CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR THE SENWESBEL GROUP
AJ (DRIES) KRUGER
CHAIRMAN
DEAR SHAREHOLDER
2020 is a year which could not have been foreseen by anyone. The danger of the Covid-19 virus and the
severe global impact which the lockdown and concomitant measures had on the lives of people, physically,
emotionally and financially, cannot even begin to describe the extent thereof. Our prayers and thoughts are
therefore with those who lost family or friends due to the pandemic and who may still lose loved ones.
We, as an investment company, are therefore particularly grateful for the performance of the Senwes Group
during these times, when so many enterprises either did not make it or had to take drastic actions to survive.
In addition, the group had to face many challenges as a result of weather conditions during the past summer
season and fluctuations in the food supply industry as a whole, as well as challenges at operational level.
However, the above factors had a negative impact on the value of the investment which Senwesbel holds
in Senwes. The share price traded at R13,00 per share during the year, but traded at only R11,00 per share by
financial year-end.
The Senwes Group is still performing well as an investment and the investment value in Senwes was preserved
at approximately R1,1 billion.
However, the low trading levels of Senwes and Senwesbel shares remain a concern and the strategic focus
of the board is still to create value and to look for unlocking opportunities through, inter alia, the support of
Senwes’ repurchase programme over the past year and the possible launching of a repurchase programme
by Senwesbel during the coming year.
At a strategic level, this year was exceptional as a result of the acquisition of KLK Landbou and the prospective
acquisition of Suidwes Landbou by the Senwes Group. This is aligned with the strategic objectives of the
company to be an investment vehicle for farmers in agriculture. It is therefore appropriate to request you to
approve the name change from Senwesbel to ‘Agri Invest Holdings’ in order to be more representative of the
larger group.
5 SENWESBEL CONDENSED ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Senwesbel Limited Reg nr: 1996/017629/06