AST RA PA K

While this column is restricted to slinging mud at listed companies, it regularly casts an awe-struck eye over the achievements of some of our more prominent state-run entities. Perhaps the time has come to encourage excellence among these ofttroubled operations by scouring the continent and establishing an annual award for jaw-droppingly shambolic performance by Completely Rubbish African Parastatals. If we could get French oil and gas major Total on board as a sponsor, then the branding of the title would be remarkably apt. Listed companies, with the occasional exception of wobbling banks, don’t have the option of running to the treasury to demand another fat slice of the taxpayer’s money, so when times are hard they have to do a rapid restructuring to escape the attentions of the grim reaper. Astrapak is coming towards the end of its two-year recovery plan, which aims to have the business providing the returns it aspires to within five years, and it seems confident that the measures it has been taking are starting to bear fruit. Astrapak has been taking the usual medicine — selling underperforming businesses, concentrating on working capital management, squeezing overheads and investing where appropriate. Yet it is still suffering from the lingering effects of lacklustre markets and the sheer impossibility of running an efficient manufacturing business when the power keeps cutting out. Like doctors from all over the world flocking to gain trauma experience at Baragwanath, SA’s business environment may soon act like an alternative MBA for managers who want to pick up experience. Vital numbers on January 26 2015 Share price (c) Market cap (Rm) P:e ratio Earnings yield (%) Dividend yield (%)