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.
