AGI
    LITYEXPAND

Group overview

Hummingbirds are the trapeze artists of the avian world. They can fly forwards, backwards, even upside down and are also the only vertebrae capable of hovering in place. In addition to being agile, hummingbirds are extraordinarily fast. They have been observed at speeds of nearly 48 kilometres per hour (km/h) in direct flight and over 72 km/h during courtship dives.

Adaptability is another hummingbird characteristic. These tiny birds have fewer feathers than other birds, because they need to have an efficient body that is as lightweight as possible in order for the flight aerobics they perform. As the insulation that they get from their feathers is insufficient, at night they go into torpor, a hibernation-like state that allows them to conserve energy by slowing down their metabolism, heartbeat and respiration rate. Furthermore, hummingbirds remember migration routes and every flower they’ve ever visited. They can also figure out how long to wait between visits so the flowers have time to generate more nectar.

Inherent in our approach is being agile to stay ahead of market changes, preferences, customer needs and expectations.

ON
    WARDSEXPAND

Creating value by responding strategically

When presented with a dandelion, few people can resist the urge to hold the flower and blow at it to see how far the seeds will travel. It’s the same when presented with a beautiful coffee table book or an impactful piece of print – there is an almost irresistible urge to pick it up, examine it and touch it. Studies have shown that even the simple act of touching objects, like premium packages, brochures and direct mail, can subconsciously increase the perceived value of a brand and its products in the eyes of customers.

Touch can make a stronger impact than sight or sound alone. That’s because touch has the power to shift the brain into a deeper level of engagement, one more conducive to building lasting knowledge. In fact, a number of studies have found that communication through physical media, particularly paper, is more likely to lead to knowledge than communication via digital media.

The haptics of paper and board, together with our need to touch and feel, have created high-growth, cash-generative niche opportunities for Sappi.

We continue to move onwards in terms of paper and paper packaging: Our paperboard packaging product lines are some of the most renowned and valued brands with high-finish premium solutions for cosmetics and perfume, health and beauty care, consumer electronics, confectionery, luxury drinks, food packaging and more. Our packaging brands constitute a great portion of the food packing and labels on shop shelves today. And our graphic papers are used to grab the attention of consumers all over the world.

BLO
    SSOMEXPAND

Our performance review

In mythology, the beautiful, delicate dragonfly symbolises change, transformation and adaptability. This change is said to be about understanding the deeper meaning of life, with the dragonfly’s scurrying flight across water representing an act of going beyond what’s on the surface to look into the deeper implications of life.

Looking beyond – and deeper – is reflected in our Thrive25 sustainability strategy which incorporates our belief that to continue thriving as a global business, we must create long-term value for all stakeholders by supporting a low-carbon circular economy through relevant products from sustainable woodfibre.

Our strategy also recognises that we must understand the forces that heavily impact our lives and work.

Dragonflies have huge compound eyes with thousands of lenses and photoreceptors sensitive to different wavelengths of light, each bringing in information about the insect's surroundings. In other words, they have near-360- degree vision. Which is why they’re able to go after their prey – butterflies, moths, bees and flies – with such accuracy.

At Sappi, we understand that by widening our scope to the broader ecosystem and a wide range of stakeholders, we can identify uncertainty and opportunity beyond our periphery of vision. We leverage insights into our operating context and patterns from our data, stay ahead of nascent technologies and draw on the acumen of our people, to embrace change and create innovative solutions that are relevant to all our stakeholders.

VELO
    CITYEXPAND

Governance and compensation

The cheetah’s light, streamlined body makes it well-suited to short, explosive bursts of speed, rapid acceleration and executing extreme changes in direction while moving at high speed. Contrary to the common belief that cheetahs – known to be the fastest land animal – hunt by simply chasing their prey at high speeds, they are in fact extremely strategic. They don’t randomly sprint towards anything, but wait until the timing is right, varying their speed during the chase. Speed and smartness are attributes that resonate with us at Sappi, given that ‘making smart decisions which we execute with speed’ are among our core values.

Under our Thrive25 strategy, we foster a safety-first culture, using collaboration and the power of partnerships to respond to changes in our environment, moving Sappi forward and deliver value to our customers.

AMP
    LIFYEXPAND

Governance and compensation

In a continuous flow of energy and life, water always finds the lowest level in an incredibly efficient manner. It penetrates any crevice or path that will facilitate its downward flow, steadily meandering and descending in search of lower planes.

In a similar fashion, our focus is on amplifying value creation for all our stakeholders. The landscape around us is changing rapidly. Stakeholders’ needs and expectations have shifted, in particular as regards the environment and social equity.

We are responding to natural resource constraints by seeking responsible alternatives to non-renewables and solutions that are truly sustainable from seed to final product. We strictly monitor and control our use of energy, water and other raw materials and are investing in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

We work to amplify value creation through innovation and R&D. Innovation is the way we operate that provides competitive advantages and ensures we grow, flourish and progress. R&D is focused on realising our ambitious but achievable strategy of extracting more value from each tree. Our strategy is supported by technology centres in each region which cover every section of the value chain. We deliver value by optimising our production processes, maximising existing capacity and work to constantly improve our best overall machine efficiency levels.

In the communities where we operate, we prioritise projects that support education, entrepreneurship and environment, as well as health and welfare, while working to break the cycle of poverty through stable, safe employment.

By amplifying value creation in this way, we accelerate and advance meaningful change.

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Share statistics

as at September 2021

Shareholding

Ordinary shares in issue Number of
shareholders		 % Number of   
shares(1)		 % of shares
in issue
1 – 5,000 8,373 86.4 3,592,022 0.6
5,001 – 10,000 250 2.6 1,866,934 0.3
10,001 – 50,000 423 4.4 10,166,003 1.8
50,001 – 100,000 170 1.8 12,368,505 2.2
100,001 - 1,000,000 376 3.9 119,312,712 21.2
Over 1,000,000 83 0.9 414,216,140 73.9
  9,675 100.0 561,522,316 100.0
(1) The number of shares excludes 5,457,921 treasury shares held by the group.

Shareholder spread

Type of shareholder % of shares
in issue
Non-public 0.5
   Sappi Limited directors and prescribed officers 0.5
   Associates of group directors –
   Trustees of the company's share and retirement funding schemes 0.0
   Shareowners who, by virtue of any agreement, have the right to nominate board members –
   Share owners interested in 10% or more of the issued shares –
Public (the number of public shareholders as at September 2021 was 9,663) 99.5
  100.0

Sappi has a primary listing on the JSE Limited and a Level 1 ADR programme that trades in the over-the-counter market in the United States.

A large number of shares are held by nominee companies for beneficial shareholders. Pursuant to section 56(7) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 of South Africa, the directors have investigated the beneficial ownership of shares in Sappi Limited, including those which are registered in the nominee holdings. These investigations revealed as of September 2021, the following are beneficial holders of more than 5% of the issued share capital of Sappi Limited:

Beneficial holder Shares %
Public Investment Corporation 90,846,857 16.2
Alexander Forbes Investments 34,224,444 6.1
Allan Gray Balanced Fund 30,787,959 5.5

Further, as a result of these investigations, the directors have ascertained that some of the shares registered in the names of the nominee holders are managed by various fund managers and that, as of September 2021, the following fund managers were responsible for managing 5% or more of the share capital of Sappi Limited:

Fund manager Shares %
Public Investment Corporation 78,821,182 14.0
Allan Gray Pty Limited 78,235,288 13.9
Prudential Investment Managers 67,240,327 12.0
Ninety One Plc 64,917,106 11.6
Old Mutual Limited 37,930,522 6.8

 

Share statistics   2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Ordinary shares in issue (millions)(1)   561.5 546.1 542.8 539.3 535.0
Net asset value per share (US cents)   351 299 359 361 327
Number of shares traded (millions)            
   JSE   444.5 736.3 537.1 557.4 630.7
   New York   0.7 2.0 0.3 0.4 3.1
Value of shares traded            
   JSE (ZAR million)   17,073.0 24,509.3 33,141.3 49,837.1 54,760.0
   New York (US$ million)   1.6 4.0 1.5 2.9 20.3
Percentage of issued shares traded   79.3 135.2 99.0 103.4 118.5
Market price per share            
- year end                  JSE (South African cents)   3,861 2,377 3,629 8,875 9,206
                                  New York (US cents)   260 151 251 639 681
- highest                    JSE (South African cents)   5,269 4,799 9,059 10,579 10,438
                                  New York (US cents)   359 345 640 749 797
- lowest                      JSE (South African cents)   2,265 1,720 3,542 7,180 6,953
                                  New York (US cents)   135 107 241 613 509
Earnings yield (%)(2)   0.78 negative 16.29 9.56 9.28
Price/earnings ratio (times)(2)   128.99 negative 6.14 10.46 10.78
Total market capitalisation (US$ million)(2)   1,449 758 1,300 3,383 3,633
(1) The number of shares excludes 5,457,921 treasury shares held by the group.
(2) Based on financial year-end closing prices on the JSE Limited. Income statement amounts have been converted at average year-to-date exchange rates.

Note: Definitions for various terms and ratios used above are included in the Glossary section.