Cori Ham (left) and Brian Johnson.

Stellenbosch University, in collaboration with Margules Groome Consulting from Australia, will present an Advanced Forest Valuation course from 14 to 15 November 2018 in Pietermaritzburg.

Ever since the first South African publication in 1941 of a paper related to forestry valuation (O’Connor, 1941) the topic attracted much debate and discussion around valuation methods, interest rates, land values and the allocation of cost and income items.

Despite these debates around methods and valuation assumptions, South Africa has not developed a forestry valuation standard as in the case of New Zealand.

Currently valuation practices are guided by experience, the outcome of court cases and guidelines provided by the Southern African Institute of Forestry Handbooks. “The Faustmann method” has become the de facto answer when asking about valuation methods used by timber owners and consultants.

International valuation methods
A growing interest amongst timber investors in South African plantations, however, brought about exposure to international valuation methods and standards. International investors are interested in future returns from their assets and might require expectation approaches based on long-term timber flows and projections. Less focus might be placed on standing or liquidity values and Faustmann valuations, based on historical costs, which are generally used in South Africa.

Since 2007, the Department of Forest and Wood Science at Stellenbosch University has presented annual forest finance and valuation short courses to guide participants in basic finance and valuation principles and practices. The “Forest Finance and Valuation: What every forester should know” and “Continuing Education in Forest Finance and Economics” courses, presented by Cori Ham and Prof Mike Jacobson, have been attended by nearly 200 participants.

In 2018 the Department of Forest and Wood Science in collaboration with Margules Groome Consulting from Australia will present the “Advanced Forest Valuation: What every forester should know” course from 14 to 15 November at the Ascot Inn in Pietermaritzburg. This course will focus on exposing participants to internationally accepted valuation methods, reporting standards and valuation requirements for timberland investments.

International forestry valuer
Brian Johnson, an experience international forestry valuer and director at Margules Groome from New Zealand, will present the course and Cori Ham from Stellenbosch University will assist him.

The course fee is R 5 500 and includes a Stellenbosch University short course certificate, class notes and refreshments.

For more info contact Cori Ham at cori@sun.ac.za 
or call 082 771 9540.