CAPE TOWN - Investment holding company Brait shares declined 7.5% in early trade on the JSE on Tuesday after the stronger rand against the pound weighed on its results for the end the June quarter.
The share later recovered to close at R60.75.
The company, with most of its investments in the UK, said its net asset value (NAV) per share declined 5.1% to R74.14, down from R78.15 reported at the end of March.
NAV per share at the end of June fell 6.05% to £4.35 (R75.03) a share compared with £4.63 a share at the end of March. The group said the closing pound-to-rand exchange rate at the end of June was R17.06, an increase of 1.1% from the end of March.
During 2016, the group blamed its decline in fortunes to Brexit and the strengthening of the rand against the pound. Britain voted in June 2016 to leave the EU.
Brait’s investments include Virgin Active, New Look, South Africa’s Premier and Iceland Foods. The group did not provide information on the performance of these investments like it had done in the previous years.
The biggest fall of NAV last year was recorded in the quarter to end December, where it declined 21.5% compared with R82.45 in the last quarter. The NAV for the quarter to end September was much higher at R105.06 a share.