FOR years Italtile was a solid, consistent performer, but nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed a property business that just happened to sell tiles, taps and sanitary ware, from the low-end Top T brand to the mid-end CTM and the upscale Italtile.The company owns all its own land and buildings, and that alone has a conservative value of R2.4bn — and let’s not talk about its legendary cash-generative abilities and the wads of notes in its fat bank account.But a good two years ago something happened. Management got a spark of life. There was a new energy, a new vigour. Margins and profits started to rise. I joked that Italtile CEO Nick Booth had popped some retail Viagra into his and his team’s morning coffee.That retail pill, some thought, may have been a one-hit wonder. But no. Result after result, for the past three reporting periods, have been defying the dour economic gravity in SA. Italtile, like Cashbuild, was experiencing rising revenue, improved margin and increasing profits...
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