Trustco share price breaks out – offered shareholders 100% growth just before Christmas
Trustco’s share price which took a severe beating in October 2018, has bounced back with unbelievable strength. It started a tentative rally on 06 November last year from a very low base of N$6.20 per share. Its rise was consistent and meteoric, reaching N$14.50 on 24 December, well above its previous best level of N$13.49 on 31 August 2018.
By 31 December, Trustco (TTO-JSE) has set a new all-time record of N$15.76 per share and then managed to gain a few more points by reaching N$16 last week Thursday. Since then its price has moderated slightly by about 5% to N$15.21 on Monday 07 January but not a single trade took place during the day. Monday’s price was still more than 150% higher than its 52-week low.
Trustco has had a rollercoaster 2018, starting the year at just below N$9 following a modest rally at the end of 2017. For the first semester of 2018 it meandered around the N$9 level before a minor rally in June which took it to N$12 on 29 June. The share corrected during the following two months but a major rally started in August and culminated in the previous record high of N$13.49 at the end of August last year.
In the month and a half after the previous record, Trustco’s share price collapsed, sinking to the low of N$6.15 by the middle of October. A second dip followed less than a week later but the share did not go below N$6.20.
At that time, the group Managing Director, Dr Quinton van Rooyen announced an extensive refinancing package, funded mostly by his private investment vehicle. This had the desired effect, allaying investors’ fears of a Trustco default due to its high debt load, and sending the stock on its year-end rally which essentially produced more than a 100% return in only one and a half months.
Graph from Sharenet, based on JSE trading data.
