COMPANY COMMENT
Wescoal’s cautionary does not spark elation
The junior miner’s trading statement for the year to end-March raises eyebrows
Junior miner Wescoal’s shareholders were probably expecting a cautionary notice. But there was a slight sense of disappointment that Tuesday’s cautionary was about the sale of "noncore, nonoperational assets", even though the directors noted the mooted transaction was in line with a strategy of realising value for shareholders and building a scalable, sustainable business. There are more than a few punters who reckon the underrated and undervalued Wescoal is ripe for corporate action. An obvious transaction would be merging Wescoal with another similarly black-empowered coal mining venture of roughly the same operational scale. The coal businesses of empowerment investment companies Vunani and Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) spring to mind. Of course, transactions that appear to have merit on paper can in reality be tricky to consummate, although Wescoal does offer a neat reverse listing opportunity to the coal mining assets owned by both Vunani and HCI. Also a valid considera...
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