Uniti Wireless raking in the cash for wiley Wyllie clan

Perth investor Rhonda Wyllie owns some of the hottest stocks on the ASX at the moment.

Perth investor Rhonda Wyllie, centre.

Perth investor Rhonda Wyllie owns some of the hottest stocks on the ASX at the moment, including a fast broadband provider that has almost quadrupled in value since the beginning of the year.

Rhonda Wyllie

• Age: 63
• Lives: Perth
• Net worth: $464 million
• Source: Investments, property, rural holdings
• Secrets of success: Investing in small caps via Viburnum Funds

Wyllie and her family have a holding in Uniti Wireless, which has increased in value by more than 300 per cent since floating on the ASX in February, and a host of other fast-growing stocks via both their family investment firm and fund manager Viburnum Funds.

Both Wyllie Group and Viburnum have shares in about 30 small and mid-cap ASX-listed stocks, according to Bloomberg. The Wyllie family have a 26.7 per cent shareholding in the private Viburnum, which was launched in 2007 as a niche funds management company.

Uniti shares have shot up after a strong first quarter in cash-flow terms and a strategy to grow via acquisitions, and Viburnum took some money off the table last month in selling a slice of its shareholding.

It also has shares in telco and media stocks such as Macquarie Telecom, which has fallen 5 per cent since January 1, and Pacific Star Network, owner of Melbourne’s SEN sports radio network.

Viburnum helped engineer last year’s merger of Pacific Star with Melbourne media identity Craig Hutchison’s Crocmedia, providing $8.25 million of a $10m placement to facilitate the deal. Hutchison has since emerged as the company’s biggest shareholder with a stake worth $15m.

Pacific Star shares have fallen 8 per cent since January, falling recently by 10 per cent in April alone.

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Viburnum’s biggest holding, and one of its most successful in recent times, is in car parts industry software company Infomedia. Its shares have increased 60 per cent in value since the beginning of the year and has doubled in the past 12 months to hit its highest mark for more than a decade. ­Viburnum’s shareholding is now worth about $85m.

These stocks are part of an investment portfolio worth an estimated $464m, placing Wyllie in 214th position on the 2019 edition of The List, Australia’s Richest 250, published by The Australian in late March.

The Wyllie family wealth ­traces back to Wyllie’s late husband Bill “the smiling Tiger” ­Wyllie, who forged a highly successful career as a corporate turnaround expert in Hong Kong before moving the family back to Perth last decade.

Rhonda Wyllie has since married former Nine Network managing director Jeff Browne, and oversees a family empire spanning share investments, funds management concerns and commercial and residential property holdings.

Investments in Wyllie Group’s portfolio include properties and shares and private equity holdings. The family also owns Murray River Farm in Coolup — outside Perth, on which it runs Black Angus beef cattle on 1525ha of prime sheep and beef land — and the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Wyllie Group’s accounts for the 2018 financial year, lodged late last year with the corporate regulator, showed it making an $11m net profit from $19m revenue from its investments. The family was paid a $5m dividend from the profits.

The accounts show the group having net assets of about $212m, including $15.5m in investment properties and $32m in financial assets. It also has about $8.5m in loans to unrelated parties that earn it 12 per cent in annual interest. Wyllie Group also owns about $3m worth of gold bullion, its accounts reveal.

The group also has a 63.5 per stake in the private Modularis, which is the Perth construction company Modular Homes.

As the company name suggests, Modular Homes makes modular or transportable homes. The business is run by Wayne McGrath, Wyllie Group’s executive chairman and the brother of Rhonda Wyllie.

Wyllie Group’s accounts suggest Modular Homes makes about $10m in revenue annually, while Viburnum’s profit would top the $1m mark.

Wyllie Group’s direct share portfolio includes property funds manager 360 Capital, which is down about 4 per cent since January 1, and the Centurial Metropolitan REIT, which has risen about 8 per cent in the same time.

The best performer in the portfolio has been Orion Minerals, which has risen about 70 per cent. Orion’s flagship project is the Prieska Zinc-Copper Project in South Africa, and it also has tenements in Western Australia and Victoria.