Corporate growth of JSE listed empowerment companies

Abstract

One of the aims of BEE is to foster sustainable corporate growth of empowerment companies. This is projected to contribute to the growth of a deracialised South African economy, eradication of inequalities, underdevelopment and the achievement of enhanced widespread income levels in the economy. This study assessed the growth performance of empowerment companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange against a background of enabling regulatory and other BEE support measures. In general, corporate growth manifests itself through numerical improvements in financial measures like turnover, total asset value and share price. These financials for a sample of empowerment companies were statistically analysed and compared to market averages and selected growth predictor models. The results indicate that for the period 2003 to 2006, share price growth for empowerment companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange followed closely that of both the FTSE/JSE All Share Index and the sales growth predictor model but not the FTSE/JSE Style Indices and the asset growth predictor model. This implies that over this period, the aggregate portfolio of listed empowerment companies did not exhibit attributes similar to those of other listed companies weighted towards identifiable growth and value characteristics.