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COMMENTS
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ACCOUNTING
POLICIES
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The
interim report is prepared on the historical cost basis in accordance
with South African Statements of Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
and incorporates policies which have been consistently applied and correspond
with those of the previous financial report in all material respects. |
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CHANGE
IN YEAR-END |
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The
results for the twelve months, which ended on 31 March 2002, have not
been audited as the Group changed its year-end from 31 March to 30 June.
The change was necessary to enable the Group's service company, M&I
Group Services (Pty) Limited, to deal with both VenFin Limited's and
Remgro Limited's financial year-ends without incurring additional management
costs by appointing additional financial staff. |
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The
Group will release audited results for the fifteen month period ended
30 June 2002. |
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PRO
FORMA HEADLINE EARNINGS |
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Due
to the material effect that the equity accounted results of e-tv will
have on the results of VenFin if the Independent Communication Authority
approves the conversion of the loan to equity, the pro forma headline
earnings are presented on the basis that the attributable portion of
e-tv's loss is accounted for as a loss in an associated company and
not as an exceptional item. |
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FINANCIAL
REVIEW OF INVESTMENTS |
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The
headline earnings of the Group on a pro forma basis for the twelve months
increased by 9.2% from 97.5 cents to 106.5 cents per share. |
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The
increase in earnings must be assessed taking the composition of the
Group's earnings into account. This is discussed more fully below.
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The
most important source of the Group's headline earnings for the past
twelve months consists of the Group's share of the net income of Vodacom
Group (Pty) Limited (Vodacom) (13.5% interest), income from R&V
Holdings Limited (R&V) (33.3% interest) and interest received from
other cash resources. |
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Associated
companies |
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Vodacom |
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Vodacom again
performed very well with a 36.9% increase in headline earnings
to R2 447.9 million and an EBITDA margin (earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of 34.9%. The subscriber
base on 31 March 2002 was as follows: |
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| South
Africa |
6
556 820
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| Tanzania |
228
491
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| Lesotho |
56
549
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| DRC |
21
116
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6
862 976
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R&V |
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The income
of R&V consists mainly of interest earned on cash and on the
Alexander Forbes Limited bond. |
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The decrease
in the earnings of R&V is mainly attributable to lower interest
received due to lower interest rates, less cash and non-recurring
income earned in the previous year of R77 million. |
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Cash
resources |
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The
other main source of headline earnings consists of net interest received
on cash in South Africa and abroad and amounted to R89.0 million (2001:
R60.0 million) in the twelve months under review, in spite of lower
average interest rates in South Africa and the redeployment of cash
into new investments. |
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Other
investments |
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The
other investments performed satisfactorily in difficult market conditions,
with a headline loss of R38.7 million (2001: R75.9 million). The majority
of these investments are still in a development phase and will only
contribute to the Group's earnings over the medium to long term. |
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An
analysis and detailed composition of the performance of the various
investments appears in Annexures A and B. |
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Exchange
rate differences |
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Positive
exchange rate differences arising on translation of offshore assets
to SA rand at 31 March 2002 amounted to R2 072 million and
was credited directly to reserves. Based on current exchange rates at
29 May 2002 this would have only amounted to approximately R1 900 million
increase in net asset value. |
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INVESTMENTS |
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VenFin
is continually involved in evaluating potential investments and acquisitions,
both within South Africa and abroad. VenFin focuses on high growth
technology investments which possess proprietary intellectual property
with international potential. |
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A total
of R1 007.5 million was invested during the twelve months, of which
R377.1 million was invested in South Africa and R630.4 million abroad. |
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The
most important changes in VenFin's investment portfolio for the twelve
months under review were as follows: |
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GenuOne
Incorporated (GenuOne) |
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During
the twelve months under review a further loan of $2.2 million was granted
to Certus International Société Anonyme (Certus) in addition
to an original loan of $1.5 million. The total amount was convertible
into equity based on certain capitalisation events. A 30% interest in
Certus was also bought from a third party for $1.5 million.
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During
November 2001, Certus was acquired by GenuOne for shares in GenuOne.
VenFin's total loan of $3.7 million in Certus was also converted into
equity in GenuOne
and an additional $2.5 million was invested in the newly merged
entity. VenFin also holds warrants to invest a further $2.5 million
in the merged entity, exercisable over three years. At 31 March 2002,
VenFin's effective interest in GenuOne was 25%. |
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GenuOne
is an innovative provider of comprehensive brand security solutions
and offers a fully integrated approach to the protection of intellectual
property. Its technology and integration services maximise brand dominance
and minimise counterfeiting, product diversion, licensing/royalty fraud
and intellectual property theft in the physical world and, through the
acquisition of Certus, on the Internet. GenuOne's authentication, tracking
and control technologies combined with its integration services allow
companies to monitor products throughout the world. |
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ETV
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ETV
is the only independent free-to-air television broadcaster in South
Africa. During April 2000 VenFin granted an indirect, interest-free
loan of R281.8 million to Sabido, the holding company of
ETV An additional R38.6 million was advanced to Hosken Consolidated
Investments Limited (HCI) for ETV during the twelve months under review.
If these loans had been converted into equity in Sabido, VenFin's
indirect interest in ETV would have been 26% and would have been accounted
for as an investment in an associated company. Pro forma headline
earnings are presented to account for the earnings after conversion
to an associate. VenFin also advanced a further loan to HCI for R280 million
on 7 January 2002 to buy Warner Brothers' interest in ETV and to meet
other funding requirements of ETV This loan is interest-bearing and
fully secured by HCI's interest in Vodacom. |
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Psitek
(Proprietary) Limited (Psitek) |
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During
December 2001, VenFin acquired an additional 12.4% of Psitek for R27.0
million. At 31 March 2002, the interest was 33.1%. |
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Southern
African Investments Limited (SAIL) |
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VenFin
had an interest of 35.9% in Luna Corporation Limited (Luna) at 31 March
2001. Luna was the holding company of SAIL which is listed on the JSE
Securities Exchange South Africa. Luna's holding in SAIL was unbundled
on 26 September 2001 and after the unbundling, VenFin held a direct
interest of 30% in SAIL. SAIL acquired Vodacom Sport and Entertainment
(Pty) Limited (VSE) from Vodacom during the twelve months and issued
new shares to the management of VSE. SAIL, in co-operation with VenFin,
also entered into an empowerment transaction with AKA Capital on 22 February
2002 in terms of which VenFin sold 20 million of its SAIL shares to
AKA Capital. On 31 March 2002 VenFin held an interest of 19.5%
in SAIL. |
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Intervid
Limited (Intervid RSA) |
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During
June 2001 VenFin acquired a further 1 000 000 shares in Intervid RSA
at a cost of R6 million. At 31 March 2002, the interest in Intervid
RSA was 17.5%. |
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FRS
Financial Reporting Solutions (Proprietary) Limited (FRS) |
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The
VenFin Board approved an investment of R20 million to acquire a 33.33%
shareholding in FRS on 28 March 2001. This investment will be made in
tranches when certain milestones are met by FRS. During July 2001 an
investment of R6 million was made for an effective 18.4% interest. During
October 2001, an additional R2 million was invested in FRS which brought
VenFin's interest to 21.3%. Another R2 million was invested in January
2002. At 31 March 2002, the interest was 24.0%. |
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FRS
provides high quality financial reporting software solutions that are
compliant with International Accounting Standards and industry-specific
legislation governing financial reporting. FRS is actively involved
in the development of XBRL® (eXtensible Business Reporting
Language) which is a global initiative for the standardisation of electronic
business reporting, and is the appointed representative of the XBRL®
organisation in Africa. |
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Veritas
Venture Partners (Cayman) L.P. (Veritas) |
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VenFin
has approved the acquisition of an interest in V V P Fund
II, LP for the sum of $1.5 million of which $150 000 has already
been paid. V V P Fund II, LP is based in Israel and is a
venture capital fund managed by Veritas. The fund invests in technology
opportunities which originate in Israel. |
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Fundamo
(Proprietary) Limited (Fundamo) |
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Through
a further investment of R5.0 million, VenFin increased its interest
in Fundamo to 41.6% during the twelve months under review. |
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R&V |
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R&V
made the following investment during the twelve months under review:
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Intervid
International AG |
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RFS
Holdings Limited Jersey, a wholly-owned subsidiary of R&V,
funded Intervid International during April 2001 in the sum of
$50 million. The funding was effected by way of a loan which is
compulsorily convertible into equity in Intervid International
or Intervid RSA within four to six years from the date of advance.
The percentage interest in Intervid International will depend
on the performance of Intervid International (minimum interest
of 30% and maximum interest of 50%). |
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Buy-back
of VenFin shares |
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During
March, VenFin's wholly-owned subsidiary, VenFin Securities (Pty) Limited,
acquired 3 800 000 ordinary shares of VenFin for a total amount
of R69.8 million. This transaction did not have a material effect on
earnings or earnings per share. |
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