Victories are so scarce these days that when I manage even a small win it’s complete cause for celebration. Consequently, I consider my sneaking through the first men’s singles round of the Fish Hoek tennis club champs as a major victory, particularly since this achievement was registered just shy of my 60th birthday and against a strapping naval officer.
In truth my much younger opponent should have easily outgunned me. He anchored his game on massive first serves — sometimes so severe that I was sure the barrage would eventually snap my brittle old Head racket (which already sounds like a baby’s rattle). Fortunately, I was saved by some awful Cape Town weather. Those drenching interruptions thankfully broke the match down into more manageable segments and precluded the big-serving commander from gaining enough momentum to overwhelm me.
A wham-bam affair over a single playing session would have sunk me. I was already desperately shuffling around to stay in the rallies, eventually resorting to hoicking moonballs to buy myself time. The doubles — where I am far more comfortable (and even seeded!) — went much more to plan in the opening two encounters. My partner, Loop-en-Val (so named after stumbling hard when push-starting the barman’s bakkie one dark night), looks in the form of his life and is so combative that he even argues vociferously about the post-match wine selections. If we can just get our match attire colour co-ordinated, we have a chance at making the quarterfinals again.
Speaking of opportunely taking chances, I see Remgro wasted precious little time in selling out of its remaining holding in FirstRand (the banking group was the subject of the FM’s cover story last week).
I’d be inclined not to read anything deeper into this sale as Remgro has been systematically lightening up on FirstRand (where it no longer held real influence). In any event, that’s another R3.593bn flowing into Remgro’s already brimming cash coffers. I calculate that it now sits with net cash of more than R20bn, a fair amount compared with the group’s intrinsic net asset value of R165bn.
As I have said before, I don’t think Remgro will be in any particular rush to mobilise the cash, especially not in these jittery times. However, CIO Carel Vosloo did intimate in a recent interview with the FM that the group was not completely averse to contemplating opportunities that may arise.
There is one slightly overlooked aspect that is worth revisiting from Remgro’s recently released year-end results. That is the frothier performance from Heineken Beverages (Heinbev), which might have been unreported (as good news often is). Readers will remember that Remgro swapped its controlling stake in liquor group Distell, owner of best-selling ciders including Savanna and Hunter’s as well as Bernini, 4th Street, Klipdrift and Amarula, for a significant minority stake of 18.8% in Heinbev.
Heinbev had a worryingly slow start, enough to force a marked write-down in the investment value. But it swung back into the black for the 2025 financial year to the tune of R155m (2024: a loss of R11m). The value of Remgro’s stake was written up to R7.55bn, 11% higher than the R6.7bn value accorded to the investment at the end of 2024.
The latest valuation, of course, needs some context. The first valuation applied to Heinbev was R12.45bn at the end of financial 2023, and the last valuation for Remgro’s Distell stake was close to R12bn at the end of 2022 when the market had already factored the Heineken deal into the price. Between the end of 2019 and 2020 Remgro’s valuation of its Distell stake varied between R9m and R5.3bn, which puts an interesting bracket around the current valuation of the Heinbev stake.
It’s worth noting that if amortisation and depreciation are stripped out of Heinbev’s latest numbers, the profit contribution to Remgro would have been R207m. That number could grow markedly in the year ahead if Heinbev can continue to fatten margins and drive volumes through its main brands including Amstel, Heineken, Windhoek, Bernini and Savanna. That also requires that the little price-point battles in the broader beer sector don’t escalate into a full-blown beer war.
Meanwhile, things look less cheery at Capevin, the unlisted Scotch whisky producer where Remgro has kept a 33.6% stake. The value of that investment has been reduced almost 12% in financial 2025 to R992m, with headline earnings dribbling down to just R8m (R17m in 2024). It’s not party time for the global spirits industry which, relatively recently, was enjoying lively earnings multiples.
Whether Remgro uses this sobering impasse as an opportunity to snap up more Capevin shares remains to be seen. In late 2024, global drinks giant Campari grabbed a 14.6% stake in Capevin at a considerably higher value than the value Remgro now accords to Capevin. Campari’s stake in Capevin has been impaired, but its ambitions at the group are not clear at this stage. On paper, Capevin’s Scotch brands — Black Bottle, Scottish Leader, Deanston, Ledaig, Bunnahabhain and Tobermory — would certainly fortify Campari’s whisky and bourbon range.
It may do Remgro no harm to pitch an offer to minority shareholders in Capevin, who may be tired of having shares in an unlisted venture that seems unlikely to be able to pay a dividend for the foreseeable future.
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