One of South Africa’s wealthiest men, Michiel Le Roux, has recorded a R5.61-billion ($359.61 million) increase to his net worth since the start of the year, as shares in his flagship banking group Capitec Bank Plc surged by double digits.
Le Roux, who founded Capitec Bank, one of South Africa’s largest retail banks, holds a substantial 11.41-percent stake in the leading banking group.
His stake, which accounts for 13,190,043 ordinary shares, gives him a “billionaire’s valuation,” and makes him one of the wealthiest businessmen in South Africa and on the African continent at large.
Since the year began, the market value of his stake has been on the rise as investor expectations of improved financial results in the period under review continued to drive the bank’s share price on an upward trajectory.
This bullish bias on earnings spurred the share price to increase from R1432.65 ($91.49) per share at the start of the year to R1,858.09 ($118.66) per share as of the time of writing due to sustained buying interest on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
As a result, the market value of Le Roux’s stake in the bank has increased from R18.9 billion ($1.21 billion) on Jan. 1 to N24.5 billion ($1.57 billion) on Nov. 18, accruing a total gain of R5.611 billion ($359.62 million) for the billionaire banker, while the market capitalization of his bank soared above the $13.5-billion mark.
In addition to the R5.611-billion ($359.62 million) gain, Le Roux has received a total dividend of R21.1 million ($1.35 million) since the beginning of the year due to the bank’s improved financial performance.
Figures contained in Capitec’s first-half-year financial statement revealed that the bank is on course to display even stronger financial performance during its current financial period.
In its first-half-year financial report, Capitec revealed that headline earnings for the period rose to R3.99 billion ($264.8 million) from the R650 million ($43.15 million) recorded last year.
