NEWS
| Left to right: | |
| Dumisa Ntsebeza | (non-Executive Director of Freeworld Coatings and Chairman of Barloworld), |
| Bobby Godsell | (Chairman of Freeworld Coatings), |
| Babalwa Ngonyama | (non-Executive Director of Freeworld Coatings and Chair of the Audit Committee), |
| Doug Thomas | (Chief Financial Officer, Freeworld Coatings), |
| Noluthando Orleyn | (non-Exective Director of Freeworld Coatings), |
| Dr Elias Links | (non-Executive Director Freeworld Coatings), |
| Peter Surgey | (non-Executive Director of Freeworld Coatings and Director of Barloworld), |
| Andre Lamprecht | (Chief Executive Officer of Freeworld Coatings) |
Freeworld Coatings Limited, previously Barloworld Coatings, was successfully listed on the JSE this morning, December 3, 2007.
The listing follows on the decision in August to list the company, and the shareholder approval for the unbundling of Barloworld Coatings from the Barloworld Group at a general meeting held in Johannesburg on November 23, 2007.
Freeworld's indicative market cap was R2.6 billion on listing day (based on Barloworld's valuation). At the commencement of listing, the authorised share capital of Freeworld Coatings was comprised of R3 million divided into 300,000,000 ordinary shares of 1 cent each, with a share premium of R12.74 each. The issued share capital comprised 203,843,388 ordinary shares. Existing Barloworld shareholders were each allocated one Freeworld Coatings share for every Barloworld share held prior to the listing. The share opened at R13.00.
Freeworld Coatings CEO, Andre Lamprecht, said the listing today was the fulfilment of a very intense process that would enable Freeworld as a newly-listed entity to set about growing its stature and meeting its full potential in a global market that was currently undergoing a process of consolidation and offering opportunities for strategic acquisitive growth in new markets, particularly within greater Europe and Asia.
Freeworld, already regarded as the world's 31st largest producer of quality coatings, would now be able to explore the organic and acquisitive growth opportunities available, and work towards its corporate goal of becoming one of the world's leading coatings companies over time.
Lamprecht said that the listing would enable the company to continue to develop innovative products and manufacturing processes and to expand into new markets across Africa and further aboard, and that in these initiatives they could confidently rely on the contributions by an intellectually strong board.
"Since 2002, the company has increased its annual turnover from R1.3-billion to more than R 2.3-billion in 2007. Operating profit has increased significantly from R92.2-million to R 383-million with a corresponding healthy increase in operating margins over the same period," Lamprecht said.
He added that, "It also offers top quintile returns in comparison to its global coatings peer groups."
Although not wishing to predict future performance, Lamprecht said that the company believed that now, as it entered a new phase of its development, prospects for sustained satisfactory performance in the future were good. "A primary driver will be the fact that the entire executive team responsible for the achievements between 2002 and 2007 are still on board and will be taking the company into the future," Lamprecht said.
His views were echoed by Freeworld Chairman, Bobby Godsell, who said: "We are dedicated to working hard and building on the platform established over the past five years to unlock further shareholder value in Freeworld."
The listing has opened the way for the company to build on its local and international reputation as a supplier of coatings across the decorative, industrial and specialist market segments and its ability to supply a range of complementary products for the coatings market.
"We intend to build on the essence of our new brand, which reflects our vision of becoming an even stronger international force within the coatings industry and a world-class multinational company that is commercially, socially and environmentally responsible and operates in selected geographies with superior growth," Lamprecht concluded.