Resilient executives bank on recovery

Executives from the Resilient group of companies have begun to increase their personal holdings in the stable, suggesting they expect the companies’ share price to recover after the worst selldown in their history.

Some institutions are also expecting the companies’ share prices to rebound after the sustained selldown in shares.

The stable includes Resilient, Greenbay Properties, Fortress and Nepi Rockcastle. Resilient CEO Des de Beer has spent R60m since Friday on stocks in that specific company through his trust, Delsa Investments.

Fortress CEO Mark Stevens spent R2.2m on Fortress B ordinary shares this week through his trust, MWS Investment Trust. Resilient’s share price has declined 14% in 2018.

Fortress’s B shares have dropped about 31% year to date. Its A shares are down 4.5%. Greenbay’s price is up nearly 9.68% and Nepi Rockcastle is down nearly 29% year to date. Some investors have shorted the shares of the stable and any potential upside may have been stunted by a general selldown of equities in SA and various major markets in the US and Europe.

US stocks were battered on Monday, with the Dow Jones falling almost 1,200 points, the biggest single-day drop in its history. However, institutional investors are taking advantage of the subdued prices.

Property stocks have fallen about 20% in 2018. The sector achieved 17.15% total returns in the 2017 calendar year, according to Keillen Ndlovu, the head of listed property funds at Stanlib.

“We have seen steady inflows into our funds despite the current market weakness and volatility. We are using the opportunity to selectively buy property stocks, including in the Resilient stable, at these lower levels,” he said.

Fayyaz Mottiar of Absa Asset Management said he was continuing to buy into the group.