A long voyage
The Jowells looked after shareholders for decades, and set a good example for managing a family-owned enterprise
For many faithful Cape Town-based investors it was the end of an era last week when Sens announced that brothers Neil and Cecil Jowell were stepping down from their executive posts at container management giant Trencor.
The announcement added some deserved colour, reminding investors that Neil and Cecil were the sons of the legendary Joe Jowell, the founder of the original enterprise of what today is Trencor in the small town of Springbok during the 1930s.
The brothers joined Trencor in the 1950s, when it was still mainly a transport company. The announcement notes, with great understatement, that the brothers played a large role steering the group from a small road transport business to a leading nationwide carrier and “then through a number of changes to adjust to changing circumstances”. These included trailer manufacturing (anyone remember Henred-Fruehauf?) and dry freight marine cargo container manufacturing for the export market.
By the late 1970s Trencor had started financing the sale of containers on long-term credit, and these days earns most of its keep from managing container fleets via its shareholding in New York Stock Exchange-listed Textainer.
What a journey — from a small town in the Northern Cape to the bright lights of New York.
But the Sens announcement is only half the story.
I don’t think one can really give enough credit to the Jowells for keeping Trencor relevant for over five decades as the business environment changed, and for calmly overcoming the odd setback (I can recall a costly currency hedge in the 1990s, a spat with Sars and also the dalliance with assets belonging to W&A Holdings). The JSE is, unfortunately, littered with examples of the stubbornness of executives or controlling shareholders in the face of fast-changing trading conditions costing shareholders dearly. The Jowells were smart enough to ensure Trencor exited its manufacturing business before incurring dents on the balance sheet — especially the well-timed exit from container manufacturing when the Chinese producers came on stream.
Credit must also be given for a pragmatic approach to shareholder