WHY IS NETCARE SO SCARED?

Netcare faced a protest vote from big investors, including Blackrock and Sanlam, over its board. No wonder it didn’t want the media there

It’s the largest hospital company in the country, with 54 hospitals and 10,605 hospital beds, servicing more than 8-million South Africans. It runs 422 operating theatres and its fleet of 911 emergency vehicles is known throughout the country. So what is it that Netcare doesn’t want people to know?

Last week, Netcare held its AGM at its office, a stone’s throw from the JSE in Sandton. But when journalist Penny Mashego arrived, she was barred from entering. “Shareholders only, no press,” she was told.

Now, AGMS may be designed for investors, but virtually all companies allow journalists to attend.

Not only is it in keeping with the King code invocation on transparency, it’s one of the few ways they can live the pledge to embrace all stakeholders.

It also says a lot about a company’s culture: the fine list of companies that have barred journalists from AGMS includes JD Group (owned by Steinhoff), flailing budget airline Ryanair (in the midst of European strikes) and chicken company Astral.

When asked, CEO Richard Friedland said he had “no knowledge” of this, and referred queries to Netcare’s company secretary, Lynelle Bagwandeen.

She then confirmed she had barred the media, after consulting Netcare’s transfer secretary 4AX.

“The AGM notice was specifically for shareholders,” she said. “So when [journalists] showed up unannounced, without any advance notice, we were a bit concerned.” Bizarrely, she says 4AX advised Netcare that locking out journalists “is consistently applied by issuers across the industry”. Maybe Netcare needs a new librarian: if you’d glanced at Business Day, Fin24,

Of late, Netcare’s share price has taken a beating — down 28% over the past three years