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AOF Africa Opportunity Fund Limited

0.65
0.00 (0.00%)
18 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Stock Type
Africa Opportunity Fund Limited AOF London Ordinary Share
  Price Change Price Change % Share Price Last Trade
0.00 0.00% 0.65 08:00:07
Open Price Low Price High Price Close Price Previous Close
0.65 0.645 0.65 0.65 0.65
more quote information »

Africa Opportunity AOF Dividends History

Announcement Date Type Currency Dividend Amount Ex Date Record Date Payment Date
15/06/2020FinalUSD0.017219/06/202022/06/202025/06/2020

Top Dividend Posts

Top Posts
Posted at 21/11/2017 15:24 by jonwig
Who knows, AOF might get something back (12.5p/sh is the provision):

(12/09/17)
Posted at 28/2/2014 06:51 by jonwig
Are Frontier Markets overvalued?



And is the move by AOF to treble its size and move to main market a 'sell' signal?
Posted at 10/2/2014 08:03 by jonwig
Intention to move to main market and 'C' share issue up to $100m:



Current MCap is only $51m.
Posted at 25/6/2013 06:51 by jonwig
Final results. The first detailed comment from AOF on Shoprite:

The possibility of litigation about AOF's Shoprite shares which we mentioned briefly in last year's annual report is becoming a certainty. Shoprite has conveyed to us its intention to seek to reverse the allegedly unauthorized trades in its shares. In its briefest form, we bought shares on the Lusaka Stock Exchange via open market purchases only to learn later that some of the shares sold were apparently treasury shares of Shoprite. The Company now claims its shares should not have been sold and that we should have known better than to buy them. The argument to us is absurd. Anonymity is a cornerstone of stock market trading and we had no knowledge of the identities of the different sellers of Shoprite shares. Furthermore, it is one thing to know that Shoprite is the seller of shares in Zambia (which we did not); it is another thing, totally unrelated, to deduce from that knowledge that the seller of Shoprite shares is allegedly engaged in unauthorized or fraudulent transactions. We cannot think of any reason why we should have suspected, let alone known, as reasonable stock market traders, that Shoprite was a victim of such transactions. Apparently Shoprite has a claim against its agent; however, based on legal advice obtained from Zambian, South African, and English counsel, we believe any claims against AOF will be successfully defended. To date nothing has been filed at Court by Shoprite though we have been advised by Shoprite that the filing of court papers is imminent. We believe that our title to the Shoprite shares is valid and that we will be able to rebut the arguments that we believe are being advanced by Shoprite. In the meantime, unsurprisingly, Shoprite's conduct has had the effect of discouraging trading of Shoprite shares in Zambia and harming the interests of legitimate shareholders like AOF. We will take all steps in our power to defend any legal action that may possibly be taken by Shoprite against AOF and to recover any losses that may arise as a result of Shoprite's conduct.
Posted at 10/6/2013 08:41 by jonwig
It's just possible that last week's fall has something to do with the Zambia-listed Shoprite shares.
The situation is explained (somewhat!) here:

hxxp://cfo.co.za/profiles/blogs/shoprite-halts-dividends-in-zambia

The FY results are due later this month, and some litigation is pending. It appears that some Lusaka-listed shares are 'missing'.

A positive result is expected by AOF and could lead to an immediate uplift of around 4c in NAV. The worst case (Shoprite holding = zero) would lose about 10c from NAV.

But more likely EM blues.
Posted at 20/4/2013 06:43 by jonwig
David Stevenson is keen on Africa and on AOF:



... my preferred play is a small, but well-regarded Aim-traded outfit called the Africa Opportunities Fund (AOF) managed by Francis Daniels. This trades at a 20 per cent discount to net asset value and invests in both African equities – key holdings include the big continent-wide retailer Shoprite and west African mobile phone network Sonatel – and government bonds. Unlike many other funds, South Africa is only a small part of the portfolio.

A much bigger chunk – 18 per cent, as at the end of 2012 – is in Nigeria. If I had to make a choice and pick one equity market that I think could be a dominant player over the next decade, it would have to be this one.
Posted at 22/2/2013 15:24 by jonwig
From AFMF's FY results:

Africa Opportunity Fund (6.0% of net asset value)

This London traded closed end fund had a difficult six months by African standards, with the NAV performance held back by exposure to resources companies. The NAV return was 7.1% on a total return basis but the share price return was -3.0% as the discount to NAV widened from 12.9% to 21.2%. The portfolio remains concentrated in deep value situations across Africa, many at the smaller end of the capitalisation spectrum. At the time of writing the ten largest investments (over 70% of NAV) were trading on a trailing average Price to Earnings ratio of 7.5x, a dividend yield of 7.5% and a Return on Equity and Return on Assets of 31.5% and 17.1% respectively. The fund will hold a continuation vote in the first half of 2014 and will likely witness discount narrowing in advance of that event.
Posted at 29/1/2013 16:17 by tenapen
My account does not hold AOF shares so im out already :(

back to lonr
Posted at 03/1/2013 09:04 by jonwig
Hi, tenapen.

I'm happy to limit my Africa exposure to AOF rather than look at individual stocks, and I've plenty of USD income which I can use to add to my holding.

AOF did underperform significantly in October (explained in their newsletter) but caught up in November. The December NAV will be announced shortly.

Incidentally, AFMF (which holds lots of AOF) has a continuation vote in 2016 and is looking at ways to return assets at NAV.
Posted at 24/10/2012 11:07 by loganair
From a couple of months back - Still an interesting read - Chris Mayer August 2012:

A year ago, I wrote to you about my favorite play on Africa - the Africa Opportunity Fund. (I also covered it in my book World Right Side Up.) It trades in London, ticker AOF. At the time, AOF traded for 83 pence. It is today about 78 pence. For all of 2011, a share in AOF fell 10.4% in price. The net asset value of the fund actually rose, however. At the end of May, AOF's NAV was nearly 90 pence.

That effort looks heroic when you consider what happened in African markets last year. South Africa (-15%), Nigeria (-19%), Kenya (-30%) and Egypt (-52%) were all down. It also compares favorably with what the large emerging markets did. Brazil (-27%), Russia (-20%), India (-37%) and China (-26%) all cost investors dearly. Last year, AOF proved its mettle. It is the safest way to invest in African stocks that I know of.

Robert Knapp and Francis Daniels are the headmasters of AOF. I caught up with Francis to get an update on the fund. He had recently completed his annual report. It is worth reading (visit www.africaopportunityfund.com).

The fund's biggest winner was Shoprite, a grocery store chain, which rose 79%. I am, however, drawn to the discussion on one the fund's losers. Losers are always more instructive. In this case, it was Great Basin Gold. The stock fell 67%, but the fund held bonds that lost 37%. The reason for the disappointment is one all gold investors will appreciate.

In 2011, Great Basin said it was going to produce 110,000 ounces of gold from its Burnstone mine. By March, that goal fell to 96,000 ounces. By June, it was down to 58,000. In July, Great Basin amended the forecast yet again to 30,000 ounces. Its actual production for the year came out to 21,989 ounces! Ah, you gotta love mining!

But the lesson Francis pulls out is a gem. He quotes from Sir Theodor Gregory's biography of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, the great mining magnate who founded
Anglo American in South Africa:

Ernest Oppenheimer throughout his business life insisted on the necessity of
liquidity, in the sense of always having available a large margin of uncommitted
resources; this implied, among other things, a cautious dividend policy and large reserve funds... The supreme need of a mining house, he held, was to maintain, at all times, an adequate margin of liquidity, not only so as to be able to take advantage of new opportunities, if and when they arose, but to prevent dependence on the vagaries of the money market.

A great bit of wisdom from an old mining crow - pin that up on your wall and don't forget it. "Great Basin Gold experienced a misfortune that forced it to breach Sir Ernest's financing policy," Francis writes, "a failing all too common among the mining and oil and gas exploration and development industries." So true...

But let us move on to the present-day opportunities. I was most fascinated by AOF's forays into agriculture, which make up 18% of the fund. Francis highlighted Okomu Oil, which makes crude palm oil and rubber. Palm oil is an ingredient in all kinds of soaps, cosmetics, edible oils and even biodiesel. AOF was able to pick up Okomu for less than replacement cost. The cost of starting a brand-new plantation comes to about $5,000 a hectare. Okomu was trading for about $3,600 a hectare. It also had a price-earnings ratio of less than 5 and pays an 18% yield.

These are the kinds of exposures that are nearly impossible for you get on your own but that you get in spades by owning AOF. I asked Francis what the biggest difference is today versus a year ago.

"The biggest difference I think is that the real cost of money in our markets has risen a lot, therefore harming stock market performance," Francis told me. "For example, the yield on 3-year treasury bills in Ghana, denominated in cedis, is 23% today. Inflation is 9%, so the real yield is 14%. It is tough for a stock market to compete with such money market returns. A year ago... Ghanaian government cedi-denominated treasury bill rates were in the 12% range for 182-day paper."

Across many markets in Africa there is a similar story. This creates competition for stocks. After all, why invest in a stock if you can get 23% on a 3-year t-bill? But these things ebb and flow, and AOF is in great position when the markets rise again, as they inevitably will.

Another big difference is in commodity pricing. Oil, coal, rubber and many others are all down. As natural resources are still an important part of the story for Africa, these declines have dampened stocks as well.

Even so, big investments in mining projects still move ahead. I asked Francis if there was a Mongolia of Africa, a country with a small population on the cusp of enjoying a huge windfall from natural resources.

"The Mongolia of Africa, to me, is Mozambique," Francis offered. "We have very modest exposure to Mozambique, but I would like to increase it a lot." Over the long term, Africa is rich in possibilities and deserving of a slot in your portfolio. AOF is a great way to get exposure to Africa. Francis is a friend of mine and worthy of your trust. As his annual report makes clear, he is a thoughtful money manager who follows a proven process. He has a great track record and has his own skin in the fund. The results should be good for patient investors.

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