21 December 2007
	JOHN DANIEL Rather a lot to discuss By Rob Rose

It's an unwritten rule that one ought to beware of a company that issues critical announcements on Christmas Eve. Now we can add another suspect category to the list: those that hold an AGM on New Year's Eve. That's what John Daniel, the investment holding company that focuses on "advanced technologies", is doing. According to John Daniel's annual report, the meeting is scheduled for 11 am on December 31 in Stellenbosch. Just to make matters more interesting, the cutoff time for proxies is 8.30 am. Absa, which holds 6,3% of the shares, must be charmed. CEO Harry Minnie admits this is "an odd time" for the AGM, but says printing glitches pushed his company into a corner. "Under the JSE rules, we have to have our meeting within a six-month period. We normally have a meeting just after December 20... There are a couple of shareholders who attend. They like us having it over the holiday period because it gives them a chance to come down to Stellenbosch." John Daniel, listed on the venture capital market, holds 37% of Vinguard, which specialises in preserving table grapes, and 30% o f Lazaron Biotechnologies, which specialises in regenerative cell technologies. On December 14 the share price was 1c, down from a 12-month high of 2c. Presumably the meeting will be followed by an early lunch.