalf’s strident investor presentation. I took in the body language of the Nampak directors more than anything else. I paid particular attention when André van der Veen — formerly an executive at Hosken Consolidated Investments and now a prime mover at A2 Investment Partners — was announced as the new Nampak chair. Van der Veen, who was sitting adjacent to me, gave a slight click of his heels, like a soldier reporting for duty.
I think A2, now a key shareholder at Nampak, has fought well in the initial skirmishes at the under-siege packaging group, but the real battle lies ahead, with several hand grenades still being juggled by the new management team under the redoubtable and seemingly unflappable Phil Roux.
Van der Veen, those with long memories will recall, was largely unheralded in his determined efforts to bring sustainable viability to brandy and wine group KWV, which had long relied on its stake in larger liquor group Distell to fortify its iffy results.
He and Roux, who has a few tough turnarounds under his belt, should form a good combination in ensuring any remaining corporate frills at Nampak are quickly cut and that the group focuses intensely on operations capable of making profits at solid margins. In that regard, hopefully the sale of Nampak’s Nigerian operations is imminent.
Last, I was rather surprised — maybe even disappointed as a former shareholder — that shares in technology services counter 4Sight Holdings held up so well after the release of its 12-month results ended December. Earnings came in at 5.4c a share, well backed up by strong operational cash flows. After a rather chequered start to its tenure as a listed company, 4Sight (or rather a key vendor or three) has done awfully well to restore a good chunk of shareholder value. A few years ago, there were serious doubts. In any event, the share now trades on about the same earnings multiple as fintech business Capital Appreciation. It should be an interesting toss-up between these two “growth-orientated” small-cap counters.
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