Listed on the JSE since 1986, Cashbuild is the largest retailer of building materials and associated products with a focus on direct sales to customers through around 233 stores in southern Africa, including Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi and South Africa.
Conduit Capital Limited is an investment holding company with specific interests in the insurance industry. On their website they state that their goal is to grow the per share net asset value of the company at a high rate over the long term, and their place on this list proves that they have achieved that objective.
Another of the best-performing businesses is Trustco Group Holdings, a Namibian based company focused on providing insurance, investments and banking products with an interest in high growth assets in emerging markets. Their growth strategy is proven by the excellent returns they have provided for investors through the JSE in recent years.
Mondi has a dual listed company structure, with a primary listing on the JSE and a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange. The Mondi Group works across the packaging and paper value chain, and service industries such as automotive, building and construction, chemicals, food and beverage, home and personal care, medical and pharmaceutical, office and professional printing.
One of a number of property based companies on this particular list, New Europe Property Investments is a commercial property investor and developer listed on the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the regulated market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
The South African ITC services group has experienced 45% compounded annual growth and continues to have an appetite for acquisitions as one of the best-performing businesses. It is now buying Aptronics, a company providing networking, virtualisation, and server and storage infrastructure services to businesses, for around $13.8 million.
Naspers is Africa’s most valuable company, and it has built its $72 billion valuation through investments in international companies and the creation of other businesses that have gone global. The South African media company which is listed on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges owns stakes in 45 global technology and media companies.
The investment company enjoys a primary listing on the Euro MTF Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, as well as a secondary listing on the JSE, and that secondary listing has seen them experience excellent returns over the last half decade, making them one of the best-performing businesses on the exchange.
Afrimat is a leading black empowered open pit mining company that provides industrial minerals and construction materials within the mining sector. They are listed in the Construction & Building Materials sector of the JSE, and their diversification strategy has earned them solid performances on the exchange.
The private education group is majority owned by the PSG Group, and continues to experience excellent growth on the ground in South Africa, as well as with investors on the JSE. The demand for affordable private schooling in South Africa means that Curro will likely continue to have a place on this list for many years to come.
The top performing company in last year’s list, Fortress Income Fund Limited dropped to second spot this year. The fund, which is involved in the property industry with a specific focus on development of prime logistic warehousing, retail centres and strategic offshore investments had a market capitalisation of around $3.8 billion.
Calgro is a mixed use and integrated residential property developer with a portfolio including retirement villages, hostels, complexes and upper-end estates. Calgro showed a compound annual growth rate of 71.9% over the five years, meaning that a hypothetical initial $1,000 investment would have grown to $15,000 in those five years.
