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UPDATE 2-Steinhoff shares bounce off 14-year low in volatile trade
* Shares plunge 50 percent to hit 14 year low
* Recover as traders take profits on short positions
* Stock, bonds hit after accounting irregularities found
(Adds traders' comments, updates shares)
By Tanisha Heiberg and Tiisetso Motsoeneng
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Steinhoff
shares plunged another 50 percent on Friday, before recovering
as traders booked profits on short positions taken out after the
South African retailer disclosed accounting irregularities
earlier this week.
More than $12 billion has been wiped off the market value of
the owner of Conforama furniture stores and Poundland discount
shops since Wednesday, when it announced an independent
investigation into its accounts and said its CEO was leaving.
At 1135 GMT, the stock was down 12 percent in Johannesburg
after earlier touching a 14-year lower of 5 rand. It was down
2.4 percent in Frankfurt, where the group has a primary listing.
"This buying we are seeing now is people that sold the
shares short when it was in the fifty-fives and the sixties,"
said Cratos Capital equities trader Greg Davies.
Short-sellers borrow shares for a fee and sell them into the
market, in the hope of repurchasing them at a lower price and
pocketing the difference.
More than half of Steinhoff's shares that are available to
borrow are currently out of loan, according to Markit, a data
provider - more than doubling from August and up from 40 percent
on Monday. The figure is a record for Steinhoff and the highest
for any South African company tracked by Markit.
The cost for short-sellers to borrow shares for a year has
more than doubled from its twelve-month average of 1.4 percent
to 3.1 percent, according to Astec, another data provider. Both
Markit and Astec estimate it would take around ten days of
trading for short-sellers to close all their positions.
'BOTTOM FISHING'
Another trader in Johannesburg said there was a growing
sense that this week's approximate 80 percent share price tumble
had triggered "bottom fishing" by buyers speculating the stock
was at a level from which it could only go up.
"There does seem to be a little bit of bottom feeding coming
in here, we are starting to see in the last half hour or so,"
Independent Securities trader Ryan Woods said.
Steinhoff's problems deepened on Thursday after Moody's cut
its credit rating and raised concerns about its governance.
"Given that allegations of accounting irregularities were
raised and rebutted in August 2017 and again in November 2017 it
calls into question the quality of oversight and governance at
Steinhoff," Moody's said in a statement.
It cut Steinhoff's debt to B1, or highly speculative, from
Baa3, the lowest investment grade rating.
Steinhoff admitted to accounting problems earlier this week
and its veteran chief executive Markus Jooste quit, raising
questions about its liquidity and future. [nL8N1O60Z5]
A lower credit rating means the borrower usually has to pay
more to borrow from investors and can reduce the value of its
existing debt, forcing some holders to sell.
Steinhoff used debt to fund an acquisition strategy that
turned it from a South African furniture group to an
international retail empire.
The company has been under investigation for suspected
accounting irregularities by the state prosecutor in Oldenburg,
Germany, since 2015.
Four current and former Steinhoff managers are suspected of
having overstated revenue at subsidiaries, German prosecutors
said this week.
Steinhoff has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the
German allegations. It has not given any details about the
"irregularities" it has identified and has sought to reassure
investors about its liquidity.
($1 = 13.7095 rand)
(Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Alexander
Smith and Mark Potter)
((tiisetso.motsoeneng@thomsonreuters.com; +27 11 775 3122;
Reuters Messaging:
tiisetso.motsoeneng.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: STEINHOFF INTLNL RESULTS/