Novus Holdings’s share price enjoyed a lift last week following a reasonably upbeat presentation of the printing group’s financial 2017 results. The share price gained almost 7% during the course of the week to R7.50. Not that there was much cause for cheer in the results — earnings and dividends were down 20% and the group suffered some hefty knocks on a variety of fronts. The trading environment was exceptionally tough as weak economic conditions compounded the negative effect of fundamental changes in the print industry. CEO Keith Vroon told analysts that newspapers and magazines were struggling and no one had been able to adequately monetise the digital offerings. On top of a number of executive changes and the death of chairman Lambert Retief, there was the fumbled implementation of attempts to change the group’s control structure to accommodate Retief’s previ-ously expressed desire to cash out his 20% stake in the company. And, as if that were not enough, Caxton dogged its eve...
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