NAMPAK SHARES TRADE UP AFTER R12.8BN FUND PACKAGE SECURED
PACKAGING manufacturer Nampak’s shares traded higher yesterday after it released a trading update for the 11-month period ended August, saying it had secured a long-term funding package of R12.8 billion. The share price closed 2.02 percent higher at R15.16 on the JSE yesterday. It had improved cash transfer of R3.1bn from the rest of Africa, including Angola. An Angolan hedging programme protected cash against R1.5bn devaluation in the Kwanza, Nampak said. Capital expenditure for the full year was expected to be between R500 and R650 million, with about 66 percent being replacement or sustenance capital and the balance being expansion capital. Nampak said the weaker rand that prevailed in the second half of its financial year meant that unrealised foreign exchange losses reported in the first half to March would “in all likelihood convert into realised and unrealised gains, depending on the closing rate at the end of the financial period”. Nampak operates from 28 sites in South Africa, contributing 60 percent to group revenue; 18 sites in the rest of Africa, contributing 32 percent; as well as eight sites in the UK, contributing 8 percent. – Philippa Larkin