South African businessman Christoffel Wiese has lost $22.7 million (R335 million) in value from his equity stake in Tradehold Limited.
The multimillion-dollar loss came off the back of a double-digit plunge in the share price of Tradehold after it surged to an 18-month high price of R10.99 ($0.7422) in Q2 2021.
Since then, shares in the investment holding have lost about one-quarter of their value, as investors reprice the company’s stock down to R8.50 ($0.5741) per share.
Wiese, who stepped down as chairman of Shoprite Holding last year, is the group’s chairman.
Tradehold is a property investment holding with assets in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
In South Africa, Tradehold owns 74.3-percent of the Collins Property Group. In the UK, it holds 100 percent of Moorgarth Property Group, including a 90-percent stake in Boutique, a provider of flexible office accommodation in Greater London.
The group’s shares have declined from an 18-month high of R10.99 ($0.7422) per share on April 26 to R8.50 ($0.5741) as of press time 12:20 PM (UTC), July 28, accruing a 23-percent loss for shareholders.
Wiese, who holds 134,727,425 ordinary shares in Tradehold, has suffered a R335-million ($22.7 million) loss from his stake in the group.
Research by Billionaires.Africa revealed that the market value of his stake in the property holding company has declined from R1.48 billion ($100 million) to R1.15 billion ($77.3 million) between April 26 and July 28.
The loss, which came off the back of a fall in the company’s share price, can be attributed to investors reacting to its financial performance at the end of its accounting year (March 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021).
The company reported a loss of £41.9 million ($57.78 million) in its 2021 financial report on account of a 21.5-percent decline in revenue and a net loss of £38.66 million ($53.31 million) from its properties in the UK due to a devaluation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the light of the civil unrest in South Africa and the impact on the company’s property portfolio in the country, Tradehold notified shareholders earlier this week that 21 of its properties in KwaZulu-Natal were damaged during the turmoil.
The estimated cost of the damage is R41 million ($2.76-million), excluding loss of rental, this represents approximately 0.5-percent by the value of Tradehold’s property portfolio in South Africa.
Shares in the group are down 65 basis points percent since the disclosure was made public on July 26.
