It looks like MTN Nigeria is the source of Optasia’s headache (JSE: MTN | JSE: OPA)

There’s no indication of when this issue will be resolved

Earlier this week, Optasia warned the market that an unnamed customer in Nigeria had suspended airtime and data credit advance services. The very next day, MTN announced to the market that MTN Nigeria had executed a similar suspension.

I’m happy to assume that MTN Nigeria is the customer that Optasia was talking about here.

This relates to new compliance and licensing requirements that came into effect on 12th April. The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be much urgency from MTN to sort it out, as customers have other ways to buy airtime and data. Presumably this has some impact on MTN, otherwise Optasia wouldn’t have a business at all.

If this isn’t resolved quickly, then Optasia will start to look like a business without a moat. If the service isn’t in place, Optasia needs the telcos to treat it as mission critical to get it back online.

How do you feel about the latest developments?

Ninety One’s assets have jumped – but there’s a big reason why (JSE: N91 | JSE: NY1)

Don’t forget the deal with Sanlam (JSE: SLM) that was executed recently

Ninety One has released its assets under management for the fourth quarter of FY26. In other words, they’ve given the market the year-end number as at March 2026.

The critical underlying nuance is that the transaction with Sanlam Investment Management’s active asset management business in South Africa closed on 1 February 2026. This introduced £16.5 billion in new assets. For context, the assets under management as at December 2025 stood at £159.8 billion.

The March 2026 number is £171.8 billion. If we strip out the Sanlam deal, it means that assets actually fell by £4.5 billion during the quarter. Given the broader geopolitical environment and the energy shock, that’s not a terrible outcome.

Orion Minerals is in the final stages of closing the Glencore funding (JSE: ORN | JSE: GLN)

They will then get the hammer down on developing the Prieska mine

Orion Minerals has released an investor presentation that tells the story of the company’s transition to an execution phase. This is of course the news that all junior mining investors dream of.

The purpose of the presentation is to give investors an overview of the business and the current status. Orion has two important projects in the Northern Cape: the Okiep Copper Project near Springbok, and the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM) near Prieska. To give you an idea of how remote these areas are, the town that sits almost perfectly in the middle of this 450km stretch between the two assets is the bustling metropolis of Pofadder!

PCZM is the priority project, with funding from Glencore (JSE: GLN) in the process of achieving final conditions precedent. Financial close is expected in Q2 2026 and first production is expected in Q2 2027. The uppers will start producing first, with the deeps expected to take until 2030 to be commissioned. The uppers will require investment of $40 million and the deeps will need $210 million.

At Okiep, production is expected in mid-2028.

There are other exploration assets as well, but neither of them will be coming into production anytime soon.

If you’re keen to dig into the details, you’ll find the presentation here.

Exceptional growth on display at PSG Financial Services (JSE: KST)

Return on Equity (ROE) is now in the 30s

The latest numbers from PSG Financial Services are a wonderful example of what it looks like when a strategy really works.

For the year ended February 2026, the company increased assets under management by 20% and grew gross written premium by 5%. If you exclude the disposal of a business in Namibia, gross written premium was actually up 7%.

Although the increase in costs reflects a company in a growth phase (fixed remuneration up 8.1% and technology spend up 8.6%), the revenue growth is more than good enough to make up for it.

Recurring HEPS jumped by a beautiful 34% to 135 cents. This puts the company on a Price/Earnings multiple of 21x.

Only the best local companies tend to trade above the 20x threshold, but PSG Financial Services makes a strong case to be there. In addition to the excellent growth in earnings, ROE has jumped from 26.6% to 31.7%. For context, that’s double what some of the local banks are generating!

If you dig into the divisions, you’ll find good news across the board. PSG Wealth, the largest division with headline earnings of R950 million, was up 25%. PSG Asset Management had an extraordinary year, up 59% to R473 million. PSG Insure is the smallest segment and also the “slowest” growing, but a 22% increase to R259 million definitely isn’t shabby.

Here’s another metric worth considering: recurring HEPS excluding performance fees. At 122.5 cents, this isn’t far off the 135 cents that includes performance fees. This gives further support to the valuation.

The total dividend per share of 65 cents seems like a modest payout ratio in this context. The group has been retaining plenty of comfortable, which is exactly why the group recently received its fifth credit rating upgrade in the past decade. They also repurchased shares worth R296.9 million in the past year.

The company is one of the few local examples of what can genuinely be described as a “fortress balance sheet” – and the 56% increase in the share price in the past year reflects this.

Nibbles:

• Raubex (JSE: RBX) announced that the strategic evaluation of Bauba Resources is ongoing. The assessment is whether to sell all or part of the stake, or to just do nothing and leave it alone. It’s an odd strategic fit in the group, so my view is that they would be better off getting out of it at a decent price. Easier said than done, of course. Right now, there’s no guarantee of a deal taking place, hence the need for a renewed cautionary announcement.

• Efforts to save Tongaat Hulett (JSE: TON) continue, with the provisional liquidation being adjourned to mid-June 2026. The post-commencement facility (the type of debt that keeps a company alive in business rescue) with the IDC has also been extended to June. Notably, the facility has been expanded from R2.3 billion to R2.5 billion, so money is being thrown at efforts to keep this thing alive. Is Tongaat simply too big to fail in the SA economy?

• Oando (JSE: OAO) continues to build a diversified, vertically integrated energy business. The latest deal is for a 60 MW independent power plant in Bayelsa State, with Oando involved in a joint venture that will supply gas to the plant.