Johannesburg - RMB Holdings (RMH) reported on Friday that it was in the final process of acquiring a 34 percent stake in Propertuity, an urban renewal business.
The financial services holding company is adding commercial property to its portfolio for diversity. Its first property acquisition was done in July when it acquired a 27.5 percent interest in Atterbury Property Holdings.
The new property investment arm of RMH is only expected to start contributing to the results over the medium term. It said the property strategy would create a diversified portfolio of superior and scalable entrepreneur-led businesses with proven track records in managing and building out property portfolios.
The results for the year to end June reported on Friday were pleasing, according to RMH. The normalised earnings were up 7 percent to R7.7 billion, up from R7.2bn in 2015.
Normalised earnings per share amounted to 542.5 cents per share as compared with 507c per share in 2015. The financial services holding company has a 34 percent stake in FirstRand. The board declared a final dividend of 153c per share, up 7 percent from 154c per share declared last year. This brings the total dividend for the year to 295c per share, up from 276c per share.
The board is of the opinion that RMH is adequately capitalised at this stage, and that the company will be able to meet its obligations in the foreseeable future after payment of the final dividend.
Challenges
RMH is aware about the economic challenges facing the country going forward.
“The past year was headlined by Brexit and the economic and political instability in South Africa, which introduced short-term volatility and long-term uncertainty in the local and global business environment. Inflation firstly hit the top end of the target band of the SA Reserve Bank, and secondly gross domestic product (GDP) growth was even lower than anticipated. The unemployment rate also increased to 26.6 percent, the rand was weak against most currencies and commodity prices remain weak,” the group said.
RMH shares closed 0.98 percent lower on Friday at R60.40 per share.
BUSINESS REPORT