Rand weakens against dollar
WeBuyCars made its market debut on Thursday, giving the South African secondhand vehicle trader a market capitalisation of 8.3 billion rand ($441 million) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Chief Executive Faan van der Walt, standing next to his brother and co-founder Dirk, blew into the African kudu horn as the opening share price of 20 rand was announced on the JSE.
WeBuyCars marks the second JSE listing of 2024, with others including Pick n Pay’s discount grocery retailer Boxer, and food producer RCL’s Rainbow Chicken expressing interest to list at some point.
Shares in WeBuyCars traded as high as 20.85 rand, up from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 18.75 rand.
Van der Walt said the brothers had never imagined listing the family-owned business when they started it in 2001, but now that WeBuyCars was big enough, the time was right.
“There is still a lot of space for us to grow,” Van der Walt told Reuters. “We’re well positioned, we have the tech, we have the people, we have the footprint so we strongly believe that we can double up again in the next five years,” he added.
WeBuyCars, which has a market share of 10 per cent to 12 per cent in South Africa is targeting about 23 per cent by 2028, and also aiming to sell 22,000 cars per month, up from 14,000 currently.
With 15 branches and 74 buying pods or kiosks at shopping centres, WeBuyCars plans to open in Rustenburg, Bloemfontein and East London in the near future, Van der Walt said.
WeBuyCars was unbundled from Transaction Capital and listed separately in order to unlock value and give an option to invest directly in the secondhand car retailer.
Transaction Capital will use the proceeds from various capital raisings to settle holding company level debt.
Johannesburg — South Africa’s rand weakened in early trade on Friday against the U.S. dollar, which hovered near a five-month high as traders heavily scaled back bets for a slew of U.S. rate cuts this year.
At 0715 GMT, the rand traded at 18.7550 against the dollar , about 0.2 per cent weaker than its previous close.
The dollar was trading up almost 0.4 per cent against a basket of global currencies.
“The geopolitical risks in the Middle East remain high, and this is spurring further demand for the dollar,” said Andre Cilliers, Currency Strategist at TreasuryONE, estimating that the rand would trade in an 18.65/18.90 range for the day.
There was some positive economic data this week to support the local currency, which has been battered by power cuts and political uncertainty ahead of a May election. South Africa’s mining and manufacturing output rose in February, and business confidence held steady at an improved level.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index was up 0.88 per cent while the broader allshare was up 0.78 per cent in early trade.
South Africa’s benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker in early deals, with the yield up 2.5 basis points to 10.715 per cent.