Visual International has received applications as a result of its bookbuild process for the issue of 85,281,513 shares at a discounted issue price of 2 cents per share. The R1,71 million raised will be used to assist with the company’s working capital requirements.
Last week Africa Bitcoin announced the results of its capital raise, placing 368,598 ordinary shares at an issue price of R11.00 raising R4,05 million. The funds have been used in part to fund the acquisition of 1.5000 BTC for an aggregate cash consideration of R2,77 million. The company now holds 2,51164 BTC with an aggregate acquisition value of R4,59 million.
In terms of its Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) Hammerson has, on behalf of shareholders electing this option, purchased 156,713 shares in the market at an average price of £2.98 per share and 144,346 shares in the local market at an average price of R69.49 per share.
Further details on the proposed listing of Cell C were released. The listing will be accompanied by an offer to qualified investors by way of a private placement of existing shares by The Prepaid Company (TPC), a subsidiary of Cell C’s largest shareholder Blu Label Unlimited, to raise R7,7 billion. This includes a R500 million overallotment option. Up to R2,4 billion worth of shares will be allocated to a black empowerment vehicle. Following the flip-up, TPC will transfer shares to Cell C executives resulting in management collectively holding 4.5% of the company. The proceeds raised will be allocated towards settling certain of TPC’s interest-bearing borrowings and other debt obligations. The offer and listing will provide Cell C with access to capital markets, to support and develop further growth of the company and to finance acquisitions and investments in businesses, technologies, services, products, software, intellectual property rights, spectrum and other assets.
Suspended Wesizwe Platinum has advised that the publication of the interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2025 has been deferred. The delay arises from the late finalisation of the annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, released in September, which was impacted by the reported cyber breach. The company expects the release of its interims by 31 January 2026.
This week the following companies announced the repurchase of shares:
On 19 February 2025, Glencore announced the commencement of a new US$1 billion share buyback programme, with the intended completion by the time of the Group’s interim results announcement in August 2025. This week the company repurchased 7,200,000 shares at an average price per share of £3.62 for an aggregate £26,05 million.
South32 continued with its US$200 million repurchase programme announced in August 2024. The shares will be repurchased over the period 12 September 2025 to 11 September 2026. This week 354,085 shares were repurchased for an aggregate cost of A$1,12 million.
The purpose of Bytes Technology’s share repurchase programme, of up to a maximum aggregate consideration of £25 million, is to reduce Bytes’ share capital. This week 215,400 shares were repurchased at an average price per share of £3.69 for an aggregate £795,686.
In May 2025, British American Tobacco extended its share buyback programme by a further £200 million, taking the total amount to be repurchased by 31 December 2025 to £1,1 billion. The extended programme is being funded using the net proceeds of the block trade of shares in ITC to institutional investors. This week the company repurchased a further 592,853 shares at an average price of £39.95 per share for an aggregate £23,62 million.
During the period 27 to 31 October 2025, Prosus repurchased a further 1,017,081 Prosus shares for an aggregate €61,83 million and Naspers, a further 377,261 Naspers shares for a total consideration of R475,58 million.
Two companies issued a profit warning this week: Oceana and enX.
Five companies issued or withdrew a cautionary notice: ISA Holdings, EPE Capital, ArcelorMittal South Africa, Kore Potash and Sable Exploration and Mining.
DealMakers AFRICAKenya’s KCB Bank has announced the acquisition of a minority stake in payment services company, Pesapal for an undisclosed sum.
Anda, an Angolan company focused on inclusive and sustainable urban mobility, has successfully closed a €3 million funding round that included BREEGA, Speedinvest, Double Feather Partners, and 4DX Ventures — with investors from France, Austria, Japan, and the United States.
BIO – the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries has announced the close of an investment in LIMBUA. Financial terms were not announced. LIMBUA is a German-Kenyan macadamia nuts supplier and producer. In cooperation with more than 9,000 Kenyan smallholders, they produce macadamia nuts, macadamia oil, avocado oil and dried mangos for the trade.
African Development Bank has approved a US$14,54 million financing package to support the Garneton North 20 megawatt solar project, in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province. When operational, the project will provide 82,000 people with clean, reliable electricity and eliminate 58,740 tons of CO2 emissions per annum.
ElectriFI, the EU-funded Electrification Financing Initiative managed by EDFI Management Company, has announced a €2,5 million equity investment in Sawa Energy, a growing renewable energy company operating in Uganda and Rwanda. The investment, allocated through the Uganda Country Window of ElectriFI, aims to catalyse the expansion of solar photovoltaic and Backup Energy Storage Solutions for commercial and industrial clients across Uganda.
In Boucraa, Morocco, Phosboucraa which mines, processes and markets phosphate rock and, soon customised fertilizers, has announced it has raised MAD2 billion in financing from Caisse de Dépôt et de Gastion to support the company’s investment programme in the Southern Provinces.
WildyNess, a Tunisian B2B2C traveltech startup, closed its pre-seed round co-led by Bridging Angels and the African Diaspora Network for an undisclosed value. Founded by engineers Achraf Aouadi and Rym Bourguiba, WildyNess uses its B2B2C model to empower tourism micro-entrepreneurs. The raised capital will be used to fuel regional expansion into Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE, as well as to strengthen its technology platform.
Farm to Feed, a Kenyan agritech startup that connects smallholder farmers to businesses that need reliable and traceable produce, has closed a US$1,5 million seed funding round to scale its operations across Kenya and into regional markets in Africa. The investment includes $1,27 million in equity and $230,000 in non-dilutive funding from the DeveloPPP Ventures programme. The $1,27 million equity round was led by Delta40 Venture Studio, with participation from DRK Foundation, Catalyst Fund, Holocene, Marula Square, 54Co, Levare Ventures, and Mercy Corps Ventures.
Beltone Venture Capital has announced its exit from Cathedis, a Moroccan logistics and last-mile e-commerce delivery company that provides services like pickup, warehousing, and delivery for online retailers. The exit saw Beltone achieve a 100% IRR, marking its third successful exit since inception in 2023.
Chari, a Moroccan B2B e-commerce startup, has raised an undisclosed amount from DisrupTech Ventures, an Egypt-based early-stage venture capital firm, as part of its Series A extension round. Chari allows traditional store owners to order and receive fast-moving consumer goods directly from distributors. The YC–backed company has onboarded more than 20,000 small retailers across Morocco, Tunisia, and Côte d’Ivoire.
Europa Metals announced the signing of a heads of terms regarding the proposed acquisition of Marula Africa Mining Holdings and its near-term in production assets in Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and South Africa in exchange for shares in Europa at a ratio of 9 new shares in Europa for one share in Marula Africa.
South Africa’s competition law regime has never confined itself to market dynamics alone. Since its inception, the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (as amended) (the Act) has recognised that market outcomes cannot be divorced from the country’s historical realities and developmental priorities. In line with this, South Africa’s merger control framework has long since integrated a transformational public interest approach – placing it amongst a small group of jurisdictions globally to do so.
Yet, as the country sharpens its focus on transformation – with the Competition Commission of South Africa’s (the Commission) latest iteration of their Revised Public Interest Guidelines Relating to Merger Control, published in March of 2024 (the Revised Public Interest Guidelines), codifying a more proactive enforcement stance – the spotlight intensifies on the balancing act required. Whilst laudable in intent, there is a growing debate as to whether the evolving public interest regime may inadvertently chill investment and hinder economic growth – particularly where legal certainty and global competitiveness are at stake.
Two tracks, one decision
Merger control in South Africa is governed by a two-limbed test under section 12A of the Act:
Competition assessment: Will the merger substantially prevent or lessen competition in any market?
Public Interest assessment: Regardless of the competition assessment outcome, can the merger be justified on substantial public interest grounds?
A 2019 amendment to the Act, through the insertion of section 12A(1A), reconfigured the assessment to be performed by the Commission – clarifying that these limbs are not hierarchical in nature, but rather, parallel. Thus, a merger that raises no competition concerns may still be prohibited or heavily conditioned if it poses a substantial public interest risk.
The expanding Public Interest framework
If a particular transaction does not pose any competitive or economic risks to any market – but may have a substantially adverse effect on public interest in the country, it may make sense for such a transaction to be prohibited – or at least have conditions imposed that are ameliorative to the negative effects caused. However, the Commission’s interpretation of what constitutes a ‘substantial public interest ground’ is where the dissention lies.
While the Revised Public Interest Guidelines deal with each of the individual public interest grounds listed under section 12A(3) of the Act – the most notable interpretive expansion pertains to the Commission’s evaluation of section 12A(3)(e), which refers to the promotion of a greater spread of ownership, particularly regarding the increase of the levels of ownership by historically disadvantaged persons (HDP) and workers in firms in the market.
In this regard, the Commission has unequivocally stated that it views this provision as a strictly positive obligation – meaning that every notifiable merger, regardless of size or structure, is expected to contribute to ownership transformation. This marks a fundamental shift from the previous approach, where HDP ownership dilution was only assessed if it was merger-specific and material.
For instance, under the Revised Public Interest Guidelines, a proposed transaction could pose no competition risks, have a positive effect on employment, and result in various pro-competitive market efficiencies. However, if the proposed transaction does not bring about an actual accretion of HDP ownership, the Commission will view this as a substantial public interest ground and call for the imposition of corrective merger conditions to curtail the perceived negative effect of the transaction – and even, the possible prohibition of the merger. This would apply even in circumstances where a proposed transaction has a completely neutral effect on HDP ownership levels.
Further, in a more recent development, the Commission appears to have adopted a revised public interest stance concerning retrenchments. In the event that any retrenchments take place within a 24-month window prior to a transaction, the Commission will consider these retrenchments as merger-specific and treat them as if they form part of the proposed transaction. This approach stems from two recent matters which were heard before the Competition Tribunal: Amandlamanzi Resources // Mylotex [Case No. LM144JAN25] and Novus Holdings // Mustek [Case No. LM145JAN25].
Once again, this places a heightened burden on the merger parties when vying for a transaction’s approval, as the Commission will adhere to the view outlined above even in circumstances where the retrenchments took place before the proposed transaction was even contemplated.
The potential costs of overreach
The rationale for prioritising ownership transformation and employment stability is clear: South Africa faces staggering inequality and unemployment, which markets alone have failed to address. But as public interest considerations gain prominence in merger control, concerns about legal certainty and investment sentiment are mounting.
Foreign investors, particularly those accustomed to purely competition-based merger reviews, may be deterred by the prospect of post-approval ownership restructuring, protracted negotiations with regulators, and the imposition of burdensome merger conditions that render transactions economically unviable.
This is a particular concern with large, multi-jurisdictional deals where the South African merger approval process threatens to scupper the entire global transaction. Under these circumstances, international firms often consider ringfencing the country so that it is excluded from the deal, or in some cases, complete local divestiture. The net effect of this is that South Africa is excluded from the global economy and does not get to benefit from the potential investment and economic growth opportunities that these kinds of transactions often bring.
So, the very laws and regulations that have been adopted for the purpose of growing and bolstering our economy can very easily have the exact opposite effect.
A balancing act, not a zero-sum game
However, there is no doubt that competition law in South Africa must serve more than just economic efficiency. The Act is a product of its time and place, and any credible regulatory regime must reckon with the context in which it operates. Typically, where a transaction raises a specific competition or public interest concern, the Commission will try to impose a set of merger conditions that are directly responsive to the identified issue. For instance, if a transaction is likely to result in a duplication of roles for the target entity post-merger, the Commission will likely require the merger parties to agree to a retrenchment moratorium.
The same principle applies where a transaction does not give rise to an increase in HDP ownership levels, as the Commission will likely push for the establishment of an employee share ownership plan, or the introduction of an HDP shareholder for the transaction to be approved.
However, there has been a recent shift in the market, whereby the competition authorities seem more acquiescent to accept merger conditions that do not directly correlate with the perceived negative effects of the transaction. Under these circumstances, the Commission may be willing to accept the establishment of an employee training programme to ameliorate for a possible retrenchment concern – or a commitment to increase the levels of procurement from HDP-owned and controlled firms to offset a potential decrease in HDP ownership levels. The guiding factor under these circumstances is generally that the commitment being made should carry an equal weight to the directly responsive remedy that the merger parties were unable or unwilling to carry out for whatever reason.
While this shift seems to signal a more flexible approach by the South African competition authorities, indicating a potential win for business and merger activity – there is a risk that this process could be viewed as the merger parties merely ‘buying’ their merger approval – given that the actual identified regulatory risks and concerns are not being addressed by the merger conditions. This scenario would be akin to the touted introduction of Elon Musk’s Starlink and its possible circumvention of the relevant HDP ownership requirements in exchange for extensive investment commitments.
Overall, South Africa’s merger control regime stands at a crossroads. And while public interest should not be viewed as a side issue, for the system to truly deliver on its transformative promise, it must strike a careful balance: promoting inclusion without dampening growth, and enforcing equity without undermining competitiveness.
Too much emphasis on social outcomes, without regard for commercial realities, may undermine the very goals the regime seeks to advance. But too little attention to public interest would be a dereliction of the country’s constitutional commitments.
Nicholas De Decker is an Associate | Lawtons Africa
This article first appeared in DealMakers, SA’s quarterly M&A publication.
Advanced Investment Holdings Ltd is a structured product promoted by Investec that offers diversified international equity exposure, plus capital protection. This could be a smart option when markets appear to be expensive.
Despite the lows and blows of the global news headlines, major world stock indices and commodities have been setting and surpassing new records in 2025. The rolling records and milestone numbers, however, can be a conundrum for new entrants and buyers.
With huge swathes of the investment landscape feeling relatively expensive, finding the right entry point can prove tricky. Structured products with capital protection and degrees of outcome predictability could strike the right balance.
Riding the waves
In October, gold traded above $4000/ounce for the first time, finding $4,300 mid-month before retreating, and the FTSE 100 traded in record territory, surpassing successive “all-time highs”. Stateside, the S&P has weathered tariff-induced dives (April) and poor labour data (July and August) and still came out swinging in September and October, showing weekly gains in four of five consecutive weeks and taking 2025’s tally of record high days to 37 so far.
As CNN breathlessly reported (in September), the S&P 500 “soared nearly 30% since its low point in April”, trading at 3.25 times sales on August 12, making for the highest level ever for that metric. The Buffett Indicator, CNN pointed out, was at 217%, “a historically high level that signals the stock market might be strongly overvalued”. It has since clocked in at 225%. Exact numbers aside – as the records stack up – the article provides a rundown of potential “overvaluation” signals, cautioning against not just the relative expense of the market but also increased sensitivity to shifts in sentiment.
Faced with this kind of market, some investors will be questioning how to proceed: Sitting it out means missed time in the market, while buying “too high” can mean a bracing bump at the bottom end of a trough.
The safety of structure
Structured product offerings provide for buyers seeking exposure to the high potential returns of the international equity market, without the downside equity risk, thanks to built-in capital protection. Plus, a range of other benefits as below.
Advanced Investment Holdings Ltd (AIHL) is an example of a structured product offering. AIHL is in the form of a listed, Guernsey-incorporated company that has Investec as its investment adviser. Investors subscribe for shares in the company, fully externalising the investment in USD. With the funds raised from the issue of shares, the company buys financial instruments that create a structured product payoff profile for investors. The financial instruments are issued by large international banks, which means that South Africans can further diversify their SA risk.
In this case, an investment in AIHL provides exposure to the growth of a broad-based basket of equity indices[1]. AIHL will return the growth of the index basket multiplied by a participation rate of 125%[2]. The index basket growth is capped at 40% – for a maximum return of 50% in USD (i.e., 40% x 125%). The term of the investment is five years and one month, with the potential to exit the investment early under normal market conditions.
Strategies for risk management
With 100% capital protection[3] at maturity in USD, this offering reduces the downside risk of future equity market shocks. Instead of traditional equity market risk, it provides a more predictable outcome between a “floor and ceiling”.
AIHL achieves capital protection through purchasing a debt instrument, which will accrue interest over time until it matures at 100% of the company’s capital. The debt instrument is a credit-linked note where the issuer and credit reference entities are large international banks with investment-grade credit ratings. The payout from the debt instrument at maturity is used to return the company’s capital, regardless of the movements of the equity market. However, the company’s capital is at risk if there is a default or credit event, in which case the full value of the debt instrument will not be paid out at maturity.
While risk cannot be avoided, this offering allows investors to reduce downside equity risk by taking on additional credit risk, which can be perceived as less risky.
A portfolio view
This offering is positioned to provide diversified global equity exposure within a portfolio, of particular interest for investors with mid-range horizons taking a buy-and-hold approach rather than one of, say, attempting to time the markets. Furthermore, as a dollar-denominated instrument, South Africans who anticipate rand depreciation on the horizon could see potential further upside should they convert their USD investment back into rands.
For more information, visit our website. Applications close on 28 November 2025 with a minimum investment amount of USD 12,000.
You can also refer to the recent podcast with The Finance Ghost and Japie Lubbe of Investec Structured Products, available below and with the full transcript here.
Please ensure that you do your own research and speak to your financial advisor. This sponsored article (and the related podcast) should not be seen as an endorsement or investment recommendation by The Finance Ghost, but rather a tool to assist in your research process.
[2]The participation is dependent on market conditions on trade date (the current participation is 125%). Advanced Investment Holdings Ltd reserves the right to trade a minimum participation of 115%if required due to market conditions on trade date.
[3]Structured products provide capital protection through the assumption of credit risk. They are intended for sophisticated investors who understand this risk and are willing to take it. There is credit risk on the debt issuer, each reference entity (the credit risk relates to the subordinated debt issued by such reference entities), and the equity investment provider(s). A default by any such party(ies) may cause the value of such investment of the company to be reduced or to become zero, which may adversely affect the share price or cause the share to become worthless.
African Rainbow Minerals places Beeshoek Iron Ore Mine on care and maintenance (JSE: ARI)
The mine is a casualty of the mess that is ArcelorMittal (JSE: ACL)
Just this week, I noted that ArcelorMittal is fighting with the unions regarding the loss of jobs at the Longs business in Newcastle. The Labour Court ruled in favour of the unions, despite ArcelorMittal having carried this loss-making facility for the longest time.
When a business (or a major segment) fails, it takes others down with it. Sure enough, African Rainbow Minerals announced that the Beeshoek Iron Ore Mine has been placed on care and maintenance as this mine’s sole customer is ArcelorMittal. The infrastructure is old and the mine is only viable based on the offtake agreement with ArcelorMittal. Offtake has been reduced over the past five years and the supply agreement expired in June 2024, becoming a month-to-month deal. Deliveries ceased at the end of July and all efforts to find an alternative for the mine were unsuccessful.
This means that 622 workers will be retrenched with effect from 30 November 2025. African Rainbow Minerals has put various support programmes in place to try and mitigate the pain. It’s always very sad when this happens, but it does a lot of damage to the economy if unions step in at this point and make the losses even worse. All this does is make it harder for companies to justify the risk of expansion and job creation.
Cell C takes a big step closer to being separately listed on the JSE (JSE: CCD)
This is of course highly relevant to investors in Blu Label (JSE: BLU)
I really look forward to the day when we can read about Cell C’s results and strategy without having to wade through endless transaction steps and complexities. That day draws ever closer thankfully, with two very important announcements in the market on Wednesday.
I’ll start with the most interesting one: Cell C has announced its intention to list on the main board of the JSE. We knew that this day was coming of course, as Cell C has been on roadshows for a while and Blu Label has been putting tons of effort into getting it ready for listing. Still, seeing the official announcement is exciting. We might be losing listings at an alarming rate on the market, but at least some new ones are coming through as well.
Cell C in its current form is a profitable and interesting business. The capex-light strategy focuses on being the shovel in the gold rush when it comes to companies with strong distribution (banks, retailers etc.) wanting to sell telecoms-related services and earn a margin-enhancing fee in the process. Capitec Connect is a perfect example of this, operating as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) using Cell C’s infrastructure.
Cell C has 13 of the 23 MVNOs in South Africa on its platform, so they have a majority market share. Although this segment gets all the attention, there’s still the consumer-focused segment that has 7.8 million mobile subscribers. My understanding of the numbers is that Cell C makes 42.1% of revenue from prepaid and 15.3% from postpaid. This means that more than half the revenue is sourced from the traditional offering, while the rest comes from wholesale and B2B, enterprise, fibre to the home, roaming and equipment. The group is much more diversified than the PR efforts around the MVNO business would otherwise suggest.
For the year ended May 2025, Cell C generated revenue of R13.7 billion and EBITDA of R3.7 billion. Given the financial complexities of how the group has been structured, those are pro forma numbers with footnotes (i.e. net of many adjustments). Still, it’s the best view they can provide of the current economics once all the restructuring steps are completed. Importantly, capex intensity (the percentage of revenue invested in capex) on a pro forma basis was 5.7% for that period, a number far below what would be required for Cell C to try and build out a competing network vs. buying excess network capacity from the leaders in the telecoms market. This speaks to their capex-light model of being the switch rather than the tower.
One of the strategic pillars that they put forward at Cell C has the bold aim of “driving an infectious brand connection” – a creative PR person came up with that! The brand may be infectious, but the web of restructuring transactions will simply make you sick. Blu Label has had some of the most complicated financial reporting I’ve ever seen. This will thankfully all be sorted out as part of the listing prep, which means that Cell C will be cut loose with a clean balance sheet.
The pre-listing steps will result in TPC (the Blu Label subsidiary) having a significant majority of shares in Cell C, while Cell C’s management will have 4.5%. The listing itself will see TPC sell up to R7.7 billion in shares in Cell C, with around R2.4 billion earmarked for an empowerment vehicle and the remaining R5.3 billion for the broader market. Blu Label will use the proceeds to settle debt and improve its balance sheet, with a portion of the proceeds potentially being paid as a dividend to shareholders.
It’s important to understand that Cell C will not be receiving any of those listing proceeds. Given the capex-light nature of the model, that makes sense.
For all the excitement, I must note that Cell C is only expecting single-digit revenue growth in years to come. They operate at decent margins and they expect to pay 30% to 50% of free cash flow as a dividend, so this is more of a dependable story than a high-risk growth story. If you’re looking for a position further along the risk/reward curve in this sector, then MTN (JSE: MTN) and Vodacom (JSE: VOD) with their forays into Africa would probably be more interesting. This isn’t to say that Cell C isn’t without risk of course!
In a separate announcement, Blu Label announced a few other pre-listing transactions. For example, TPC will acquire a loan claim that Nedbank (JSE: NED) has against Cell C for R447 million, with the plan being to convert it to equity. TPC has also agreed to acquire Nedbank’s 7.53% stake in Cell C, as well as the stake that Lesaka Technologies (JSE: LSK) holds in Cell C (5.13%). There is also an agreement to settle lease claims worth R1.3 billion for R750 million. With all said and done, the pro forma gross debt in Cell C is R2.75 billion, a gross debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.8x.
I can’t find exact confirmation of the listing date in the announcement, but I suspect it will happen before the December break.
Gold Fields: production up, costs down and guidance affirmed (JSE: GFI)
This is what the people want to see
Gold Fields released an operational update for the quarter ended September. It’s filled with good news, like a 6% increase in production and a 10% drop in all-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce, both measured on a quarter-on-quarter basis. At a time when gold is doing so well, all that investors hope for is that the gold miners will respond with efficient production.
If we look at year-on-year numbers, production was up 22% and AISC per ounce declined by 8%. That’s excellent.
The group ended the quarter with an extremely healthy balance sheet, with net debt to EBITDA at 0.17x vs. 0.37x in Q2. During the quarter, net debt managed to almost halve from $1.49 billion to $791 million. This was necessary as the post-quarter activity saw the completion of the acquisition of Gold Road Resources for $1.45 billion net of cash received and other adjustments. With all said and done, net debt to EBITDA is currently at 1.0x.
Guidance for FY25 has been affirmed. The share price is up 168% this year, although it’s nearly 19% off the 52-week high based on the recent correction in the gold price.
Vodacom has settled the Please Call Me matter (JSE: VOD)
I’m glad this crazy situation has come to an end
Personally, I’m tired of reading about the Please Call Me claim that Kenneth Makate has been fighting to get from Vodacom. All sense of commerciality appears to fly out the window in the debates around this matter, with truly eyewatering numbers as the suggested settlement figure for the dispute. It’s very much become a David vs. Goliath thing in South Africa, without people thinking about the knock-on effects of a huge number changing hands.
We don’t know yet what the final number is, but we do know that Vodacom and Makate have finally settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. We should be able to see it when Vodacom releases their interim results for the six months to September 2025. Given the strong recent performance at Vodacom, they may have used the opportunity to get this out the way and take the financial knock in a period that can “afford” it.
This battle has been going on for 17 years. That’s only slightly less time than the iPhone has existed for!
Nibbles:
Director dealings:
An associate of a director of Afrimat (JSE: AFT) sold shares worth just under R500k.
As we’ve seen many times, the CEO of Spear REIT (JSE: SEA) bought shares for his minor children and family investment vehicles. This time around, the purchases came to over R90k in aggregate.
The CEO of Vunani (JSE: VUN) bought shares worth R8k.
UK subsidiary of ASP Isotopes (JSE: ASP), Quantum Leap Energy, is working towards producing High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) in the UK. The update is that early engagement for “regulatory pathways” has been formally commenced. If this sounds like a regulatory minefield, you’re on the right track. This sector is obviously at the top of the list from a national security perspective, so a detailed due diligence is part of the process. The company also announced the appointment of highly experienced civil and defence sector executive Rich Deakin to the role of Managing Director, UK Strategic Projects. They seem to be making a lot of progress at ASP Isotopes on both sides of the Atlantic.
I may not love the approach being taken at Africa Bitcoin Corporation (JSE: BAC), but that’s not what counts. Instead, what counts is that the company consistently sticks to the strategy that has been put forward, so that those who believe in it can feel confident about its execution. Having raised my concern about less than half of the recent capital raising proceeds being used to acquire bitcoin, I’m pleased to see that another R900k or so was used to acquire half a bitcoin. This takes their total holding to just over 2.5 bitcoin, with a total acquisition value of nearly R4.6 million. But what about the rest of the proceeds?
Interestingly, Attacq (JSE: ATT) has withdrawn the AGM resolution related to the general authority to issue shares for cash. Companies tend to ask for this permission as a matter of course each year. A potential reason for it being withdrawn could be that major shareholders may have indicated to Attacq that they won’t vote in favour for the resolution while there is now uncertainty over who the next CFO will be. I’m genuinely just speculating though – there could be other reasons. It’s just unusual to see a withdrawn resolution.
Datatec (JSE: DTC) has sent the circular to shareholders dealing with the scrip distribution alternative. The cash dividend is 175 cents per share. The scrip dividend will be calculated based on this price and the 30-day VWAP adjusted for the cash dividend, less 10%. The exact ratio will be announced on 24 November.
Wesizwe Platinum (JSE: WEZ) remains suspended from trading, with the company hoping to release the interim results for the six months to June by the end of January 2026. The company is still dealing with the hangover of the cyber breach that feels like it happened ages ago.
Africa Bitcoin Corporation bought one bitcoin (JSE: BAN)
Which takes their tally to two bitcoin…
I try hard to have an open mind – not just when it comes to finance, but in life in general. I’m not a traditional crypto guy and I never will be, but I’ve heard decent arguments from very smart people in favour of adding bitcoin exposure over time. Each to their own.
From a corporate strategy perspective though, I still don’t understand the decision to pivot from Altvest to Africa Bitcoin Corporation. I raised my doubts at the time about the local market acceptance. The subsequent capital raise unfortunately proved me right, as they only raised a few million bucks towards this big dream. In public market terms, that’s tiny. To give you context, you would need to raise more money to open a Spur than they managed to raise in the public market to buy bitcoin.
Using part of the proceeds from the capital raise of R4.05 million, they’ve deployed R1.87 million to buy one bitcoin. This means they now own 2.0116 bitcoin at a total in-price of R3.69 million. I’m never going to be convinced that this is a better use of management time and effort than just focusing on delivering on the promises of the Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF).
I’m not sure why the remaining R2.2 million or so from the capital raise wasn’t deployed. They talk about retaining cash on hand for further bitcoin deployment, so does that mean they don’t like the current pricing? And if so, why did they buy the first one? Are they actively looking to trade bitcoin, or are they looking to build a reserve over time, in which case they should’ve deployed as much as possible into bitcoin? There are more questions than answers here.
The company has also now started reporting BTC Yield, which measures the change in the number of bitcoin per share in issue over a period of time. This metric is used by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the global bitcoin treasury company that everyone points to as the best example of this approach. I personally find the word “yield” to be misleading though. Just call it what it is: the change in the NAV per share that is related to bitcoin.
Alphamin released detailed Q3 financials that reflect a much better quarter (JSE: APH)
You just have to be careful of the disruption in the prior quarter
Alphamin releases detailed operational updates long before they actually file their financials for the quarter, so the main details of the recent performance were already known to the market a month ago. Still, it’s worth recapping the highlights now that detailed financials are available for the quarter ended September.
Contained tin production in Q3 was up 26% vs. Q2 (i.e. sequentially, not year-on-year) and this led to an increase in guidance for full-year production. EBITDA jumped by a juicy 28% vs. Q2 thanks to not just a 12% increase in tin sales, but also a 4% improvement in the average tin price achieved and a 2% decrease in the cost per tonne.
Alphamin’s operations were impacted by a production halt in the second quarter, so don’t extrapolate these sequential growth rates into the future. Security risks in the DRC remain top of mind for the company and its investors, with the share price having had a wildly volatile year:
If you have a fetish for trading DRC security risks, then you’ll want to add this one to your watchlist. For those with low risk tolerance, it’s probably better to look elsewhere. Mining in Africa is very far along the risk/reward curve and certainly isn’t for everyone.
ArcelorMittal is fighting the unions (JSE: ACL)
Everything that makes South Africa a tough place to do business is on full display here
ArcelorMittal’s problems have been highlighted for a long time now. The company has carried losses at the Longs business for ages, with government getting involved to try and find some kind of solution. No such solution has been found, which means that the company has little choice but to put the Longs business into care and maintenance. This is a disaster for places like Newcastle, but ArcelorMittal is out of options as they are a for-profit company that cannot carry huge losses forever.
Of course, being the highly unionised country that we are, NUMSA challenged the Section 189 process concluded in March 2025 and the Labour Court found in their favour. This means that ArcelorMittal has to reinstate all the employees who were dismissed, and they can’t undertake further dismissals, despite going through a detailed process to try and find an economic solution for these assets that wasn’t forthcoming from either the private or public sector.
I feel very sorry for the workers involved here, but this business is going to fail for reasons that are mostly outside of its control. That’s how things work in a country with low growth and deteriorating infrastructure. If that makes you angry, direct that anger at government where it belongs.
enX really misses load shedding (JSE: ENX)
An entire industry was left for dead by Eskom’s sudden improvement
Much like memories of COVID lockdowns, load shedding is starting to feel like an out-of-body experience; a thing that happened to somebody else. It’s hard to think back to what life was like when we didn’t have electricity for half the day. Things truly were darkest before the dawn!
It wouldn’t be accurate to say that nobody misses load shedding, as there were a lot of businesses built to address the desperate needs of South Africans for backup power. Although an element of that demand remains, it’s certainly nowhere near what it used to be. This is the problem when a business is built to address a single problem. In this case, the “disruption” to the industry was something as simple as Eskom keeping the lights on!
This is why enX’s continuing operations, primarily the Power segment, are suffering. In a trading statement for the year ended August 2025, the company noted a drop in revenue from continuing operations of 32%. Profit before tax will be down by between 30% and 34%. To add insult to injury, the lack of load shedding was accompanied by a delay in large-scale data centre projects and the payment of R15 million related to the IDC calling on a guarantee. On a per-share basis, HEPS from continuing operations will be between -3 cents and +1 cent, which is at least much better than the restated prior period loss of -8 cents.
In the discontinued operations, we find the disposal of the Lubricants segment that was effective in March 2025. We also find the Chemicals segment that is the subject of a transaction with Trichem. Just for added complexity, the prior period also includes the Fleet business that was disposed of to Nedbank.
Looking through all the noise here, the summary for me is that what’s left of enX is in a really difficult spot. They’ve disposed of the better businesses that were capable of finding buyers. The remaining stuff is going to be a bigger challenge.
Kore Potash could end up going private before the Kola Project is even built (JSE: KP2)
Unsurprisingly, buyers are circling the asset
Junior mining is all about getting through the big initial milestones and creating value through that process. It’s similar in nature to venture capital, with cash burn along the way in the early days in the hope of huge profits down the line. The ongoing need for capital is why many such companies choose to list and build in public, particularly on exchanges that are supportive of the mining sector (like the JSE).
But when the risk/reward profile shifts as milestones are achieved, these companies become more attractive takeover targets. Sure enough, Kore Potash has attracted the attention of investors who might be looking to do more than just put some money in towards the Kola Project’s development.
The company has engaged advisors to cast the net wide enough to see if an attractive deal can be found. If such a deal materialises, it’s likely that it would be for all the shares in the company and that a delisting would be on the table. There are two parties who have submitted non-binding expressions of interest in this regard.
There’s no guarantee whatsoever that anything will happen here. I must note that the company requires funding this month, so they are playing a risky game here in the pursuit of the best possible deal for shareholders and the company. The company has released a cautionary announcement to remind shareholders to be careful at the moment.
The current share price is more than 6x higher than the lows in May 2024. When junior mining goes well, it can go very well.
Pepkor has finalised the R1.7 billion Legit / Swagga / Style / Boardmans acquisition (JSE: PPH)
The group is looking to increase its market share in adultwear categories
Pepkor is doing very well at the moment, as evidenced by the recent results. This is because they have been focused on execution in South Africa for lower-income consumers who have come to rely on Pepkor’s offering and its associated credit business. Doing a few things really well is always a better idea than doing many things badly.
One of Pepkor’s traditional strengths lies in kidswear. They are looking to take the learnings and apply them to more adult-focused businesses, as this is obviously a huge opportunity. They have talked before about being underindexed in adultwear, a fancy way for a retailer to describe a situation in which they have lower relative market share in that category vs. other categories.
As part of this strategy, Pepkor announced in March this year that they had agreed to acquire Legit, Swagga, Style and Boardmans from Retailability, the company that had acquired Edgars out of business rescue. The update is that the final purchase price is R1.7 billion (roughly 1.7% of Pepkor’s market cap) and that the conditions for the deal have been met. The implementation date was 2 November 2025.
Boardmans is the odd one out here, being an online-only business in the homeware segment. That will slot into the Pepkor Lifestyle business. As for the rest, they will land in Pepkor Speciality to try and maximise the potential synergies. Pepkor will undoubtedly apply their “credit interoperability strategy” to these stores as well, with 469 stores being added to the existing footprint of 979 stores in Pepkor Speciality.
Nibbles:
Director dealings:
An associate of a director of South Ocean Holdings (JSE: SOH) bought shares worth R38k.
The CEO of Vunani (JSE: VUN) bought shares worth R9.6k.
Here’s an interesting one: the CFO of Attacq (JSE: ATT), Raj Nana, has resigned from the role with effect from the end of January 2026. He’s been with Attacq for around 12 years! There are no details in the announcement on where he is going or who his successor will be.
MTN Zakhele Futhi (JSE: MTNZF) announced that the special dividend of R4.20 per share has received SARB approval and will be paid on 17 November. This is part of the final winding up of the scheme after it realised its investment in MTN.
Visual International (JSE: VIS) raised just R1.7 million through its bookbuild process. Such is life in penny stock land, unfortunately. It would probably also help tremendously if they had a working website, but what do I know?
Altron’s profits are higher, but be cautious of why (JSE: AEL)
A change to depreciation policy isn’t exactly a high quality source of growth
Altron has released results for the six months to August. At a quick glance they look incredible, with HEPS up 22% despite revenue dipping by 1%. As you dig deeper though, you’ll find that a change in depreciation policy at Netstar has been a major driver of that earnings uplift.
The best way to isolate this effect is to compare EBITDA from continuing operations (up 4%) to operating profit (up 15%). EBITDA is before depreciation, whereas operating profit is net of depreciation. Altron has successfully argued that Netstar’s depreciation curve of its underlying telematics devices should be less aggressive based on their useful lives. That may well be correct, but it does create an artificial once-off bump in the earnings growth rate. Next year, the new depreciation policy will be in the base year and the new financial year, so the year-on-year growth rates won’t be impacted by this change. This means that EBITDA growth of 4% this year is probably a better indication of maintainable growth than the 15% jump in operating profit.
The interim dividend is up 20%, so they’ve tried to get the dividend growth as close as possible to HEPS growth despite the non-cash nature of the change in depreciation. Sounds good, but the company clearly has space to do this when only paying out 48 cents vs. HEPS of 87 cents (including discontinued operations).
This isn’t to say that Altron doesn’t have a good news story to tell. For example, Netstar’s subscriber numbers grew 11% and the turnaround of the Australian business is expected to return it to profitability in the second half of the year and beyond. EBITDA growth at Netstar was 10%. In Altron FinTech, they achieved revenue growth of 24% and EBITDA growth of 18%, with SMEs attracted to the collections and payment platform. They are competing in the POS devices space there.
But there are areas of the business that are struggling for growth, which is why group revenue from continuing operations was down 1%. Altron Digital Business is the problem child, with the group referring to a “muted” IT investment environment that led to revenue in this area dropping by 10%. As we’ve seen in other listed companies like Bytes Technology (JSE: BYI), changes to OEM partner rebate structures are hurting these IT distribution businesses. The drop in revenue was severe enough to take EBITDA from a profit of R42 million to a loss of R32 million, leading to Altron implementing a plan to remove R150 million from its cost base. It’s hard to imagine how that can be achieved without jobs being impacted, so that’s very unfortunate.
In an effort to at least get some of the AI action at a time when other areas of IT are under pressure, Altron has launched an “AI Factory” with enterprise-level AI infrastructure and services. It will be interesting to see if that gets traction.
Although a small segment vs. the others, Altron HealthTech is worth a mention. Despite flat revenue, they grew EBITDA by 21%. This is because the mix shifted from project revenue towards annuity revenue, usually a good thing for platform businesses like these.
Here’s another example of strong profit growth despite tough revenue: Altron Document Solutions saw revenue drop by 5%, yet EBITDA was up by a meaty 53%. Printers and associated software and digital solutions can still make money!
On the distribution side of the business, Altron Arrow suffered a drop in revenue of 23% and EBITDA fell by 46%. The electronic component distribution industry is struggling.
As you can see, it’s a mixed bag. They might be doing well in Netstar (revenue of R1.2 billion), but that’s not enough to offset the worries in the larger Altron Digital Business segment (revenue of R1.5 billion). The market wasn’t blind to this, with the share price down 8.5% on the day.
It looks like Ethos Capital is entering its final stages as a listed company (JSE: EPE)
The Optasia (JSE: OPA) listing has led to a further value unlock opportunity
It’s been a long time coming for Ethos Capital, but it looks as though the company has a route to achieving a full value unlock for shareholders. They’ve been working on it since November 2023, which shows you how long it takes to achieve an orderly exit from a portfolio of assets. This is what drives the marketability discount that has become a justification in the market for investment holding companies to be valued at a 20% – 30% discount to NAV. You’ll see why that is relevant shortly.
The listing of Optasia on the JSE gives Ethos an opportunity to sell down its stake in Optasia from 6.5% to 4.5% and raise R370 million in the process. The listing has been achieved at a premium to the valuation that Ethos had on Optasia (more evidence that you should always be careful of IPO pricing), with the net asset value per share increasing from R8.57 to R9.39 thanks to the partial unlock of cash here.
But where does this leave the rest of the assets? The Brait Exchangeable Bonds are set to be unbundled to shareholders. This represents R0.74 per Ethos share. As for the rest of the assets, a “large South African financial institution” has put in a non-binding offer to acquire the residual assets at a 29% discount to their NAV. This brings me back to the point around the marketability discount, as the board of Ethos Capital views this offer favourably vs. the likely outcome of selling these assets piecemeal in the market. Once again, the NAV of investment holding companies is becoming an increasingly useless number based on market practice in South Africa.
Here’s where the maths gets interesting: once you take into account the cost saving of immediately selling the assets vs. maintaining a listed structure while selling them over time, Ethos reckons that the discount to NAV is 19%. Again, this is the argument for practicality vs. what the NAV could theoretically be realised at.
Assuming this becomes a binding offer (and there’s no guarantee of that), Ethos would then have the remaining Optasia stake as its only asset. They would look to sell that once the six-month lock up period expires.
With all said and done, these transactions would imply an adjusted NAV per share of R8.44, which is a 10.6% discount to the adjusted NAV after the initial Optasia sell-down. But importantly, this is a 14% premium to the Ethos share price before this announcement. This is why the share price closed 13% higher on the day at R8.25.
CEO Anthonie de Beer isn’t hanging around for this. He’s accepted a role elsewhere (the announcement doesn’t give details). Jonathan Matthews, a partner at Ethos Private Equity for 11 years, will step into the role to see this process through.
Exxaro has offloaded FerroAlloys (JSE: EXX)
The deal value is R250 million
Exxaro announced that it has disposed of FerroAlloys, its domestic producer of ferrosilicon for industrial customers in South Africa. The deal became effective on 31 October 2025. The buyer is a consortium led by EverSeed Metal Powders (60%), with FerroAlloys management holding 30% and the other 10% in an employee share ownership plan. EverSeed is a 100% Black-Owned group in the resources and energy sectors.
The “majority” of the price of R250 million (they don’t give the exact portion) is payable in cash. But there’s also a vendor loan here with deferred payments (i.e. Exxaro retains exposure) and what sounds like some equity in EverSeed as well. This is a category 2 transaction (due to its size), so Exxaro can get away with giving only vague indications here rather than deal specifics.
MTN Rwanda joins the party (JSE: MTN)
Here’s another African subsidiary doing really well
MTN Rwanda has released results for the nine months to September 2025. Just like we saw at MTN Nigeria, there’s a very positive story to tell.
For the nine months, service revenue is up by 14.2%, driven by underlying drivers like a 7.5% increase in active data subscribers and a 12.2% increase in Mobile Money (MoMo) users. This was good enough to drive EBITDA higher by 36.7%, taking EBITDA margin to 41.2% (up 720 basis points).
The percentages get even crazier further down the income statement, with profit after tax up 222.7%. Perhaps most impressively from a free cash flow perspective, this performance was complemented by capital expenditure excluding leases dropping by 27.1%. This is why adjusted free cash flow has more than doubled on a year-to-date basis.
In terms of cadence through the year, the latest quarter saw an acceleration in revenue (16.2% total revenue growth vs. 13.1% year-to-date), but EBITDA was up 27.7% vs. 36.7% year-to-date because of a tougher base. Importantly, EBITDA margin has increased in the third quarter vs. earlier this year. There was very little capex in the base period, so the year-on-year change in capex in Q3 is actually negative. Capex timing can vary across quarters.
Overall, it’s a very strong set of numbers. Rwanda’s GDP is forecast to grow by 7.1% in 2025 and inflation is in a healthy range of 2% to 8%, so MTN can do very well under these circumstances.
Some of Oceana’s year-on-year pain was mitigated by catch rates at the end of the period (JSE: OCE)
This just shows how hard it is to run a business around Mother Nature
Primary agriculture is a difficult industry at the best of times. When it takes place in the oceans, the volatility becomes even harder to manage. The only certainty you can really have when investing in a business like Oceana is uncertainty, as the business is constantly having to manage a number of risk factors.
This means that there will be good years and bad years. If you prefer a smooth journey, then it’s best to stick to the local dam and not venture out into the open ocean. The latest earnings guidance is a reminder of this, with Oceana tightening the range for the decrease in HEPS for the year ended September 2025. They now expect it to be a drop of between 36% and 42% vs. the prior year.
This is better than they previously expected though, with a trading update in mid-September noting an expectation of a drop of at least 40%. Those words “at least” tend to work hard in these situations, with the company leaving enough wriggle room to announce something much worse than a 40% drop. The reason for the relatively mild 36% to 42% guidance is that the catch rates in the wild caught seafood segment were “significantly better than anticipated” in the last two weeks of September.
For context, the interim period to March 2024 was a drop in HEPS of 43.9%, so the full year picture is remarkably consistent with the shape of the prior year’s earnings.
Pepkor’s business model is flying in this environment (JSE: PPH)
The focus on value offerings and a credit overlay is the right model
Pepkor released a strong trading update for the year ended September 2025. These numbers certainly do nothing to support the excuses at retailers that are putting out weak numbers at the moment, as Pepkor has shown what is possible.
A 12% increase in revenue is really strong, with Pepkor referring to its resilient and defensive model. Their clothing and general merchandise revenue was up 8.9% and fintech jumped by a delightful 31.1%. But here’s something else that is rather impressive: furniture, appliances and electronics revenue was up 7.2%. Remember the recent Nu-World (JSE: NWL) update that also reflected an increase in revenue in consumer discretionary goods? Perhaps the macroeconomic environment isn’t so bad after all, with some retailers just using it as a convenient excuse for weak performance.
Pepkor certainly doesn’t need any excuses or apologies to investors, with normalised HEPS from continuing operations up by between 18% and 28%. That’s the best indication of how the core business is performing – and it’s performing really well!
Full details will be available on 25 November.
Mid-single digit growth at Redefine Properties (JSE: RDF)
For investors seeking yield and real growth, this is what they want to see
Property funds are popular because they offer investors a more defensive underpin in a portfolio (in theory, at least) with a decent dividend yield and a high likelihood of real returns (growth in excess of inflation). The latest numbers from Redefine Properties are a good example of what the market wants to see in this space.
For the year ended August 2025, distributable income per share grew by 4.7% and the company took advantage of its stable position to hike the dividend per share by 7.8%. The SA REIT NAV per share increased by 3.6%, so the “value” of the fund is moving up in line with inflation. The loan-to-value ratio of 40.6% indicates that the balance sheet is sitting with a healthy mix of debt.
Looking ahead, distributable income per share growth for FY26 is anticipated to be between 4% and 6%. That’s not quite the same as the dividend per share, as the payout ratio is able to flex between 80% and 90% of distributable income per share. If you’re keen to understand more about the company, you can refer to their recent appearance on Unlock the Stock.
Santova paints a worrying picture (JSE: SNV)
A presentation to the market comes after weak results and extensive selling by directors in recent months
There was so much positivity around Santova when they announced the acquisition of Seabourne Group in May this year. Directors and execs were buying shares and the market responded positively. But as you can see, the share price is now back where it started:
“Performance is not as bad as it appears on face value” is one of the opening sentences in the presentation to the market. This certainly isn’t stopping one of the executive directors from selling shares. If you read further on, Santova claims that “almost all imports from South Africa and China have ceased” in relation to the United States. This is really hurting their US-based business in Los Angeles, where they have a highly onerous lease that only ends in 16 months from now. Sounds pretty bad to me!
If we look at the South African business, their revenue fell 3.4% and the company is worried about the impact of tariffs on South African goods. I find this very interesting, as recent reporting in the local agriculture sector has painted a far rosier picture of our export markets. That’s obviously just one sector, whereas Santova has more of an umbrella view on the South African economy, so keep that in mind.
The Asia Pacific region saw a drop in revenue of 22.4%, although the Australian growth of 7.1% is masking just how bad the drops were in Hong Kong (-33.6%) and Singapore (-36.8%). Santova has noted deepening economic regional integration as they seek new trade deals. These conditions are not good for Santova.
By now, you must be wondering in exactly what way performance isn’t as bad as it looks at face value! The UK business is an area where they are more bullish, although that isn’t saying much. The Seabourne acquisitions is driving a structural change to the shape of the income statement, as it is a completely different business model to the rest of Santova’s business. Surprisingly, the Eurozone is another region where Santova has found some growth.
Despite all this pain, Santova has noted that they are alert to acquisition opportunities in this environment. Fair enough, but when the last seven director dealings announcements were for sales of shares, it’s kinda hard for the market to hit the buy button. Santova closed 3.6% lower at R7.07.
Nibbles:
Director dealings:
As a reminder of what life is like at the top, Sean Summers received R56.6 million worth of Pick n Pay (JSE: PIK) shares based on the first milestone being achieved in the turnaround. This seems to mainly be based on getting leadership structures in place and achieving like-for-like sales growth. As a reminder, Pick n Pay’s supermarkets business (i.e. excluding Boxer) is still heavily loss-making.
A director of Santova (JSE: SNV) sold shares worth R2.9 million.
The CEO of Choppies (JSE: CHP) bought shares worth just over R900k.
The CEO of Vunani (JSE: VUN) bought shares worth R22k.
Could ISA Holdings (JSE: ISA) be among the next wave of delistings from the JSE? The technology company has released a cautionary announcement based on a non-binding expression of interest that would lead to an unnamed offeror acquiring a controlling stake via a scheme of arrangement and delisting the company. There’s absolutely no guarantee that the deal will go ahead. Nevertheless, the share price was up 12% by close of play in anticipation of a potentially juicy offer premium.
There’s a substantial change to HEPS at Labat Africa (JSE: LAB). Although it’s rare to see, there were significant accounting movements between the release of provisional results and audited final results. In this case, the change has led to HEPS coming in at 5.81 cents for the year ended May instead of 13.28 cents. That’s a huge difference for a stock trading at 7 cents per share! The change is due to the reversal of a bargain purchase gain and the allocation of the purchase price for Classic and Ahnamu to other lines on the financials. These acquisitions make the year-on-year comparisons pointless, so investors should rather see these numbers as the baseline going forwards. It’s just a pity that HEPS was so incorrect in the initial release.
Merafe (JSE: MRF) announced that the chrome ore marketing agreement with Glencore (JSE: GLN) has been extended to January 2026. The terms of the agreement are unchanged in terms of Glencore earning a commission from the joint venture in which Merafe has a 20.5% share and Glencore has a 79.5% share. In case you weren’t aware, Glencore also has a 29% shareholding in Merafe.
YeboYethu (JSE: YYLBEE) is enjoying the improvement in Vodacom’s (JSE: VOD) share price. A trading statement for the six months to September reflects an increase in NAV of between 75% and 85%, which puts it at an expected range of R84.36 to R89.18. The current share price is R39, so it’s trading at a substantial discount to NAV. The reason for the increase is that Vodacom’s share price jumped by nearly 22% between September 2024 and September 2025.
Metrofile (JSE: MFL) announced that potential acquirer Mango Holding Corp now has an 11.13% stake in the company through a total return swap arrangement with Standard Bank as the counterparty.
Putprop (JSE: PPR) is a property small cap with very little trade in its stock. I’m therefore just giving it a passing mention that the company has agreed to sell a portion of Summit Place in Menlyn for R26.5 million. The portion is actually the right of extension at the property, so this is a future development project rather than an income-earning asset. The property was valued at R30 million, so they’ve taken a knock here to get it off the balance sheet.
The situation at Shuka Minerals (JSE: SKA) is becoming very awkward, as I feared. When cash is supposed to flow and there are endless excuses about administrative issues, then something is wrong. The company is waiting for funding promised by Gathoni Muchai Investments (GMI) to facilitate the acquisition of Leopard Exploration and Mining. There’s $1.35 million in cash owed to the sellers. Despite promises that funds would flow last week, they didn’t. As we are now accustomed to, GMI has promised that the money will come this week. Separately, Shuka Minerals is in negotiations around the stockpile of fines at the Rukwa operation, which it believes could raise between $420k to $480k in sales revenue. They haven’t locked down a sale as of yet.
Only modest dividend growth at Collins Property as they reinvest in the group (JSE: CPP)
The loan-to-value ratio is well above the levels that REITs usually run at
Collins Property Group has released results for the six months to August. Despite a juicy increase in distributable income per share from 54 cents to 63 cents, the dividend has only increased from 50 cents to 52 cents. Interesting.
The debt ratios give us a clue as to why the group might be taking a more conservative approach with dividends. The loan-to-value is high at 51.8%, with most REITs preferring to run in the low 40s. The group has been investing in the Netherlands, so they’ve run the balance sheet hot to make that transaction happen. There are properties worth R960 million that have been sold and are awaiting transfer, so perhaps that will give the balance sheet some breathing room going forwards. I’m not convinced they will reduce debt though, as the outlook statement speaks directly to deal flow and reinvestment opportunities.
As a quick look at the South African portfolio, the vacancy rate in both the industrial and retail portfolios is running at roughly 0.8%. The office portfolio is still really struggling, with a vacancy rate of 17.3%. The office portfolio is 7% of the group’s property exposure and they are looking to sell those properties.
Group production dipped at Impala Platinum, but sales are higher (JSE: IMP)
An increasein refined production helped here
Mining is a complicated thing. Even when the prevailing market prices for a commodity are favourable, the mining houses still need to get the stuff out of the ground and sell it. This is why production reports are very important.
For the three months to September, Impala Platinum experienced a 5% decline in group 6E production volumes. Despite this, refined and saleable production volumes increased by 3%, helping to drive a 7% increase in sales volumes. Based on this performance, FY26 guidance has been maintained.
There were various reasons for this, ranging from lower grades and recoveries through to the timing of maintenance. The key is that sales at least moved in the right direction, even if production had some challenges.
MC Mining is making progress at Makhado (JSE: MCZ)
Uitkomst remains a difficult story
MC Mining released an activities report for the quarter ended September. It’s positive overall, with the company making solid progress at the Makhado Project and achieving some key milestones. There have been some delays (as usual in large construction projects), but commissioning activities for the coal plant are expected to begin by December 2025.
At Uitkomst Colliery, the turnaround plan was approved and key initiatives are being executed. Run-of-mine production fell 8% year-on-year and 21% quarter-on-quarter, so they have a lot of work to do there. High-grade coal sales were down 1% year-on-year. Coal prices are still under pressure vs. the levels seen earlier this year, although revenue per tonne actually increased year-on-year.
Thankfully, the investment by Kinetic Development Group is supporting the balance sheet through this tricky period, with a cash balance of $13.2 million at the end of the period.
Although there was a 15.8% climb in the share price on the day, it happened before the announcement came out at 10am.
Incredible momentum at MTN Nigeria (JSE: MTN)
A far more stable macroeconomic base is doing wonders
MTN Nigeria is a perfect example of an extreme version of the risk/reward trade-off. It’s a huge market, which means the size of the prize is exciting. It unfortunately also comes with a heavy dose of macroeconomic volatility. After all, it was just last year that things almost looked hopeless for MTN Nigeria.
These issues are in the rearview mirror now, although one should never discount them from returning. The Nigerian naira has actually appreciated against the US dollar in 2025 (thanks, Trump and tariffs). The Central Bank of Nigeria has managed to decrease interest rates by 50 basis points (although the Monetary Policy Rate remains very high at 27%). There’s clearly a recovery underway.
This is doing wonderful things for MTN Nigeria’s business. Total revenue is up 57.4% for the nine months year-to-date and 62.8% for the quarter ended September, so there’s been an acceleration in the business. EBITDA is up by a delicious 123% year-to-date, with margin shooting up from 36.3% to 51.4%. In the third quarter, EBITDA was up 129.2% and the margin was 52.9%, so the acceleration is again evident.
Here’s the real kicker though: MTN Nigeria generated 45% of the year-to-date profit in the third quarter! The momentum throughout the year has been immense, with the business having swung sharply from losses to profits.
As the icing on the cake, free cash flow is up 38.5% year-to-date and 75.7% in the third quarter. The day truly was darkest before the dawn for them. The big question is: can it continue?
Nu-World paints a surprisingly positive picture of the South African consumer (JSE: NWL)
This small cap is always a useful look at local discretionary spending
It’s very unlikely that Nu-World is on your investment radar. With a market cap of R650 million and an average of R100k – R120k in stock changing hands each day, this isn’t exactly an institutional investor favourite, or a regular feature on stock picking lists. But there is one thing that Nu-World is particularly useful for: a clean look at consumer health in South Africa.
This is because Nu-World specialises in consumer discretionary goods, like appliances. They do have offshore markets, so an effort to isolate the South African performance requires a dig into the segmental numbers.
Let’s deal with the group performance first. For the year ended August, Nu-World’s revenue was up 11.1% and HEPS increased 11.0%. The dividend per share was up 9.4%. That’s a solid set of numbers.
In South Africa, revenue was up by 13.8% and income jumped by 60%, so they definitely didn’t need to cut their margins to achieve that sales uplift. TV and audio sales improved and seasonal categories did particularly well. Overall, despite the prevailing high interest rates, South African consumers increased their purchases of these discretionary items.
It’s not every day you’ll see a gross loss, but such is life at Renergen (JSE: REN)
The ASP Isotopes (JSE: ISO) offer truly saved the day
There are many companies that make a net loss from time to time – that’s a loss after covering all operating expenses, finance costs and the like. But it’s very rare to see a gross loss, which is the opposite of a gross profit – in other words, a situation where the company is losing money every time it sells something!
Renergen is no longer capitalising the costs related to the recent plant construction, as the plant has been commissioned. This means that the costs are landing on the income statement as an expense, rather than being sent to the balance sheet as an asset. What would usually happen is that the revenue flowing from the commissioning of the plant would offset the costs. Alas, Renergen managed to suffer a drop of 4% in LNG production and they produced negligible helium, so the revenue just wasn’t there.
After swinging from a gross profit of R0.9 million to a gross loss of R28.7 million, you can imagine what the rest of the income statement looks like. Other operating expenses jumped by R31.5 million, with only an incremental R3.2 million being due to professional fees related to the ASP Isotopes offer and Renergen’s legal battles. When you reach the funding costs line, you’ll find a leap of R50.2 million thanks to the funding costs on the loan from ASP Isotopes that arguably kept Renergen alive, as well as the Standard Bank facility.
Renergen currently has cash of R163.1 million and owes ASP Isotopes R538.5 million. I truly have no idea how Renergen shareholders would’ve survived without the offer coming in from ASP Isotopes.
Vodacom’s earnings are growing strongly (JSE: VOD)
This is the case even after adjusting for once-offs in the base
Vodacom released a trading statement for the six months to September 2025. HEPS growth of 40% to 45% looks ridiculous at first blush, but there are some adjustments to consider.
The corresponding period had once-off impacts related to the DRC and Ethiopia of 55 cents per share, so the adjusted base for HEPS would be 408 cents. Even then, the guided range of 494 cents to 512 cents is an uplift of roughly 23% at the midpoint!
Vodacom has noted that there are some other significant movements below the EBITDA line that are leading to this jump. EBITDA growth is expected to be in line with the 2030 growth plan, which means double-digit growth. It’s very likely that Egypt is a major contributor here.
Either way, it’s an impressive set of numbers. I look forward to the release of full details.
Nibbles:
Director dealings:
A director of a major subsidiary of OUTsurance (JSE: OUT) – specifically their Australian business – sold shares in OUTsurance worth R24.2 million.
Norbert Sasse, the CEO of Growthpoint (JSE: GRT), sold shares in the company worth R11.5 million.
A non-executive director of Valterra Platinum (JSE: VAL) sold shares worth R9.8 million.
A non-executive director of Old Mutual (JSE: OMU) bought shares worth almost R3 million. I’m really not sure why, but he also sold shares worth around R240k!
An associated entity and the spouse of a non-executive director of Northam Platinum (JSE: NPH) bought shares worth R2.2 million.
A director of Santova (JSE: SNV) sold shares worth R560k.
For whatever reason, a few directors and senior execs at Attacq (JSE: ATT) donated shares to associates and spouses.
Aspen (JSE: APN) announced that the material contractual dispute related to the mRNA customer (i.e. the one that broke the share price this year) has been settled in Aspen’s favour for around R500 million. The company’s market cap has shed roughly R30 billion in value this year, so that’s a very small consolation prize in the broader context.
Stefanutti Stocks (JSE: SSK) has made important progress with the balance sheet. The primary operating subsidiary has concluded a new R850 million 5-year facility agreement with Standard Bank. The facility has been priced at three-month JIBAR plus a margin of 3.5%. The key here is that the facility will be used to settle the current loan obligations with lenders that was extended to June 2026. Stefanutti Stocks intends to settle the capital on this loan using the contractual claim re: Kusile and the proceeds from the sale of SS- Construções (Moçambique) Limitada.
Unsurprisingly, Curro (JSE: COH) received almost unanimous approval for the scheme of arrangement related to the Jannie Mouton Stigting transaction. I genuinely cannot understand why anyone would vote against it. Perhaps the 0.02% of votes against the scheme were just finger trouble?
Kore Potash (JSE: KP2) released its quarterly update for the three months to September. After term sheets were signed for the financing of the project in early June, the focus in the past few months has been on putting the right people in place for the project. This includes project management services, with a bid from United Mining Services winning the request for proposal process. Contracts are expected to be executed by the end of 2025. Other workstreams include the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, as well as the analysis of samples from the cores that were shipped to China. The company had $2.13 million in cash as at the end of September.
Spear REIT (JSE: SEA) has completed the acquisition of Maynard Mall for R455 million. The loan-to-value ratio is between 18% and 19% after this acquisition.
KAP (JSE: KAP) has announced its new CFO to replace Frans Olivier who has stepped into the top job as CEO. Dries Ferreira is coming in as the new CFO, which means he is leaving his CFO role at Astral Foods (JSE: ARL). KAP quite honestly needs all the help it can get, so someone with poultry sector experience (one of the toughest sectors around) feels like a solid choice to me. Astral hasn’t announced a successor as they were obviously caught off-guard by the resignation.
While on the topic of new CFOs, DRDGOLD (JSE: DRD) confirmed that CFO Designate Henriette Hooijer (whose appointment was announced in June) will replace Riaan Davel with effect from 1 February 2026.
Cilo Cybin (JSE: CCC) announced that the trades caused by errors in a broker’s system have been rectified, including the trades related to the CEO and a non-executive director.
Europa Metals (JSE: EUZ) has been suspended from trading on the AIM since May 2025. The last major announcement from the company was that it is working towards returning assets to shareholders in the most tax efficient way. With an asset base that consists mainly of cash and shares in Denarius Metals Corp, the group has net assets of AUD3.24 million (around R36.7 million). Not that there’s much trade in the shares on the JSE, but the most recent share price suggests a current market cap of just below R30 million (and thus not far off the NAV per share).
Deepfakes that fool the eye. Voices that sound real. Attacks that never sleep. As artificial intelligence reshapes both offence and defence, cyber risk has gone mainstream.
In this episode of No Ordinary Wednesday, Jeremy Maggs speaks with Investec cybersecurity experts Nomalizo Hlazo and Tash van der Heever about the new era of digital resilience where trust, adaptability and awareness are your strongest defences. Read more on www.investec.com/now
Hosted by seasoned broadcaster, Jeremy Maggs, the No Ordinary Wednesday podcast unpacks the latest economic, business and political news in South Africa, with an all-star cast of investment and wealth managers, economists and financial planners from Investec. Listen in every second Wednesday for an in-depth look at what’s moving markets, shaping the economy, and changing the game for your wallet and your business.
We’re the only species that screams for fun. From haunted houses to horror movie festivals, humans have turned fear – evolution’s greatest red flag – into entertainment.
I don’t believe in ghosts (except perhaps the finance variety), but I’ve loved ghost stories for as long as I can remember. The bookshelf in my house is packed with well-loved Stephen King titles, and I reread The Shining every two or three years. There’s almost no amount of on-screen blood, guts or gore that can rattle me at this point. When I recommend films to friends, I have to remind myself that actually, not everyone wants to spend their Friday night peering at the screen through their fingers.
For a while I wondered if there was something wrong with me. Why do I seek out fear as a form of entertainment? In fact, many times when I find myself with my hair on end and my muscles tense in the build up to an inevitable jump scare, I wonder why I do this to myself. Fortunately, the popularity of horror films at my local cinema proves that I’m not alone in my semi-masochistic cravings.
Fear, by definition, is unpleasant. It’s the thing evolution wired us to avoid, not queue up for at the cinema. And yet, we do it anyway. We pay to scream on rollercoasters. We binge true crime before bed. We volunteer to be chased through haunted houses by actors with cardboard chainsaws.
So, what’s the deal? Why do some people crave the thrill while others won’t even glance at a horror trailer? And what exactly makes fear – that most primal of emotions – so much fun?
The science of a good scare
Some clues to our scare cravings can be found in our biology. When we watch a horror film, something curious happens inside us. The fear feels real: our heart rate spikes, our muscles tense, and adrenaline floods our system. But the moment your brain realises you’re not actually in danger, that surge of adrenaline converts into pleasure. Essentially, the same biochemical chaos that makes you want to run also makes you want to watch again.
It’s the same reason people love rollercoasters, bungee jumping, or spicy food (yes, chilli peppers and horror movies live in the same psychological neighbourhood – you can reread my article on why some people seek out the burn here). We seek controlled danger. We want the thrill of surviving something that was never really a threat. It’s like flirting with death, but safely.
Part of the appeal lies in novelty. Horror lets us explore realities we’d never want to live through, like zombie outbreaks, haunted asylums, and demonic dolls, all without consequence. In the same vein, horror scratches an itch that few other genres can: morbid curiosity. We’re fascinated by the dark corners of human nature. Watching fictional killers and possessed children allows us to peek into the abyss without having to step inside. It’s like a psychological safari – a way to study fear, morality, and the fragile line between sanity and savagery, all from the comfort of the couch (or the movie seat).
The frame that makes fear fun
The essential ingredient in our enjoyment of horror is something that a psychologist named Samuel Taylor Coleridge called the suspension of disbelief. This is our willingness to temporarily set aside our critical judgement and accept unrealistic or impossible elements in a story to enjoy the narrative.
Suspension of disbelief makes it possible for us to enjoy works of fiction across multiple genres, not just horror. Despite the fact that we know Anne Hathaway is happily married in real life, we can believe the on-screen chemistry between her and her co-star in a romantic drama enough to cry real tears when she and her love are denied their happy ending. We can root for the heroes in epic war scenes from films like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings as earnestly as we root for the Springboks when they take on the All Blacks. Even when we know that the monster on the screen isn’t real, we trick our own brains into believing what we see until we achieve a real fear response.
But unlike other genres, the suspension of disbelief in horror only works if we know it’s safe. Without that mental buffer, fear stops being fun and starts being trauma.
Safety frame: You have to believe that you’re physically secure. Freddy Krueger is on screen, not in your bedroom. The moment you start thinking he might crawl out of the TV, the thrill collapses into panic.
Detachment frame: You must remember it’s fiction. That screaming victim is an actor and that pool of blood is corn syrup. Detachment allows you to appreciate the artistry without feeling the pain.
Control frame: You need to feel that you are still in charge. You might scream in a movie theatre, but you also know you can walk out at any time. That sense of agency keeps the fear tolerable, even pleasurable.
Lose any one of these three frames, and the horror stops being “fun scary” and becomes “please make it stop” scary.
Some modern horror films bend these frames to their limits. Think of subgenres like found footage (The Blair Witch Project is a great example, debatably even the first example), where the style of camerawork leads the audience to believe that they are witnessing real footage captured on an abandoned-then-found home video camera. When the footage is scrubbed of the usual Hollywood smoothness and gloss that reminds us that we’re watching a work of fiction, we are pressed up right against the edges of the detachment frame. It becomes harder to disbelieve that what we’re seeing isn’t real, which is why many people describe The Blair Witch Project as the scariest film they’ve ever seen.
Conversely, older horror films (think back to classics like 1982’s Poltergeistand 1984’s Nightmare on Elm Street) almost amplify those frames. Their cutting-edge-at-the-time special effects haven’t exactly aged well when compared to the types of make-up and CGI that we’ve become accustomed to seeing today. It therefore becomes easier to remember that what we’re seeing isn’t real (mainly because it doesn’t look real).
Why some people love it (and others don’t)
Like most things in life, our relationship with fear depends on who we are.
People in the sensation-seeking category, like those who thrive on adrenaline and novelty, are more likely to enjoy horror. These are the same people who love skydiving, spicy chicken wings, or testing speed limits. Those with openness to experience, meaning a vivid imagination and appetite for the unknown, also gravitate toward the genre. Horror gives them a sandbox to explore big emotions, dark fantasies, and ethical dilemmas.
Age and gender play roles too. Young people tend to seek more intense stimulation (part of why horror’s target demographic is often under 30). Men, on average, are more likely to enjoy fear for fear’s sake, while women report enjoying horror more when there’s justice or resolution at the end.
Meanwhile, empaths – people who score exceptionally high in empathy – often struggle with horror. They feel too much. Watching a character suffer becomes less abstract entertainment and more emotional distress. Make sure to save that nugget of information for the next time someone calls you a chicken for opting out of a horror film – you’re not scared, you just care too much!
Personally, I’ve come to realise that horror films (particularly the kinds that feature jump scares) offer a great outlet for my anxiety. In my everyday life, I may be anxious about a hundred different things that never work out quite as badly as I fret and worry that they could. I build up all of this stress and tension in myself, expecting the worst, but then the resolution is often an anticlimax. The call with a client isn’t to end my contract, it’s just to introduce me to a new team member. The “call me urgently” message from my mother isn’t to tell me about the passing of a family member, it’s just to discuss plans for Christmas. That tension has nowhere to go – until I watch a horror film.
Here, when tension is built up, I am assured that a jump scare is imminent. A villain will appear behind the hero’s shoulder, or a monster will leap out behind a corner. I’ll get a big fright that matches the intensity of the tension. It’s a cathartic kind of release that always leaves me feeling better (even in the moments of deepest cinematically-crafted dread).
Perhaps horror is a mirror. It lets us confront danger without consequence, death without dying, and evil without guilt. It reminds us that, deep down, we’re wired to survive and sometimes, to laugh in the face of what terrifies us.
Fear may be the body’s oldest warning system. But for humans, it’s also become a thrill – proof that we can dance with danger and walk away grinning.
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.
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.She now also writes a regular column for Daily Maverick.
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