This week has been another difficult one for investors, with international markets on a downward spiral and mixed results and economic data being released on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the past year, Sanlam stumbled as a result of the Unifer disaster and a sad performance from the now-delisted Gensec. This South African giant has a lot of work to do to convince the market that it is no dinosaur dodging a prehistoric meteor shower.
All the senior company stewards attended the slick results presentation on Thursday afternoon. It took the form of an elaborate video conference linking Cape Town, Johannesburg and London that was most notable for the lack of questions.
This either meant that management had given the presentation of a lifetime, covering every aspect of the business, or that the analysts did not want to ask questions in the full glare of public scrutiny.
Hats off to Sanlam - it has identified the problem areas and we wait with bated breath for a progress report at the next results presentation.
A disturbing feature of the week was the depressed price of Sage shares as a result of negative press reports late last week. It shows how important it is for the public relations officers of a company under siege to spring into action at once to limit the damage caused by such reports.
The market has been nervous of Sage since the financing of its business in the United States became a cause for concern. The high dividend yield has sucked many income-dependent older investors onto the share register over the years and all hell will break loose if this one hits the wall - particularly in the light of Unifer, Saambou, Fedsure, BoE et al.
Sage should seriously consider taking measures to calm its stakeholders, or, at the very least, give concrete proposals as to how the funding is to be achieved.
Another sad story was what can only be called the MB Technologies fiasco. Management proposed to buy out minorities at R1.40 a share, subject to a due diligence and a number of other conditions.
One would like to think that if anybody is in a position to know what is going on inside a company it would be the management. It therefore came as a nasty shock to the market that management was so out of touch with reality that it later had to reduce the offer by a staggering 21 percent to R1.10 a share.
This is a poor show indeed, and it is hardly astonishing that shareholders are not fainting with admiration. Some even assume that the management team is pulling a fast one!
An issue that crops up over and over again at the Shareholders' Association is what happens to the left-for-dead listings on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) once they are delisted. Over the past few weeks there have been a number of queries relating to one such case.
Cast your mind back to Micor, once known as Associated Diesel Holdings, which distributed DNA shares to shareholders before bowing off the JSE while still, apparently, having some assets on the balance sheet.
The financial statements have been produced for the 12 months to June 30, 2000, but there is still no sign of statements for 2001 or 2002.
Once they have delisted it appears that companies hope shareholders will forget about them. Fortunately, some shareholders have long memories and like proper closure - even if it is only a photostat report in the post to say: "Sorry chaps there was no money left in the pot for shareholders after the vultures took their share."
Come on company secretary, tie up the loose ends and close the file.