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Since the start of 2022, South African executive Alan Pullinger has scored gains amounting to millions of dollars from his position in Africa’s largest financial services group, FirstRand Limited.
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of Pullinger’s stake has increased by more than $5.4 million since the start of the year, and this can be linked to the double-digit percentage increase in the group’s shares.
FirstRand Limited is Africa’s largest financial services group in terms of market capitalization. Its integrated financial services portfolio comprises FNB, RMB, WesBank and Aldermore, as it maintains active operations in South Africa, the UK and regional markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Pullinger, the CEO of the financial services behemoth, is a multimillionaire businessman who controls a minority shareholding of about 0.1 percent in the leading financial services group, amounting to 5,634,679 ordinary shares.
Since the year began, the market value of his minority stake in the lender has increased by R80.18 million ($5.46 million), from R342.59 million ($23.35 million) at the start of business this year to R422.77 million ($28.82 million) at the time of writing.
The $5.46-million surge in his stake can be attributed to the year-to-date surge in the share price of FirstRand Limited on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The South African lender’s stock price has risen by 23.4 percent from R60.8 ($4.14) per share at the opening of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this year to R75.03 ($5.114) per share as of the opening of the local bourse on Wed., April 6.
The surge in the group’s valuation can be attributed to investors’ continued interest, as market participants remained bullish on the financial services group’s fundamental strength as well as its long-term financial performance despite challenges in its operating environment.
According to the unaudited report, the financial services group’s headline profits, the key profit indicator in South Africa, increased 41 percent from R11.15 billion ($729.9 million) in the first half of 2021 to R15.78 billion ($1.03 billion) in the first half of its 2022 financial year.
The significant increase in headline earnings was driven by management’s successful treasury and cost-cutting policies, which resulted in a reduction in impairment provisions from R9.4 billion ($615.5 million) last year to R4.03 billion ($263.9 million) this year.
