FOSCHINI NON EXECUTIVE HAVING A BLAST - Marc Ashton

Tue, 19 Aug 2008

FOSCHINI non-executive director Michael Lewis has bet just short of R100m on the South African retailer since March this year. The punt has paid off so far with a return of just under R16m. Lewis' family was formerly controlling shareholder of the retailer that includes stores such as FOSCHINI, MARKHAM, DONNA CLAIRE and TOTALSPORTS in its stable. This is an abrupt turnaround from two years ago, where trusts representing the Lewis family sold nearly 2% of the issued share capital of the business. FOSCHINI was one of the stocks in the retail sector that was identified recently by Feroz Basa, a fund manager of the OLD MUTUAL INVESTMENT GROUP'S (Omigsa) high-yield fund. Basa pointed out that many of the companies operating in the South African retail sector were offering attractive forward dividend yields of between 7 and 10%.