Naspers hives off printing unit

NASPERS yesterday announced it intends unbundling its printing unit, Paarl Media Group, into a separate company called Novus, which will list on the JSE’s main board in March.

NASPERS yesterday announced it intends unbundling its printing division, Paarl Media Group, into a separately listed company called Novus.

Novus will list on the JSE’s main board towards the end of March. Naspers intends using the listing to reduce its holding in its printing division to between 60% and 70%.

Novus operates 11 specialised printing plants across SA and one tissue plant.

Its printing products include workbooks, newspapers, magazines and advertising brochures. The company also has a presence elsewhere in sub-Sahara Africa. In the financial year to March last year, Novus achieved revenue of R4bn and operating profit of R649m.

CEO Stephen van der Walt said the listing would give the group exposure as it aimed to expand further.

“The listing is a step as part of the group’s strategy to unlock its growth potential and diversify into manufacturing and technology that is related to its current core business of print,” he said.

Novus would invest heavily in the print labelling market, Mr van der Walt said. This refers to the writing on packages to distinguish products.

“We are confident of our growth prospects and it will be our intention to consider the payment of dividends to share- holders as the group sees fit,” he said. The markets in which Novus operated were still in developing stages and there would still be demand for print products such as educationrelated materials, he said. In SA, the newspaper printing market had been declining but the magazine market was stable.

Mvunonala Asset Managers research analyst and portfolio manager Alexander Duys said Novus was a sizeable business with good margins.

The listing could be seen as further evidence of Naspers management’s willingness to create “some value from its core business that could improve sentiment towards the rump of Naspers”, he said.

The renaming of Paarl Media Group to Novus Holdings will not affect the current brands of the group. Paarl Media, Correll Tissue and Paarl Labels will retain their identity under Novus Holdings.