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Ghost Bites (Accelerate Property Fund | MTN | Reinet)

The Finance Ghost
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Ghost Bites (Accelerate Property Fund | MTN | Reinet)

Accelerate Property Fund is making proper strides now (JSE: APF)

This speculative investment has worked out well for me

Accelerate Property Fund is a good example of an unusually risky position in my portfolio. Sized appropriately (just in case), it worked out really well. My position is up 70%.

Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had bought a lot more!

When property funds are in trouble, the good news is that you’ve got decent visibility on the underlying assets and liabilities. And thanks to transparent financial reporting by the company and a commitment to talking about the problems rather than hiding them away, I felt that the market was putting too steep a discount on the underlying net asset value (NAV) per share at Accelerate.

In a voluntary update for the year ending March 2026, it looks as though the company has made a lot of positive progress. We will only know for sure when the results are released in July.

Having previously executed a rights offer of R300 million and asset disposals of R1.7 billion, Accelerate had R2 billion in capital to help steady the ship. They reduced debt by R1.9 billion through these initiatives. With disposals of R378 million expected to transfer post year-end, things are looking up for the balance sheet.

Accelerate has invested R173 million into Fourways Mall since Flanagan & Gerard and Moolman Group were appointed as property and asset managers. The great news is that it’s working, with vacancies down to 9.4% from 16.1% in the prior year! It gets better – based on signed leases and those in advanced stages, vacancy is expected to reduce to approximately 5% by September 2026.

Average trading density at Fourways Mall has increased by 8.6% on a rolling 12-month basis. Footfall is up 20%. This is really impressive stuff.

The tenant mix in the precinct looks set to improve, with a focus on high-quality dining experiences. New tenants include Tashas and The Pantry.

They aren’t completely free of headaches, though. There are properties in the group outside of Fourways Mall. For example, Oceana Group has given notice that they will vacate Oceana House in the Foreshore when the lease expires in June 2026.

Another pain point is the lease with KPMG across several properties. It reverts to market-related rates with effect from August 2026 – and those rates are “materially” below the current levels.

The impact of the Oceana and KPMG leases is significant, with Accelerate noting that they are engaging with funders for covenant relief where required. This is still a speculative play, but the massive white elephant in the room – Fourways Mall – is showing excellent signs of life.

MTN announces several new directors (JSE: MTN)

They are really beefing up the board

MTN has announced the appointment of five new directors to the board. There are only two directors retiring from the board, so it looks like MTN is going to need a bigger boardroom table.

A name you’ll recognise from Ghost Bites is Herman Bosman, previously the CEO of RMB Holdings (JSE: RMH). He’s already involved with MTN as the chairman of MTN Group Fintech.

Advocate Ouma Resethaba was previously the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit in South Africa. She brings plenty of experience to the board in dealing with risk.

Another local appointment is Ignatius Sehoole, previously the CEO of KPMG in South Africa, among other roles.

In terms of international perspectives, Stephane Richard (previously the CEO of Orange) and Saf Yeboah-Amankwah (ex-Chief Strategy Officer at Intel) have also joined the board.

That’s quite a show of intent from the company in terms of ramping up the skills in the room.

Reinet’s bank account just got a lot fatter (JSE: RNI)

But what will they do with the cash?

Reinet announced that the sale of the entire stake in Pension Insurance Corporation Group to Athora UK has been completed.

The proceeds? A casual £2.9 billion. In rand, that’s around R66 billion. That’s a chunky number.

What will they do with it? That’s anyone’s guess. The Rupert family companies are not exactly famous for share buybacks, so I suspect that they are going to look to deploy this capital into new investments.

To give you an idea of how enormous this number is, Reinet just received cash in excess of the entire Old Mutual (JSE: OMU) market cap of R58 billion. I’m not speculating on an acquisition here – I’m giving you context to the size of the war chest.

It’s actually even bigger than this, as Reinet is sitting on cash from previous disposals. Never mind a private island – Reinet could just about acquire a planet at this stage.

It’s not easy to figure out what to do with this kind of money. What do you think they will do with the proceeds?

Nibbles:

  • Director dealings:
    • The Wiese family have been playing musical shares again with Invicta (JSE: IVT) shares. Across various family investment entities, a casual R492 million worth of shares changed hands.
    • A senior executive at Investec (JSE: INL | JSE: INP) sold shares in the company worth R10 million.
    • The chairman of Shaftesbury Capital (JSE: SHC) sold shares worth R2.8 million.
    • The CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) bought shares worth R1.9 million.
    • The CEO of AVI (JSE: AVI) exercised share options and sold all the shares received. The value of the trade was R1.4 million.
    • The COO of Spur (JSE: SUR) sold shares worth R391k.
    • A director of KAP (JSE: KAP) bought shares worth R345k.
  • Salungano Group (JSE: SLG) has finally caught up on financial reporting for the year ended March 2025. The results were actually a vast improvement on the comparable period, with operating profit swinging wildly from a loss of R309 million to profit of R189 million. HEPS was 2.62 cents, a whole lot better than a headline loss per share in the comparable period of 111.91 cents. I must note that at the end of March 2025, current liabilities exceeded current assets, which creates going concern risks. The company announced the appointment of Jannie Muller as the CFO of the company. He has been the interim CFO since February 2025. Let’s hope that the 2026 interim results will be next on his agenda, as the company still has catching up to do with its reporting.
  • Rex Trueform (JSE: RTO) has released results for the six months to December 2025. There’s practically no liquidity in the stock, so they only get a passing mention down here. Revenue was up 4.4% and gross margin increased from 52.4% to 53.2%. Sounds good, except operating costs jumped by 20.1% due to the investment in technology companies in the group. Operating profit fell by 59%, creating a difficult situation in a business with thin margins. With finance costs slightly up, profit before tax fell by 83.9%. If we work off HEPS, the decrease was 98.2%! African and Overseas Enterprises (JSE: AOO), part of the same family of companies and with the same website, saw HEPS drop from positive 76.9 cents to a loss of 10.8 cents.
  • Visual International Holdings (JSE: VIS) released a trading statement for the year ended February 2026. There’s very little liquidity in the stock, so it only gets a mention down here. HEPS is expected to be at least 20% higher than the 0.39 cents reported in the prior period. As with all trading statements, the wording “at least 20%” is the minimum required disclosure, so the final number may or may not differ by a much larger percentage.
  • Randgold & Exploration Company (JSE: RNG) is a very small and obscure name on the local market. The company has released results for the year ended December 2025. Full focus is on “the recovery of claims related to assets allegedly misappropriated from it” – not the kind of vision or strategy statement that you’ll see every day. Oddly, they are spending more on personnel than on legal and forensic fees at the moment.
  • AB InBev (JSE: ANH) announced that chairman Martin J. Barrington will be retiring after 7 years in the role. William F. Gifford, Jr has been proposed as the new chairman, subject to approvals.
  • OUTsurance Group (JSE: OUT) has received approval from the JSE for the special dividend of 30.3 cents per share. I can’t help myself: shareholders will be getting something out! It’s incredible how an era of ads will stay with you for life.
  • Wesizwe Platinum (JSE: WEZ) is catching up on financial reporting. They’ve released a trading statement dealing with the six months to June 2025. HEPS for the period increased by between 39% and 59%. The results are expected to be released by the end of March.
  • Sable Exploration and Mining (JSE: SXM) is currently suspended from trading. This means that they need to provide a quarterly update to the market. They are currently engaging with potential auditors, so there’s a long road ahead. No timeline has been given for the expected lifting of the suspension.

The Nazi who was tried as a pirate

Dominique Olivier
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The Nazi who was tried as a pirate

The scale and nature of Adolf Eichmann’s crimes placed them outside the reach of conventional legal frameworks. To hold him accountable, one court turned to a centuries-old doctrine designed to prosecute those who were considered enemies of all humanity.

At one point in history, not too long ago, a man who identified as a Nazi was told by a court of law that he was also a pirate.

It sounds… odd? These are not categories we expect to overlap. And yet, in 1961, in a courtroom in Jerusalem, that is more or less what happened.

Before the trial of Adolf Eichmann could properly begin, prosecutors faced a problem. How does an Israeli court try a German man, living under Argentine protection, for crimes committed across Europe against victims from multiple countries?

The usual legal pathways did not quite stretch that far. So, prosecutors reached for something older – a principle shaped in a time when criminals operated beyond borders, far from any single nation’s authority. It was a framework built for 17th century pirates. And now it was being used to deal with something far more modern.

A deadly cog in the machinery

Adolf Eichmann was not a public figure in the way some Nazi leaders were. He did not command armies or deliver speeches to crowds. His role sat deeper in the system, in the part that made everything run.

He joined the SS in 1932 and was eventually assigned to what the regime called “Jewish affairs”. Over time, he became one of the people responsible for organising deportations across Europe. His work was almost purely logistical: trains, routes, schedules, numbers. He did not design the camps himself, but he ensured that people arrived at them in vast numbers and with relentless efficiency.

When senior Nazi officials met at Wannsee in 1942 to formalise the “Final Solution”, Eichmann was there, recording the minutes. Genocide was being translated into paperwork, and he was part of the process that made it operational.

In 1944, he personally oversaw the deportation of roughly 437,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. Around 75% of them were murdered shortly after arriving there. Across Europe, the scale of the transports he helped organise makes it difficult to put a precise number on the lives lost through his involvement.

When the war ended in 1945, Eichmann was captured by American forces. For a brief moment, it looked as though he might be held accountable for his actions. But then, he slipped through. Using forged documents, he concealed his identity and avoided detection. When it looked as though his true identity had been revealed, he escaped from a work detail and disappeared into the confusion of post-war Europe. His name surfaced repeatedly in the testimony of his fellow party members at the Nuremberg trials, but he himself did not.

In 1950, he made the disappearance permanent. With the help of covert networks that moved former Nazis out of Europe, he obtained Red Cross papers under the name Ricardo Klement and travelled to Argentina.

The man who almost got away

Argentina offered exactly the kind of distance Eichmann needed. There was no extradition treaty with Israel or Germany, and while the government appeared to be aware of the fact that their country was becoming somewhat of an open-air retirement home for war criminals, authorities showed little urgency when it came to pursuing Nazi fugitives. It created the ideal space for someone like Eichmann to settle in.

And he did exactly that. He worked a series of ordinary jobs before finding more stable employment at Mercedes-Benz, where he was eventually promoted to the position of department head. He brought his family over and built them a home. To the people around him, he was unremarkable, simply a family man with a routine, a job, a place in the neighbourhood.

Eichmann may have been moving on, but the people on his trail – predominantly Holocaust-survivor-turned-Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal – were not. As the years passed,  suspicions about Ricardo Clement’s true identity began to surface and circulate, and those who were looking for him took notice. But figuring out where Eichmann was was only step one. What came next was the really tricky part. 

Extradition was not a realistic option. Argentina had a history of refusing such requests, and even attempting one carried the risk of alerting Eichmann or those who would protect him. If he disappeared again, there was no guarantee he would be found a second time.

Foiled by a teenager

Lothar Hermann was a German Jew who had fled to Argentina before the war. In 1956, his teenage daughter Sylvia began dating a young man named Klaus. Klaus was charming, but he also had a habit of talking too much. At some point, he began boasting about his father’s past, dropping references to Nazi connections. 

It was the sort of thing that might have been dismissed as bravado, except for one detail: his surname was Eichmann.

Lothar sensed what was happening. To be sure of the facts, he asked Sylvia to go to the family home and see who answered the door. When she arrived, it wasn’t Klaus who greeted her, but an older man who introduced himself as Klaus’ uncle. He seemed cautious and measured. Then, a short while later, Klaus appeared and addressed him plainly as “Father”.

Lothar alerted Fritz Bauer, the prosecutor-general of the state of Hesse in West Germany, who in turn made the decision to approach Israeli authorities directly. From there, the slow machinery of investigation began to move with more purpose. By the end of the 1950s, Israeli authorities had enough to justify closer scrutiny. Mossad agents were sent to Buenos Aires, where they began observing Eichmann’s daily movements. They watched his movements, noted his habits, and compared what they saw with what they knew.

He took the bus home at roughly the same time each day, and he followed the same route on foot. There was a predictability to his life that made surveillance possible and, eventually, a plan feasible. On the evening of 11 May 1960, Eichmann was intercepted by a team of agents while walking home. He was overpowered and forced into a waiting car. Several days later, he was sedated and snuck onto a plane to Israel. 

The legal problem

Argentina’s response was immediate. From its perspective, its sovereignty had been violated. Foreign agents had entered the country, abducted a resident, and removed him without permission. The dispute was taken to the United Nations.

Israel acknowledged the breach, but did not return Eichmann. Instead, it moved forward with the trial. That decision brought the central legal issue into focus. Eichmann’s crimes had taken place in Europe. He was a German national who had been living in Argentina. The state preparing to try him had not existed when those crimes were committed. The usual rules about jurisdiction did not provide a clear answer.

To proceed, the court needed a principle that could stretch across borders and still hold. And that principle came from an unexpected place.

Between the 1600s and 1700s, rampant piracy forced legal systems to confront a similar problem. Pirates operated beyond the reach of any single nation, attacking ships in international waters and constantly moving between jurisdictions. Since traditional rules struggled to contain them, the response was the concept of universal jurisdiction. Since pirates were considered hostis humani generis – or enemies of all humanity – the decision was made that any state was allowed to prosecute them, regardless of where their crimes took place or where they themselves were from. 

By the 20th century, this idea was well-established in relation to piracy. What had not yet been fully resolved was whether it could apply to crimes committed on land, within the borders of states, against civilian populations.

The Holocaust forced that question into the open. In Eichmann’s case, the court framed his actions as crimes against humanity, extending beyond any one country or legal system. That framing made it possible to apply a form of universal jurisdiction. For the purposes of the trial, Eichmann was condemned as both a Nazi and a pirate. 

Eichmann’s end

The trial began in Jerusalem in April 1961 and unfolded over several months. The prosecution presented documents, records, and testimony from survivors who described, in detail, the systems that had shaped their trauma. Eichmann’s defence remained consistent throughout. He argued that he had been following orders, that he was part of a larger machine, that responsibility lay elsewhere. His denial of personal responsibility would later inspire a researcher at Yale University to design the Milgram experiment in order to test the limits of human obedience (in case you missed it, I covered that experiment and its findings in an article here). 

The court rejected Eichmann’s argument. It found him guilty on multiple counts, including crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people. In December 1961, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out by hanging the following year.

A strange alignment

Dubbing Eichmann hostis humani generis wasn’t an attempt to be poetic. It was a way of saying that what he (and he fellow Nazi party members) had done could not be contained within nationality or geography. The scale of the crime demanded a broader claim and a different kind of accountability.

The comparison to piracy feels mismatched, almost absurd at first glance. But that discomfort is part of the point. It reveals the limits of the systems we build, and the strange places we have to go when those systems fall short. Because in the end, the alternative was far stranger: a world in which someone could help orchestrate the machinery of genocide, cross a border, change a name, and simply carry on.

About the author: Dominique Olivier

Dominique Olivier is the founder of human.writer, where she uses her love of storytelling and ideation to help brands solve problems.

Her first book, Lessons from Loss, has been published by Penguin Random House.

She is a weekly columnist in Ghost Mail and collaborates with The Finance Ghost on Ghost Mail Weekender, a Sunday publication designed to help you be more interesting.

Dominique can be reached on LinkedIn here.

Ghost Bites (CA Sales | Exemplar REITail | Gemfields | Standard Bank | Trematon | York Timber)

The Finance Ghost
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Ghost Bites (CA Sales | Exemplar REITail | Gemfields | Standard Bank | Trematon | York Timber)

CA Sales Holdings somehow managed to grow profits in Botswana (JSE: CAA)

I don’t think anyone expected this

CA Sales Holdings is a fascinating company. Let me begin by thanking the company for their ongoing support of my work in Ghost Mail – they have placed their results and associated commentary from the CEO here. Please make sure you check it out!

When I saw the results, the first thing I did was look for the segmental performance. Botswana is the major risk, with tough macroeconomic scenes in that country due to the pressure on the mined diamond industry.

Although revenue fell by around R240 million in Botswana, they somehow managed to grow EBIT by R40 million! That is a genuinely exceptional outcome.

Group EBIT was up by around R78 million, so over half the uplift was achieved in a market that everyone thought would be going the wrong way. You won’t see that every day.

This strong performance in the group margins is why operating profit increased by 10.0%, despite group revenue increasing by only 2.3%.

A further boost came from the acquisition of the Tradco Group in East Africa, which boosts the income from associates line.

By the time you reach the bottom of the income statement, you’ll find HEPS growth of 17.1% and a dividend increase of 17.4%. Talk about shrugging off the market worries!

I must point out that there’s only so far that margin expansion will take you. Revenue growth needs to be the long-term driver of earnings, so the worries in Botswana shouldn’t be ignored. It’s just impressive to see how well CA&S has managed them.

What are your views on the company?

Exemplar REITail expects a juicy jump in earnings (JSE: EXP)

Here’s another property fund growing in the mid-teens

Commentator’s curse, it seems – after I mentioned earlier this week that Heriot REIT (JSE: HET) had an unusually high growth rate in the mid-teens, we now have Exemplar REITail putting out a trading statement with a similar growth rate!

The distribution per share for the year ended February 2026 is expected to be up by between 14.1% and 15.4%. And in FY27, they expect a further increase of 9% to 11%.

The net asset value (NAV) per share is between R19.20 and R19.30. The share price closed nearly 12% higher on the day at R17.35.

Gemfields has released a tough set of results (JSE: GML)

They desperately need the ruby and emerald market to give them some love

Gemfields released results for the year ended December 2025. They are nasty, I’m afraid – total revenue fell by more than 32%. Although they brought operating costs down by 17.5%, it wasn’t enough to save the period.

The good news is that the headline loss per share is lower than it used to be, coming in at 1.3 US cents vs. 1.8 US cents in the prior period.

This period saw the sale of Fabergé for $50 million. This was the lifeline the group needed, giving the balance sheet some breathing room to weather this storm. It’s really just a Band-Aid though, as the balance sheet will be in trouble again if the losses don’t swing into profits.

One of the biggest issues is that the recent auction pricing has only been good for premium stones. Gemfields has little or no control over the quality of stones coming out of the ground, so it really affects them in a period where mainly lower-grade stones are being mined.

With net debt of $39.2 million as at December 2025, there is zero margin for error here. The very last thing they can afford to do is ask shareholders for another equity injection.

Standard Bank’s capital markets day targets solid growth (JSE: SBK)

The growth opportunity in Africa is clear

Standard Bank hosted a capital markets day and made all the presentations available here. If you’ve got time for a deep dive on any of the underlying topics, then go check them out!

The highlight is that the target for 2026 to 2028 is HEPS growth of 8% to 12% per year. That’s a double-digit growth rate at the midpoint, which would be impressive for investors.

This growth would be achieved through revenue growth of 7% to 10% per year, accompanied by a cost-to-income ratio below 50%. The credit loss ratio is expected to be in a target range of 70 to 100 basis points.

They are targeting Return on Equity of 18% to 22%, which is well in excess of the cost of equity. This would be achieved with a CET1 ratio above 12.5%, which means that the balance sheet would be well-capitalised and healthy.

In driving returns to shareholders, the bank is targeting a dividend payout ratio of 45% to 60%.

The strategy presentation talks about Standard Bank’s presence in 21 countries in Africa. GDP growth across these regions in Africa is more than double the rate we are seeing in South Africa. If you believe in the Africa story, then Standard Bank would make a lot of sense as a potential inclusion in your portfolio.

Conversely, if you’re bearish on Africa, Standard Bank wouldn’t be a natural choice.

Trematon is selling Club Mykonos Langebaan (JSE: TMT)

This is a R70 million deal

Trematon has decided to sell the investment in Club Mykonos Langebaan. The buyer is a management consortium led by the CEO of Trematon. As related party transactions go, this is as related as they get.

To be fair, it’s a tough asset to sell. There are examples in the market where a related party deal is also the best deal for shareholders, as the buyers are familiar with the assets.

It’s hard to know whether this deal is in that category, as you can’t A/B test these things. There’s no way of knowing what the other offers looked like.

What we do know is that Club Mykonos Langebaan lost R28.9 million in the year ended August 2025, so it’s not exactly a great asset.

The value as at August 2025 was R85.9 million, so the R70 million offer from management is well below that level. The circular will give full details on why the board believes that this price is justified.

York Timber: nasty earnings and a new CEO (JSE: YRK)

There was a significant decrease in plywood production

York Timber released results for the six months to December 2025. Revenue was down 3% and adjusted EBITDA fell by 44%. HEPS fell by around 52%.

The highlight was cash generated from operations, which jumped from R58.8 million to R104.5 million. Net working capital reduced by 17%.

Essentially, York sold off much of its plywood stock in a period where plywood production fell by 19%. This was based on a commercial shut at the plywood operations.

The outlook for the plywood business depends on what happens with the rand. It’s a tough a business that is made even harder by the effect of a strong rand on export prices.

Overall, the narrative at York isn’t exactly bullish. They are focused on things like reduction of debt.

With Gabriël Stoltz leaving as CEO with effect from 31 March, the group has appointed current CFO Schalk Barnard to the role of interim CEO.

The share price is having a horrible time in 2026, down 15% year-to-date.

Nibbles:

  • Director dealings:
    • Here’s an interesting one: Bassim Haidar has sold more shares in Optasia (JSE: OPA). The buyer, at R20 per share, is FirstRand (JSE: FSR). This increases FirstRand’s stake from 20.1% to 26.1%. It reduces Haidar’s stake to just 1.5%. The value of this trade was nearly R1.5 billion.
    • Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) announced that an executive director bought shares worth R1.6 million. There was also the purchase of American Depository Receipts (ADR) by a non-executive director to the value of around R485k.
    • An executive director of Momentum (JSE: MTM) bought shares worth R64k.
  • The new CEO of Woolworths (JSE: WHL), Sam Ngumeni, has a prize of nearly R100 million waiting for him in 2031 if he achieves some challenging targets. To get his hands on that money, the share price would need to roughly double from the current levels, with adjusted HEPS growth of 15% per annum and an average return on capital employed of 800 basis points above the company’s weighted average cost of capital. There’s a threshold target where half the award will vest, but even that level requires decent performance across these metrics. I like seeing stuff like this – much like entrepreneurs, CEOs should only achieve this kind of wealth if they do really well. There are far too many companies where the enrichment of the CEO is a default setting rather than a reward.
  • AngloGold Ashanti (JSE: ANG) has announced the technical report for the Arthur Gold Project in Nevada. This is a Tier One deposit with an estimated nine-year mine life. All-in sustaining cost is expected to be $954/oz. Given the current gold prices, this would obviously be extremely profitable. They are looking to present the pre-feasibility study to the board in June this year.
  • Keen to learn more about Datatec (JSE: DTC)? The company presented at the BofA Global Research 27th South Africa Conference on 25 March 2026. They’ve made the presentation available here.
  • After a long court process related to s164 appraisal rights, Araxi (JSE: AXX) has repurchased shares from First National Nominees at R1.19 per share. The current share price is R1.65! The total value of the repurchase is R21.5 million.
  • Pan African Resources (JSE: PAN) announced that shareholders approved the resolutions related to the share capital reduction. This is after the company had to reissue the circular and hold another meeting, as the results of the first meeting were not acceptable to the court.
  • SAB Zenzele Kabili (JSE: SZK) has released its financials for the year ended December 2025. The NAV per share has increased by 34% to R37.78. The share price is R34, so the structure is finally trading at a discount to NAV!
  • As a reminder of the dangers of mining, Harmony Gold (JSE: HAR) announced the sad news of a loss of life at the Target 1 mine in the Free State. The incident is being investigated.
  • Visual International (JSE: VIS) released a long and complicated announcement regarding related party balances and how they are dealing with them. The JSE has categorised the deal as a Category 1 transaction, so shareholder approval will be required. If for some reason you are invested in this R36 million market cap company, I suggest you take a look.

CA&S increases dividend as regional expansion supports earnings growth

CA Sales
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CA&S increases dividend as regional expansion supports earnings growth

CA&S results for the year ended December 2025

“Africa’s consumer markets are expanding, but operating across them remains complex.

Fragmented retail channels, diverse regulatory environments and long logistics networks mean that for many brand owners, success depends as much on execution as it does on demand.”

Duncan Lewis – Chief Executive Officer

Market conditions have increased the importance of specialised route-to-market platforms – companies that provide the infrastructure needed to connect brands with retailers across multiple markets.

One such company is CA&S Group.

Financial highlights:

  • Operating Profit: R860.88 million (up 10.0%)
  • Headline Earnings per Share: 143.72 cents (up 17.1%)
  • Headline Earnings: R690.25 million (up 17.9%)
  • Revenue: R12.81 billion (up 2.3%)
  • Dividend: 28.69 cents per share (up 17.4%)   

For the year ended 31 December 2025, CA&S reported increased operating profit and headline earnings and raised its dividend by 17.4%, reflecting strong cash generation despite subdued consumer spend in parts of its operating footprint.

Revenue increased to R12.81 billion, compared with R12.52 billion in the prior year.

The board declared a dividend of 28.69 cents per share, up 17.4% from 24.44 cents declared in 2024.

These results were achieved against softened trading conditions in Botswana as developments in the global diamond market, a key driver of the country’s economy, contributed to currency deflation, affecting consumer spending and prompting a shift towards more affordable products. Despite these conditions, CA&S grew EBITDA  in Botswana by 13.1%.

Against this backdrop, CA&S continued to expand its client portfolio across Southern and East Africa.

The group operates a portfolio of FMCG service businesses that connect global and regional brand owners with retail channels through sales execution, distribution, logistics and merchandising capabilities.

Chief executive Duncan Lewis said the results highlight the resilience of the group’s operating model.

“Our strategy is centred on building a scalable route-to-market platform capable of supporting brand owners across multiple African markets,” Lewis said.

Expansion in East Africa

A key strategic development during the year was the group’s investment in East Africa.

In February 2025 CA&S acquired a 35% stake in Trapin Holdings Ltd, the Tradco Group, for R108.4 million.

Tradco is a Kenya-based trade marketing and distribution business with operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The transaction strengthens CA&S’s presence in East Africa and supports its broader regional expansion strategy.

Ongoing investment across the group

CA&S also continued investing in operational infrastructure. During the year the group approved capital expenditure of R300 million for the development of land and buildings in Eswatini.

Following the year end, the group acquired a majority stake in Sunpac (Pty) Ltd, a South African distributor specialising in category management and route-to-market services in the personal care sector.

The acquisition introduces capability in the private and confined label category, an area of increasing importance for retailers.

As African consumer markets continue to evolve, companies capable of providing integrated route-to-market infrastructure are likely to play an increasingly central role in the sector’s growth.

VIEW THE FULL RESULTS HERE >>>

CA&S is an Africa-focused group of route-to-market specialists, with a dual listing on the BSE and the JSE. The group holds a portfolio of dynamic fast-moving consumer goods service businesses that partner with global and local brand owners to get their products to consumers – ensuring their brands reach the right stores and shoppers across Southern and East Africa.

Note: CA&S values the Ghost Mail audience and the company has placed its earnings here accordingly. This article reflects the views of the company. For the views of The Finance Ghost, refer to the section in Ghost Bites dealing with these results.

Who’s doing what this week in the South African M&A space?

Marylou Greig
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Who’s doing what this week in the South African M&A space?

Exchange-Listed Companies

Logicalis Germany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Datatec, has acquired 100% of the share capital of NetworkedAssets, a specialist in software development, network automation and observability solutions. The company has operations in Berlin and in Wroclaw, Poland. The deal better positions the group to support customers in automating and operating increasingly complex IT environments. The acquisition became effective on 24 March 2026, financial details of which were undisclosed.

Trematon Capital Investments’ subsidiary Tremgrowth has entered into an agreement to dispose of Club Mykonos Langebaan for R70 million, subject to adjustments. The acquirer Variflex Trading 138 is a related party, representing a management consortium led by the current Trematon CEO. The net proceeds of the disposal will be available for distribution to shareholders.

Discovery via its subsidiary Vitality Group International has agreed to dispose of half of its 8.7% stake in CMT for US$49,5 million (R831 million) to TPG Global. Discovery originally invested $5 million in 2014 to acquire a 21.67% interest and over the period net dilutions and disposal gains have earned Discovery $75 million in aggregate.

Labat Africa is to acquire the remaining 49% shareholding in Ahnamu Investments, an ICT solutions provider, from H Khan for a purchase consideration of R40 million. The purchase consideration will be settled through the issue of 400 million Labat ordinary shares at an issue price of R0.10 per share. The deal is a category 2 transaction and as such does not require shareholder approval.

The posting date of the circular to shareholders by Zeder Investments following the disposal of Zaad Holdings by its subsidiary Zeder Financial Services has been revised and is expected to be available to shareholders on 31 March 2026.

Unlisted Companies

littlefish, the Johannesburg-based fintech infrastructure company, has raised US$9,5 million Series A round led by French development finance institution Proparco. The round included participation from TLCOM Capital and Flourish Ventures. The new capital will be used to grow the team, accelerating product development and scale its go-to-market operations.

Cape-based startup Happy Pay has raised US$5 million in a seed round led by global technology investor Partech. The round saw participation from Futuregrowth Asset Management, 4Di Capital, E4E Africa, Equitable Ventures, Summit Deals, the University Technology Fund and Felix Strategic Investments. Happy Pay, a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform, will use the fresh capital to scale the first ad-subsidised payments network to deliver cost-free BNPL payments for local consumers. The funds will also be used to expand merchant partnerships and grow distribution across digital and physical channels.

DealMakers is SA’s quarterly M&A publication.
www.dealmakerssouthafrica.com

Weekly corporate finance activity by SA exchange-listed companies

Marylou Greig
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Weekly corporate finance activity by SA exchange-listed companies

FirstRand has increased its stake in Optasia to 26.1% following a deal with Zoey Enterprises, an associate of and entity owned by Bassim Haidar, the founder of Optasia. The 74,103,711 shares, representing a 6% stake, were acquired at a price per share of R20.00 for an aggregate R1,48 billion.

PK Investments, which listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange in August 2025 and which made headlines in local M&A circles during that year with several attemps to take control of MAS plc, has indicated that it intends to acquire further shares. PKI currently hold a c.37% stake – a stake it would like to increase by bidding for up to a further 40 million MAS shares (5.5% stake). PKI has provided R19.75 as a guidance on price to shareholders. The bid will close on Friday 27 March at 13h00.

AttBid, a vehicle representing Atterbury Property Fund (APF), I Faan and I Dirk, which made an offer to RMH shareholders earlier this month, acquired a further 12,9 million shares in on-market transactions this week. Following this, AttBid and APF hold 32.77% and 9.42% respectively, resulting in an aggregate of c.42.19% of the RMH shares in issue.

Jubilee Metals has advised that it proposes to reduce its share premium account in order to restructure the company’s balance sheet to increase the amount of available distributable reserves. The capital reduction is conditional upon shareholder approval.

Africa Bitcoin will undertake a restructure of its authorised and issued ordinary share capital by way of a sub-division of its ordinary share capital on a 3 for 1 basis. This will enhance the liquidity and marketability of the stock and broaden its exchange footprint with a potential migration to the JSE Main Board and participation on additional international trading platforms. In addition, the sub-division is expected to enhance the company’s flexibility in respect of future capital raising initiatives, strategic transactions and potential equity-based initiatives.

Anglo American has received approval from the SIX Swiss Exchange to delist its 1,178,050,272 ordinary shares. The move is part of Anglo’s review of its global share listings in connection with the proposed merger with Teck Resources. The last day of trading on the exchange is expected to be 25 June 2026.

This week the following companies announced the repurchase of shares:

Investec Ltd announced in November 2025 that it would commence the repurchase and cancel of some of the non-redeemable, non-cumulative, non-participating preference shares. This week the company repurchased a further 474,493 preference shares at an average price per share of R99.72 for an aggregate R47,32 million.

Premier’s repurchase programme which was undertaken to optimise the Group’s capital structure ahead of the implementation of the RFG transaction resulted in the repurchase of 1,811,992 shares during March. The shares represented c. 1.4% of the issued share capital with an aggregate value of R323 million. The shares will be delisted.

During the period September 2025 to March 2026, PBT Holdings repurchased 3,413,934 shares at an average price per share of R6.69 for an aggregate R22,85 million. The shares, which will be cancelled, represent 3.24% of the shares in issue.

In 2025, Ninety One plc announced that it would undertake a repurchase programme of up to £30 million. The shares will be purchased on the open market and cancelled to reduce the Company’s ordinary share capital. This week the company repurchased a further 128,703 ordinary shares at an average price 218 pence for an aggregate £280,510.

GreenCoat Renewables has implemented a share buyback programme totalling €100 million over 12 months with a first tranche amounting to €25 million beginning on 5 March 2026 – representing 13% of the issued share capital. This week 2,229,897 shares were repurchased for and aggregate €1,75 million.

In 2025 Investec ltd commenced its share purchase and buy-back programme of up to R2,5 billion (£100 million). This week, Investec ltd purchased 20,300 Investec plc shares on the JSE at an average price of R132.79 per share. Over the same period Investec ltd repurchased 20,400 of its shares at an average price per share of R131.60. The Investec ltd shares will be cancelled, and the Investec plc shares will be treated as if they were treasury shares in the consolidated annual financial statements of the Investec Group.

Quilter has announced it will commence a share buyback programme to repurchase shares with a value of up to £100 million in order to reduce the share capital of the company and return capital to shareholders. This week Quilter repurchased 1,940,040 shares on the LSE with an aggregate value of c.£3,4 million and 498,841 shares on the JSE with an aggregate value of R19,48 million.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US$2 billion share buy-back programme continues. The shares acquired will be kept as treasury shares to fulfil future share delivery commitments under the group’s stock ownership plans. During the period 16 to 20 March 2026, the group repurchased 1,315,398 shares for €81,57 million.

In December 2025, British American Tobacco extended its share buyback programme by a further £1.3 billion for 2026. The shares will be cancelled. This week the company repurchased a further 562,855 shares at an average price of £43.21 per share for an aggregate £24,33 million.

During the period 16 to 20 March 2026, Prosus repurchased a further 2,919,471 Prosus shares for an aggregate €127,1 million and Naspers, a further 1,353,028 Naspers shares for a total consideration of R1,25 billion.

Seven companies issued a profit warning this week: York Timber, Hulamin, The Foschini Group, Gemfields, Insimbi Industrial, Rex Trueform, African and Overseas Enterprises.

DealMakers is SA’s M&A publication.
www.dealmakerssouthafrica.com

Who’s doing what in the African M&A and debt financing space?

Vanessa Aitken
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Who’s doing what in the African M&A and debt financing space?

DealMakers AFRICA

Moniepoint has acquired end-to-end business management platform for restaurants and food businesses, Orda Africa for an undisclosed sum. Orda will become part of the Moniebook platform, delivering a complete solution tailored to the food service industry.

French development finance institution, Proparco, and RMBV, an independent investment firm focused on North Africa, announced their joint investment in Moroccan integrated agro-industrial group, Africa Feed & Food (AFF) through a MAD850 million capital increase. The funds raised will be used to accelerate AFF’s development around three priorities: increasing its industrial capacity in Morocco, strengthening vertical integration, and expanding its operations geographically in West Africa, particularly in Senegal and Mauritania.

BFA Asset Management’s Kimbo Fund, has committed US$1,2 million to Anda, an Angolan mobility company. These funds will support Anda’s multi-asset growth, spanning motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and cars, as well as continued investment in cutting-edge technology as they leverage artificial intelligence to better serve their customers at scale.

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) has committed €4,3 million to scale Afreenergy Solar, a specialised platform developing clean energy solutions for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in Senegal, with the ambition to expand over time into selected markets in West and Central Africa. The project will see Afreenergy Solar scale its operations to deliver up to 30MW of solar energy and up to 10MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Delivered in two phases, the company will engage clients across a number of sectors – including agro-industry, logistics and other energy-intensive industrial segments – aggregating multiple sites to reduce per-site costs.

Adenia Entrepreneurial Fund I, which just closed at its hard cap of US$180 million, has announced its first investment, acquiring a stake in Maymana for an undisclosed sum. Maymana is female-founded, female-led and family-run. The Moroccan company’s offering includes traditional Moroccan pastries, bakery and viennoiserie products, fine grocery items, and gourmet catering services.

The International Finance Corporation has announced a US$45 million corporate financing package investment consisting of an A‑Loan of $27 million and $18 million in blended finance from the Canada‑IFC Blended Climate Finance Program and the IDA20 Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility, in IPT PowerTech, a Telecom Energy Service Company (T‑ESCO), to expand clean and reliable power for telecom networks in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Starsight Energy Africa Group, a provider of clean energy solutions for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers across sub-Saharan Africa, has secured US$15 million mezzanine debt funding from British International Investment (BII). The funding will drive growth in Starsight’s existing West African operations, with Nigeria earmarked to receive the majority of the funding.

Strides Pharma Science announced that its step‑down subsidiary, Strides Pharma International AG (SPIAG), has entered into a definitive agreement with Sandoz AG for the acquisition and in‑licensing of a portfolio of branded generic products across sub‑Saharan Africa (SSA). The agreement spans four key markets—Western Sahara (covering 10 countries), Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. The branded generics portfolio of Sandoz, as a part of this deal, includes multiple brands across anti‑infective, cardiovascular, and dermatology therapeutic segments. The initial consideration for the transaction is US$12 million.

DealMakers AFRICA is the continent’s quarterly M&A publication
www.dealmakersafrica.com

Small stakes, big regulatory risk

Daryl Dingley, Kgomotso Mmutle, Gina Lodolo and Terrence Lane
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Small stakes, big regulatory risk

Draft guidelines on minority shareholder protections amounting to a change of control

In December 2025, the Competition Commission (Commission) published Draft Guidelines on minority shareholder protections in merger transactions (Guidelines). While not legally binding, these Guidelines signal how the Commission will likely approach these matters.

According to the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (the Competition Act), transactions resulting in a change of control must be notified if certain thresholds are met. In South Africa, the definition of control in the context of a merger is broad. Section 12(2)(g) of the Competition Act includes a “catch-all” provision whereby a firm controls another firm if it can “materially influence” that firm’s policy in a manner comparable to a person who, in ordinary commercial practice, can exercise an element of control.

The Guidelines aim to clarify when minority shareholder protections may give rise to material influence over a firm. They confirm an established principle that, in the context of notifiable transactions, even a minority shareholding could result in a change of control, triggering merger application obligations if the rights attached to the investment allow the minority investor to materially influence the business.

Minority shareholder protections typically safeguard the rights and interests of shareholders (i.e. their investment) owning less than 50% of a company. However, some protections can cross over to provide rights that enable the minority shareholder to exercise a form of control, and go beyond merely protecting the minority shareholder’s investment. When this occurs, the rights must be carefully assessed to determine whether merger notification is required.

Control and non-control conferring minority protections

The Guidelines confirm that control is a factual and contextual assessment that must be undertaken by the Commission on a case-by-case basis. The legal test is whether the minority investor has the ability to materially influence the policy of the firm in a manner comparable to that of a controlling shareholder. This approach is firmly grounded in South African competition law and aligns with international practice, particularly European merger control practice.

As alluded to earlier, there are ordinary minority investment protection rights that do not confer control, and the Guidelines recognise that not all veto rights confer control. The Guidelines identify protections – many of which are contained in the Companies Act (71 of 2008) – that typically do not trigger control, including rights to approve changes to dividend policy, appointment or removal of auditors, liquidation or winding-up, changes to accounting policies, entry into transactions outside the ordinary course of business, and amendments to constitutional documents. These are seen as standard protections for a minority investor’s financial interests.

Rights likely to cross the control threshold include vetoes over the company’s strategy, business plan or budget, appointment or removal of the CEO or CFO, dismissal of executives, new business activities outside the scope of the firm’s ordinary business activities, and significant deviations from approved budgets.

The instances listed by the Commission largely reflect established case law. However, many situations remain unclear. The Guidelines represent a missed opportunity, as they consolidate existing law rather than provide fresh guidance on more complex minority shareholder arrangements.

One notable addition is that control may arise from “the right to approve and/or veto or decline the undertaking of any new business activity outside the scope of the ordinary business activities of the firm”. This right could be seen as simply protecting a minority shareholder’s original investment. Whether it truly confers control remains debatable, and the Guidelines would have benefited from further examples addressing such borderline cases.

Whilst the Guidelines may represent a missed opportunity, leaving legal practitioners wanting in some respects, they helpfully reference the European Commission’s Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice, which can be read as an endorsement of the European approach for scenarios not yet fully addressed in South African law. For example, guidance can be drawn from the European Commission’s contextualisation of control rights with reference to market-specific factors. In this regard, the European Commission expressly references decisions concerning the technology to be used by a company – where technology is a key feature of the company’s activities – as being an important contextual factor when considering whether a right confers minority shareholder control. Similarly, in markets characterised by product differentiation and a significant degree of innovation, veto rights over new product lines may also be an important element in establishing minority control.

For business leaders, the Guidelines serve as a reminder that deals should not always be considered ‘low risk’, as private equity investments, joint ventures, growth capital funding and strategic minority stakes can confer control and trigger merger approval requirements. Standard shareholder agreements should be reviewed regularly, as ‘boilerplate’ clauses may inadvertently create notifiable mergers. It is important that these considerations are factored into deal timing, since notifiable transactions cannot proceed without competition authority approval.

Daryl Dingley is a Partner, Kgomotso Mmutle a Senior Associate and Gina Lodolo and Terrence Lane Associates | Webber Wentzel

This article first appeared in DealMakers, SA’s quarterly M&A publication.

DealMakers is SA’s M&A publication.
www.dealmakerssouthafrica.com

The 2026 reawakening: Why sub-Saharan Africa M&A is primed for significant growth

Krishna Nagar
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The 2026 reawakening: Why sub-Saharan Africa M&A is primed for significant growth

As the curtain closed on 2025 and we headed into 2026, the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) M&A landscape appears to be gearing up for a level of momentum not seen in several cycles.

For years, dealmakers in the region have navigated a thicket of macroeconomic headwinds, including currency volatility, high interest rates and benign economic growth, due to structural challenges such as electricity and water shortages, as well as rail and logistics failings. Encouragingly, the outlook for 2026 indicates a fundamental shift may be underway.

Underpinned by improving macro factors and the resilient performance of equity markets across key hubs such as Johannesburg, Nairobi and Lagos, 2026 is shaping up to be the year that cautious optimism finally translates into positive execution.

AN ERA OF INTRA-AFRICAN SCALE

One of the more important structural shifts is the maturing of regional integration efforts. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is no longer just a diplomatic talking point; it is increasingly an impetus to dealmaking, as we face a world of uncertainty related to tariffs.

Historically, SSA has been criticised for its fragmented markets, resulting in frictional costs which often limited the scalability of investments. In 2026, however, we expect to see much improved volumes of cross-border M&A as both multinationals and regional champions look to augment their pan-African strategies. Businesses are looking beyond their domestic borders to unlock new consumer markets and achieve operational efficiencies in Africa that were previously impossible. This trend is particularly evident in the financial services, TMT, consumer goods and logistics sectors, where regional connectivity is the new benchmark for valuation.

GLOBAL APPETITES: GROWTH MEETS DIVERSIFICATION

While intra-African activity provides the engine, global capital continues to provide the fuel. The 2026 narrative for international investors is dual-focused. For developed market players (North America and Europe), the primary driver is growth. With traditional markets facing stagnation, SSA’s demographic dividend – a youthful, urbanising and increasing population – offers an attractive long-term growth profile that is hard to ignore.

Conversely, for emerging market investors, particularly from Asia and the Middle East, the focus is on strategic diversification and supply chain security. We are seeing more “South-South” tie-ups, where capital from the Gulf or India is being deployed into African healthcare, consumer goods companies, infrastructure and resources, treating the region as a vital node in the global trade architecture.

THE SECTORAL SPLIT: FROM DIGITAL DISRUPTION TO ENERGY TRANSITION

The deal flow of 2026 is likely to be dominated by two distinct “speeds” of investment:

1.The digital evolution: The fintech and technology sectors remain the darlings of the M&A world. However, the nature of these deals is evolving. We are moving away from speculative seed-stage investments toward mature consolidation. Established financial institutions are increasingly looking to acquire agile start-ups in digital payments and micro-lending. This is not just a grab for market share; it is a defensive and offensive move to ensure survival in a mobile-first economy.

2.The resource realignment: In the natural resources space, a “great restructuring” is underway. Global demand for critical minerals, including copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt, is driving aggressive M&A in the resources sector. The consolidation race amongst the large, multinational, diversified players looking to capture these scarce opportunities is on. Simultaneously, the energy transition is creating a bifurcated market in oil and gas: international majors are divesting mature onshore assets, creating space for ambitious “African independents”, while simultaneously pivoting their own African portfolios toward large-scale renewable energy and green hydrogen projects.

THE RISE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL “NEW GUARD”

The 2026 M&A ecosystem is also being professionalised by the growing influence of private capital. Private equity firms, family offices, and increasingly active sovereign wealth funds are increasingly stepping in where other forms of traditional financing may be sitting on the sidelines.

These institutional investors are bringing a long-term value creation mindset. They are attracted by assets that, due to recent currency adjustments, are currently undervalued relative to their intrinsic potential. Furthermore, 2026 is expected to be a bumper year for “secondary” sales—where one private equity firm sells to another—as funds look to return capital to limited partners following a period of holding-pattern stagnation. Their presence is mandating a higher standard of due diligence and governance, which in turn makes the entire market more attractive to risk-averse global players.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS FORM PART OF BUSINESS AS USUAL

If the last few years were about talking about ESG, 2026 will be about pricing it.
The hype around environmental, social and governance considerations has transitioned to being seen as a critical part of transaction evaluations, and is increasingly embedded in sourcing capital. Acquiring entities in 2026 will prioritise targets that can prove a net-positive impact, whether that’s through clean energy adoption, inclusive healthcare models, or sustainable agri-business practices.

NAVIGATING THE REGULATORY FRONTIER:
A HEIGHTENED ENFORCEMENT ERA

As we move into 2026, the regulatory landscape has become significantly more robust. Several critical developments in key SSA markets mean a heightened focus on anti-trust issues in M&A, as well as specific public interest factors that authorities must consider. This year, a deal’s success won’t just depend on its competitive impact, but on its contribution to environmental sustainability and its effect on small local businesses.

Furthermore, several governments across SSA are refining their local content requirements. In certain sectors, we are seeing a move away from generic ownership quotas towards more sophisticated value-retention models.

This requires acquirers to demonstrate, as part of their post deal plans, how they will integrate local suppliers and transfer technical expertise. Successful market participants in 2026 will be those who view regulatory diplomacy not as an administrative hurdle, but as a core component of their strategic value proposition.

CONCLUSION

As the year unfolds, the combination of the above factors suggests that SSA is not just open for business, but is ready for a period of significant corporate activity.

The 2026 M&A opportunity set in SSA represents one of the most compelling in the global landscape.

Krishna Nagar is head of Corporate Finance | RMB

This article first appeared in DealMakers AFRICA, the continent’s quarterly M&A publication.

DealMakers AFRICA is a quarterly M&A publication
www.dealmakersafrica.com

Ghost Bites (Choppies | Grand Parade | Heriot REIT | Kore Potash | Remgro)

The Finance Ghost
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Ghost Bites (Choppies | Grand Parade | Heriot REIT | Kore Potash | Remgro)

Choppies is investing heavily into a weak market (JSE: CHP)

The immediate outcome of that strategy is predictably ugly

Choppies is on the wrong side of a macroeconomic downturn in Botswana. The diamond market collapse is hurting that economy, which means that the store expansion by Choppies is being executed in a weak market where stores take longer to mature.

And of course, when consumer demand is under pressure, gross profit margin is almost guaranteed to go the wrong way. This is thanks to the need to run more specials to attract customers (or “be more promotional” as the retailers call it).

For the six months to December 2025, Choppies reported an 8.6% increase in revenue and only a 4.4% increase in gross profit. Gross profit margin fell by 80 basis points to 19.8%.

The only segment that increased its gross margin was Liquorama. People seem to be drinking their problems away – literally.

With total expenses up by 9.1% due to new stores being opened, operating profit never stood a chance. EBIT as reported was down 20%, while adjusted EBITDA fell by 28.9%.

Once you include a small increase in net finance costs, it gets even worse for HEPS: down 50% year-on-year.

Despite this, the dividend for the period is only 37.5% lower. This decision to soften the blow in the dividend would’ve been informed by free cash flow more than doubling year-on-year.

They are bravely expanding in their markets. They just need the markets to be kinder to them.

Grand Parade’s earnings took a knock (JSE: GPL)

They are fully focused on gaming assets – and that’s tough

Grand Parade Investments released results for the six months to December 2025. Although there are some green shoots in the broader gaming sector in South Africa, HEPS has fallen sharply by 18.5%.

The most important contributor to earnings used to be SunWest – the owner of the GrandWest casino and Table Bay Hotel. Regular readers may recall that the Table Bay Hotel recently changed operator, so this segment saw revenue decrease by around R300 million.

SunWest’s EBITDA fell from R377.5 million to R277.8 million. The dividends received by Grand Parade for its stake came to R16.6 million (vs. R24.1 million in the prior period). Finally, the headline earnings contribution by this segment fell by 32%.

In contrast, GPI Slots saw a 12% increase in headline earnings, which makes it a larger segment than SunWest in the latest numbers! Revenue was up just 2% and EBITDA was steady, so the improvement happened below that line. Importantly, Grand Parade received dividends of R12 million (vs. nil in the prior period).

The Worcester Casino saw a slight uptick in revenue to R61.3 million. The net loss was R400k vs. R800k in the prior period. Regional casinos aren’t good assets at the moment.

The improvement at Worcester Casino was more than offset by Infinity Gaming Africa, the smallest segment, which slipped into a small loss-making position.

Looking ahead, the group is still looking for ways to participate in the Historical Horseracing segment of the gaming market. This is apparently growing strongly in the US.

This doesn’t mean dusting off old horses and getting them to run – no, this entails betting on the outcome of horse races that already happened. There are apparently many different ways to entertain yourself.

Heriot REIT is delivering very high growth for a property group (JSE: HET)

Mid-teens growth rates are almost unheard of

Heriot REIT released results for the six months to December 2025. Distributable earnings increased by 16.3% and the distribution per share followed suit. That’s approximately double what would normally be considered a solid performance in this sector!

Heriot’s property portfolio increased its net operating income (NOI) by 6% for the six months to December 2025. The performance varies dramatically by underlying segment. For example, the industrial portfolio only grew NOI by 3%, while office was up by an impressive 16%. Hospitality/aparthotels grew by an excellent 66%. Retail, which is by far the largest segment, was up 5%.

The net asset value per share jumped by 20.7% to R22.90. Aside from a bargain purchase gain on the Safari transaction, this was also driven by higher property values.

The loan-to-value ratio has increased from 38.95% to 43.36%, with the debt for the Safari buyout as the pressure point here. That’s on the high side, and I expect that investors would want to see it come down.

The targeted increase in the dividend per share for the year ending June 2026 is 14% to 17%. This is a significant improvement on the previous guided range of 10% to 15%.

The upgrade in guidance is thanks to the portfolio performing ahead of expectations and the debt environment being favourable to the company.

The jury is still out on whether Kore Potash will be sold or built under current ownership (JSE: KP2)

All options are on the table

Kore Potash, owner of the Kola Project in the Republic of Congo, has certainly had a year to remember. They’ve released results for the 12 months to December 2025, a busy period that required a net cash outflow of $13 million.

They had $10.6 million in cash left by December 2025. That won’t be enough to see them through to March 2027. This means that capital will need to be raised to fund working capital requirements. The only certainty in the junior mining industry is dilution of shareholders over time!

Much of the activity in the first half of 2025 was focused on securing the capital to develop the Kola Project. This was based on the Optimised Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) that was released in February 2025.

The DFS estimated a net present value (NPV) of $1.7 billion for the project at a discount rate of 10%. The estimated internal rate of return (IRR) is 18%. That stuff you learnt in finance class at varsity has real-world application!

OWI-RAMS GMBH executed a term sheet with Kore Potash in June 2025 to provide the total funding requirement. The intention was to arrange a funding package of $2.2 billion through a combination of senior secured project finance and royalty financing.

We are still waiting to see that package. It does take time to put these things together, but Kore Potash doesn’t have all day to sit around.

In November 2025, to keep all options open regarding the future of the company, Kore Potash commenced a formal sale process. Two parties initially approached them, with only one remaining interested and conducting a due diligence.

And on top of all of this, PowerChina and Kore Potash have started on selected workstreams at the site.

That’s quite a year! The share price is up 52% over 12 months. It also happens to be up by more than 350% over 3 years. When risky mining companies make progress, the rewards are significant. But many risks are still at play here.

Remgro’s INAV story is tame, but the cash is quite exciting (JSE: REM)

Will they finally ramp up the share repurchases?

Remgro, like all investment holding companies, is fighting a constant battle against the market. Investors want to value the shares at a substantial discount to the intrinsic net asset value (INAV) per share. Or, put simply, the market isn’t prepared to pay the price for the shares that directors say they are worth.

Much of this is because Remgro’s portfolio is so skewed towards other listed companies that investors can just go and buy directly. There are other reasons as well, like the costs of Remgro’s structure and the risk of management doing things that shareholders don’t approve of.

The obvious solution in this case is to execute share buybacks. After all, if Remgro’s INAV per share is R297.03, why wouldn’t they buy shares in the market at R185?

Instead, Remgro is obsessed with cash dividends. They’ve even used special dividends before. Although more cash visibility does help reduce the discount to INAV to some extent, I think it would reduce a lot faster if they did share repurchases instead.

There’s certainly no shortage of cash: in the six months to December 2025, Remgro enjoyed a 34% increase in dividends received from investee companies. This excludes the once-off CIVH pre-implementation dividend of nearly R2.6 billion.

If we look deeper into the portfolio, we find that one of the worries is Mediclinic’s exposure to the United Arab Emirates. Remgro is in the process of negotiating a deal to swap the exposure to Mediclinic’s international business for total control over the South African assets. I suspect that this became a much more difficult negotiation in the past month.

Although headline earnings is not the right measure of performance for an investment holding company, it does at least help us compare the performance across unlisted and listed investee companies. The only blemish in the result was RCL Foods (JSE: RCL), with that listed company struggling with conditions in the sugar industry.

Everything else grew headline earnings – including Mediclinic! Remember, these results only cover the period until December, long before the troubles in Iran kicked off.

Heineken Beverages deserves a special mention, with headline earnings of R155 million vs. a loss of R11 million in the prior period. That’s a much better performance, particularly in an environment of weak demand. I know for sure that my dad did his best to boost sales of Windhoek beer.

Sticking with alcohol, spirits business Capevin suffered a 53% decline in profits. People just aren’t drinking as heavily as they used to. It’s not about whether they are stopping entirely. It’s about a moderation in consumption and what that means for overall demand. Having three drinks instead of four means that you cut your consumption by 25%!

Another investment worth mentioning is fibre business CIVH, where headline earnings swung from a loss of R141 million to profit of R123 million. Both Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa enjoyed an upswing in revenue.

There are many more companies in the portfolio, both listed and unlisted. Once all the moves are taken into account, INAV per share increased 1.6% for the period. More importantly, if you adjust for the distributions during the year, the increase was 3.4%.

I remain steadfast in my view that they should be executing far more share repurchases. But what do you think?

Nibbles:

  • Director dealings:
    • KAL Group (JSE: KAL) announced share purchases by two directors to the value of R597k in aggregate.
  • Datatec (JSE: DTC) announced a bolt-on acquisition that is so small that there are no financial details at all in the announcement. Logicalis Germany, a subsidiary of Datatec, has acquired 100% of NetworkedAssets, a software development, network automation and observability solutions company operating in Germany and Poland. And yes, I also had to Google “observability solutions”! The companies have already been working together for years, so that seems like the right starting point for an acquisition. The deal became effective on 24 March.
  • Africa Bitcoin Corporation (JSE: BAC) intends to execute a 3-for-1 share split. As the name suggests, this will triple the number of shares in issue, but without any cash flowing. The market cap thus stays the same (in theory), the share price will be a third of what it used to be, and each shareholder will have three shares for each share that they used to have. What’s the point of all this? Usually, to drive increased liquidity and get some trading volumes going in the stock. Shareholders will need to approve the resolutions required to achieve this.
  • If you are a geologist or mining engineer, then Molefe Mine Phase 1 drilling results at Jubilee Metals (JSE: JBL) may interest you. The rest of us need to rely on management commentary, which in this case includes the CEO being “very excited” about the outcome. Phase 2 drilling is in progress at the eastern extension. The idea is to unlock the resource for processing and refining at Jubilee’s nearby Sable refinery.
  • Rex Trueform (JSE: RTO) has close to zero liquidity in the stock, so the trading statement only gets mentioned down here. HEPS has sadly dropped by 98.7% for the six months to December 2025. The details behind this drop will be important when they become available. Related company (they even have the same website!) African and Overseas Enterprises (JSE: AOO) is even worse, swinging into a headline loss per share.
  • Crookes Brothers (JSE: CKS) announced the appointment of Melani De Castro as CFO with effect from 1 April 2026. Hopefully she has a good enough sense of humour to laugh about an April Fool’s appointment date! Most importantly, this is an internal promotion, as De Castro joined the company in 2016. It’s always good to see this kind of thing.
  • Grindrod (JSE: GND) announced that the SARB has approved the special dividend of 43 cents per share.
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