I’ve seen a few storms in my time — including the truly terrifying “Hurricane Jenny”, which unexpectedly made landfall when I left an itemised American Express statement in my jeans pocket. That was truly climate-changing. I still wince at every mention of “slush” fund.
That said, the double-header storm in and around Cape Town from Sunday to Tuesday was certainly one of the worst I’ve lived through. I mean, it had to be a serious tempest for supermarket giant Checkers to suspend the Sixty60 motorbike delivery service, even if I have absolutely no doubt those Barry Sheenes of the consumer circuit would not have hesitated for a moment to brave the 100km winds on their 100cc motorcycles.
Damage was regularly flashed on WhatsApp groups: roofs ripped off, trees felled, trampolines deposited in the next suburb, walls unceremoniously blown down, cars stranded in knee-deep gullies. Short-term insurers will be in for a testy time in the weeks ahead. Builders, on the other hand, will have plenty on their shovels. With the southern and eastern Cape also getting a biblical lashing recently, there is a mercenary part of me that wants to take aim at Cashbuild shares. The Fish Hoek Tennis Club also took the brunt of the gales; the large reams of netting that protect the courts from the all-too-regular gusts were mostly ripped clear off their timber frames. That, I suspect, might actually aid me in the last stages of the club champs. Having played most of the tennis of my youth in Gqeberha, the wind is an old friend that can be harnessed for a considerable advantage.
Speaking of fresh blasts, French media and entertainment giant Canal+ will do a fast-track secondary inward listing on the JSE. The London Stock Exchange-listed group recently finalised the takeover of local pay-television service provider MultiChoice. While another listing — albeit a secondary one — is always welcome, I’m not terribly excited by Canal+ and I can’t imagine a warm welcome from local investors miffed at the sudden closure of MultiChoice’s popular Showmax service. I see the share price of Canal+ has dipped markedly in recent weeks, which might reflect market perceptions that cashing in on MultiChoice’s African presence might not be such a cinch.
If you are looking for billions of rand to come into HCI, the most obvious asset to focus on is the hotels
— Johnny Copelyn
I am much more intrigued by the pending secondary listing of Coca-Cola HBC, which is in the final throes of taking over Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA). It looks like the €1.4bn deal, still subject to a few regulatory checks, will be completed in the second half of the year, creating an emerging markets beverage juggernaut.
While Coca-Cola HBC seems to be steaming ahead (organic growth revenue of almost 12% in the first quarter), group executives were precluded at the investors’ call from saying anything about CCBA’s current performance. Coca-Cola HBC CEO Zoran Bogdanovic said he is still excited by a “phenomenal opportunity” and that everything is going to plan. He said the group is working across all fronts in integration planning. “We are doing our homework on all functions to be ready on day one.” Preparation is everything, remembering the jittery start made by the Heineken Beverages unit that merged with Distell and Namibian Breweries.
Then there were some key trading updates this week, none, in my opinion, quite as interesting as the Southern Sun hotel group — probably understandable since I hold shares in controlling shareholder Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI). Southern Sun, which has a distinct Cape Town bias, shifted up overall occupancy to 62.9% (2025: 60.8%). This is not bad at all, considering the Paradise Sun in the Seychelles was closed for refurbishments for the first half of the financial year.
In South Africa occupancy levels hit 64.3%, well up from the 61.9% achieved in the previous financial year. The group reported resilient demand from the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions segment, as well as the influx of inbound foreign corporate and leisure travel. Most significantly, Southern Sun reported that trading momentum increased in the second half of the year, which included the G20 summit in Joburg and improved transient demand in South Africa.
Southern Sun’s vibrant performance does lead me back to comments made last year in July at the AGM of HCI, which controls about 45% of the hotel group. At that meeting, HCI CEO Johnny Copelyn addressed queries around how low the debt-at-centre would need to be for the group to consider unbundling its various listed investments. Copelyn noted that the group’s sprawling property portfolio could bring in a pretty penny at a time of declining interest rates.
HCI has, indeed, offloaded portions of its real estate portfolio since the AGM. But what Copelyn also said at the meeting was that “if you are looking for billions of rand to come into HCI, the most obvious asset to focus on is the hotels”. Southern Sun’s share price is up more than 350% since its Covid shutdown, and 135% over three years. At the time of HCI’s AGM last year, Southern Sun was trading at just under 900c; it has since edged up to about R10.64. With earnings for the year to end-March set to range between 88c and 91c a share, the stock is still fairly modestly priced, considering some solid medium-term prospects.
Could this be the time for a buyer to emerge? Maybe. But that requires finding an investor willing to pay a premium for securing the upside in Southern Sun. At last year’s HCI AGM, Copelyn was at pains to point out that the replacement cost of Southern Sun’s assets was equivalent to between R16 and R17 a share.
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