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Lauritz “Laurie” Dippenaar, the South African tycoon founder of FirstRand Limited, ranks among those businessmen who are having a good run this year, with his stake in the leading financial services group surging above $365 million, significantly higher than its value at the start of the year.
Figures computed by Billionaires.Africa revealed that his stake in FirstRand has rose by R504.5 million ($47.94 million) in the past 27 days, as investors on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange renew buying interest after the bank’s shares plummeted on Oct. 12.
FirstRand 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.
Dippenaar, who cofounded Rand Consolidated Investing with partners GT Ferreira and Paul Harris in 1977 and grew it into a leading financial services group not only in South Africa but throughout Africa, holds a 1.76-percent stake in FirstRand, which translates to 98,726,988 shares in the group.
FirstRand shares have increased by more than 15 percent since Oct. 12, exactly 27 days ago, from R57.28 ($3.22) per share to R65.91 ($3.71) per share on Nov. 8.
As a result of the price gains, the market value of his stake in the South African financial services group has increased from R5.65 billion ($318.2 million) exactly 27 days ago, to R5.51 billion ($366.13 million).
The recent increase in the market value of the South African billionaire’s stake erased previous losses, bringing his year-to-date gains to more than $28 million at the time of writing this report.
The surge in share price comes after the leading financial services group reported a profit of more than $2 billion due to strong performance across all operating segments.
The group’s profit at the end of its 2022 fiscal year increased by 22.3 percent to R34.64 billion ($1.97 billion), up from R28.31 billion ($1.61 billion) the previous year, according to its recently published annual report.
As a result of the strong financial results, the board of directors of the banking group declared the highest annual dividend in its history of R3.42 ($0.1948) per share, as well as a special dividend of R1.25 ($0.071) per share, for a total distribution to shareholders of R26.2 billion ($1.49 billion).
