Category Archives: Sabvest Capital (SBP)

Research reports on Sabvest Capital (code: SBP), an investment holding company.

Sabvest Capital – New Investments & Strong Trading Update

Share Code: SBP – Market Cap: R2.4bn – Dividend Yield: 0.6%

New Investment: ARB Holdings Ltd

Masimong Electrical (49.9%-held by Sabvest & 50.1% by Masimong) has offered minority shareholders in ARB Holdings 800cps. Along with the Burke Family (62.9%-shareholding in ARB), the deal aims to take the electrical & lighting wholesaler private. The total consideration will be c.R697m, & Masimong and Sabvest have each committed R223.5m funding (Sabvest’s share is c.9.3% of its market cap & c.6.5% of published NAV).
Irrevocable undertakings to vote in favour of the deal have been received from 69.4% of eligible shareholders, thus, we believe that this deal’s successful outcome is quite likely.
Refer to our notes on ARB Holdings for detail on the Group.

New Investment: Apex Acquires Ascendis Medical

Sabvest’s 44.8%-held investment, Apex Partners, has acquired a stable of Ascendis Health medical devices businesses for R550m (less c.R200m catch-up capex & up to R25m excess rental). See the full announcement here.
Ascendis Medical’s FY 21 revenue was R983m but bottom-line expectations vary given Ascendis’ neglect of the businesses.

Trading Update: Growth in NAV Better than Expected

Sabvest expects its FY 21 Net Asset Value (NAV) to be more than +19%y/y (>8858cps) while also hiking its dividend >80%.

Valuation*, 12m TP* & Implied Return*: Awaiting FY 21 Results

We have left our fair value (6826cps*) & 12m TP (8000cps*) unchanged & will update these after the FY 21 results. Given the trading update, though, we expect to upgrade our views.
While we do not expect ARB Holdings to materially change Sabvest’s NAV in the short-term, in the long-term the Group is an excellent, cash-generative & well-positioned business that is likely to contribute positively to NAV growth. Likewise with Ascendis Medical’s optionality. Perhaps, more subtly, these new investments further entrench Sabvest as a unique listed entry-point into a portfolio of unlisted companies.
See H1:21 Results Note & our Initiation for more background.

* Under review until post-FY 21 results

Share Code: SBP – Market Cap: R2.1bn – Dividend Yield: 0.45%

H1:21 Results: Businesses trading at-or-better than 2019 levels

Sabvest Capital’s Net Asset Value (NAV) per share grew by +24% y/y to 8240cps (H1:20 – 6624cps) to the end of 30 June 2021. We have updated this post-period and see NAV currently at closer to 8500cps (our estimate).
The Group doubled its interim dividend to 20cps (H1:21 – 10cps) as its balance sheet saw degearing and management has steadily continued buying back shares in the open market (which we consider value accretive at these levels).
Perhaps most importantly, management emphasises that at the date of publishing the results all the Group’s businesses are trading at-or-better than 2019 (and 2020) levels.

Thoughts: Upside to forward valuation, corporate actions

Multiples used to value the Group’s unlisted investments were flat or slightly lower than prior periods. This gives us comfort that NAV growth is earnings-based (i.e. good quality).
In Classic Foods (and, even Revix) case(s), it looks likely that valuations may be written upwards in the near-term. Added to this, the current trading of the underlying businesses implies higher forward valuations too, even if multiples remain flat.
Finally, management’s share buy-back & hints at a potential acquisition may drive further upside from here.

Valuation, 12m TP & Implied Return: Lots of value available

Updating the Group’s NAV for the latest market prices and taking out our fairly-valued “HoldCo discount” of 20% (previously: 19%), we arrive at defendable (post-discount) fair value for Sabvest Capital shares of 6826cps (previously: 6402cps) or +31% higher than the current share price. As noted, we see upside risk to this expression of fair value.
Rolling our fair value forward at our Cost of Equity, we see the Group’s 12m TP as 8000cps (previously: 7542cps) with an implied return of +54%.

Refer to our Initiation of Coverage for more background.

Share Code: SBP – Market Cap: R1.6bn – Discount-to-SOTP: 64%

Group & Portfolio Overview: Majority Unlisted Investments

Sabvest Capital offers a unique entry-point into a portfolio of majority unlisted investments that have demonstrated strong growth, dedicated management teams (often co-investors) and that are carried at reasonable valuations.
The Group’s three largest investments (all unlisted) are (1) DNI-4PL, a cash-generative last-mile telcos distribution group, (2) ITL Holdings, a global labelling & technology-enabled tagging business, & (3) SA Bias, an exporter of narrow textiles/strapping from South Africa and group offering process-critical fluid handling solutions in the United Kingdom.

Investment Case: Better than the Best (Fund Manager) & Cheaper

Management has grown Group NAV (+18.6% CAGR y/y for fifteen years, excluding dividends) faster than the best-of-the-best general equity fund managers across South Africa (even after including distributions) and management have done so at a lower cost-to-NAV than these leading unit trusts.
Finally, this performance is currently priced at a c.51% discount to NAV on the JSE (relative to our estimated fair discount of only c.19% and the peer-group average discount of 42% currently applied to listed HoldCo’s > R1bn market cap).
The key competitive advantages that have helped Sabvest generate this growth (permanent capital & alignment of interest/‘Partnership Principle’) remain intact and, thus, we see no non-macro factors why the Group could not continue performing as it has done in the past.

Valuation, 12m TP & Implied Return: Cheap Against All Measures

We have formed a view that the Group’s unlisted investments are reasonably valued. Importantly, most of them have seen trading recover strongly following the impact of COVID.
Furthermore, updating the Group’s NAV for the latest listed price, inserting post-period corporate actions and taking out our fairly-valued “HoldCo discount” of 19%, we arrive at defendable (post-discount) fair value for Sabvest Capital shares of 6402cps or +64% higher than the current share price.
Rolling this fair value forward at our Cost of Equity, we see the Group’s 12m TP as 7542cps with an implied return of +93%.