analysis
MARC HASENFUSS: Johnny looks back
HCI's annual report makes for entertaining reading, while the chips are down for Sun International
The latest annual report of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), celebrating 20 years since the company’s formation, is an entertaining read — especially CEO Johnny Copelyn’s fascinating and enlightening letter to shareholders. I highly recommend it to investors. One poignant reminder is that in HCI’s early years, the group’s investment in a free-to-air television broadcaster was, at one point, a rather daunting prospect. Copelyn notes: "In television, we bid for the first free TV licence and survived two gruelling years in which the company lost a legendary R1m/day until finally it turned and became profitable." HCI’s 5% stake in Vodacom had to be sold, and investment holding company Remgro clambered aboard e.tv as a significant minority partner. Whether it would have been better to walk away from e.tv and retain the Vodacom stake is an interesting question to debate — albeit merely as an academic exercise.But what is clear from the annual report is that HCI is finding it a far l...
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