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Fiji’s telecom giant Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH) says it is satisfied with indications that potential investors are now focussed on the fundamentals of their businesses to determine investing in listed companies.
ATH chief executive Tomasi Vakatora made this comment as he welcomed the South Pacific Stock Exchange’s (SPSE) 2008 stock report that said 2009 should be a promising year for the exchange given the positive growths recorded by listed companies last year.
The SPSE report highlighted ATH as being the largest listed company in terms of market capitalisation accounting for 49.7 per cent of the SPSE’s total market capitalisation; highest capital growth of 49.4 per cent; third highest dividend yield of 7.6 per cent; highest total return of 57.0 per cent; and second most traded share on the market board.
He said those results were pleasing for the group because it reflected the amount of work that was applied towards engaging with the stock market when ATH’s share price had under performed for most of 2007 and into the early part of 2008.
“Our objective in this exercise was to lift investor confidence in ATH by ensuring that the market was regularly informed of the many positive elements of the group’s business and future prospects,” Vakatora said.
He said ATH welcomed indications by the SPSE that investors were now focussed more on the fundamentals of the businesses as the basis for assessing and pricing their investment in listed companies.
“For ATH, the fundamentals show that it has a record of consistent profitability and regular dividend payments, a strong balance sheet with low debt levels, growing revenue base with good cash flows, satisfactory returns, and good prospects in a competitive environment,” Vakatora said.
“There clearly has been a major adjustment in ATH’s share price taking into account the above fundamentals, and future prospects with the parameters for competition now bedded down.
“We are doing very well and holding our own against our competitors,” he said.
In her report, SPSE chief executive Jinita Prasad said the SPSE anticipated promising capital growth in the stock market this year following positive growths recorded for most of the 16 listed securities last year.
Of the 16 listed companies, 11 recorded positive capital growths while three of the securities recorded otherwise.
“The improvement in the overall trading pattern was clearly vivid during 2008 as investors, including both institutional and retail continued to invest in the stock market,” Prasad said.
