Court rules in favour of Seardel

The company‚ which had settled litigation with former directors last year‚ said last week it had been advised that the third parties did not enjoy any further rights of appeal‚ and it would now take the necessary steps to effect transfer of the property.

The prior settlement of close to R250m had related to personal property transactions by former directors‚ with the company saying those benefits should have accrued to it. The share price rose over 20% on the news at the time.

Hosken Consolidated Investments acquired more than 50% of the company in 2008‚ effectively saving it from financial distress. Since then over a thousand jobs were shed‚ but it managed to report its first profit in five years.

The Observatory property will be noted as a post balance sheet event in the financial statements of the company and was not included in the results for the year ended March.

The addition of the property improves Seardel's value.