ADvTECH delivers the usual story: great education numbers and weak resourcing results (JSE: ADH)
Encouragingly, the South Africa Schools Division is still doing well
For the year ended December 2025, AdvTECH’s revenue was up 10% and HEPS increased by 17%. The dividend per share followed suit, up nearly 17%. These are strong numbers that reflect the benefits of consistent revenue growth and improving margins.
Return on Equity (ROE) is now in the 20s, coming in at 20.6% vs. 19.7% in the prior year. A fixed asset base (like a group of schools) that generates an increasing stream of profits is a beautiful thing to own.
ADvTECH has succeeded where Curro could not: they have built a strong primary and secondary education business in South Africa that is capable of long-term growth and impressive margins. Above all else, this is because they chose to build a premium offering, rather than a more affordable offering that could compete with the better government schools.
The Schools South Africa segment grew revenue by 10% in 2025 and operating profit by 13%. Operating margin was 20.9%, up a tasty 40 basis points vs. 2024. This is despite growth in student numbers of just 1%, so parents at these schools are having to dig deep to get the best possible education for their kids.
The real margin hero is Schools Rest of Africa, where revenue was up 28% and operating profit jumped 33%. Operating margin came in at 33.7%, a remarkable level that is even higher than the 32.4% achieved in 2024.
The Tertiary division grew revenue by 13% and operating profit by 14%. Operating margin was 26.8%, 20 basis points higher than 26.6% in 2024. At least two of ADvTECH’s brands plan to apply for university status under the new regulations that have created this pathway.
We now reach the ugliest of ugly ducklings: the ever-suffering Resourcing division, where revenue fell 6% and operating profit was down 9%. Operating margin has been stuck between 6.3% and 6.6% for the past four years. Practically all the profit is made in Rest of Africa, rather than South Africa.
The only reason that I can think of to keep the Resourcing division is that it’s an asset-light model, so even a modest level of profit is reasonably attractive for the group in terms of return on capital.
Or perhaps they just can’t find a buyer for it?
Fairvest is on track to deliver double-digit growth to B-share investors (JSE: FTA | JSE: FTB)
When times are good, the more variable B shares are where you want to be
Fairvest has released a pre-close update for the six months to March 2026. They expect to meet the upper end of the guided growth in distribution per B share of between 9% and 11%.
70.5% of the portfolio’s revenue is from the retail portfolio. 18.4% is in office, with the remaining 11.1% in industrial. Group reversions were positive 5.8%, so there’s solid momentum in demand for Fairvest’s space.
The retail portfolio’s reversions of 5.3% are below the group average, with vacancy rates having ticked up from 3.6% to 4.8%. But here’s another important point: the reversion is significant better than the positive 2.5% in the prior year, so the vacancy rate might be due to Fairvest’s desire to obtain better pricing on the leases.
The office portfolio is a nice surprise: positive reversions of 5.7% are higher than in the retail portfolio! The vacancy rate has moved higher though, up from 9.0% to 9.7%.
In the industrial portfolio, reversions were 8.3%. This remains a highly attractive asset class in South Africa. Although vacancies jumped from 1.2% to 5.4%, these portfolios tend to be lumpy by nature.
With the loan-to-value ratio expected to be below 27%, the balance sheet is in particularly good shape.
Excellent growth at Heriot REIT (JSE: HET)
It’s rare to see property companies growing at such a high rate
Heriot REIT has released a trading statement for the six months to December 2025. They expect their distribution per share to jump by between 15.2% and 17.0% – that’s a big move!
The net asset value per share is expected to be between 20.2% and 21.3% higher. It’s extremely unusual to see per-share moves of this magnitude at a property fund.
When full results become available, it’s going to be important to dig into the details.
Tough times at Hulamin, as the group swings into losses (JSE: HLM)
Operational setbacks have really hurt the business
Hulamin has released results for the year ended December 2025. Brace yourself: they aren’t pretty! The market at least knew about the problems ahead of this release, with the dire situation having been flagged in trading statements released by the company.
The big issues related to the commissioning of their plant following an integrated shutdown. They had operational setbacks that destroyed the numbers, with Hulamin reporting revenue growth of 2% and an operating profit decline of a shocking 79% for the year.
On a HEPS from continuing operations level, they swung from profit of 77 cents to losses of -21 cents.
Here’s another number that isn’t good news: net debt has increased by 24% to R1.65 billion. Although they are still meeting covenants, this isn’t the direction of travel that investors want to see.
The good news is that the late start up and the metal filtration system failure issues will not impact the new financial year. In terms of plant stability, they expect to reach production nameplate capacity by the end of Q1 2026.
The bad news is that the extrusions disposal still has a while to go, with that company generating losses in the meantime.
One thing is for sure: there’s no shortage of headaches at Hulamin.
Flat revenue and some pressure on profits at Oceana (JSE: OCE)
Shareholders can once again thank their Lucky Star
Oceana has released a voluntary trading update for the 5 months to 22 February 2026. I assume they have important weekly accounting processes (like many FMCG companies) and they chose this random date as a sensible cut-off for this update. Results for the six months to 31 March 2026 will be released in late May.
Revenue for this period is described as being consistent with the prior period, while operating profit has come in slightly lower.
As usual in a diversified fishing group, there’s good news and bad news when you dig into the segmentals.
Starting with the highlights, Lucky Star enjoyed a 6.7% uptick in sales volumes during the period thanks to the demand for canned fish. I wonder to what extent the inflation in beef played a role here? Canned beef also grew strongly (now 9% of total sales volume), so consumers are clearly looking for value here.
Lucky Star somehow managed to increase margins despite a 77% decrease in local production. The strong rand made imports more affordable, while lower freight costs also helped. I must point out that the situation in Iran must be putting them under considerable pressure at the moment, as freight costs and the rand have both moved against them.
Inventory levels are 59% below the prior period’s elevated levels. They’ve done a great job of working through the stockpile, but this puts them at risk of supply disruptions.
In Wild Caught Seafood, the horse mackerel business in Namibia is the highlight. Again, lower fuel costs are a major factor here – and the world has changed dramatically in recent weeks. As a mitigating factor, 70% of the segment’s fuel costs are hedged until the end of the year.
Notably, hake catch volumes were down 8% in this business. The stronger rand has been impacting export revenues, so recent rand weakness should help. Another product worth mentioning is squid, where catch volumes are down 40%.
Moving on to Fishmeal and Fish Oil (Africa), production volumes fell by a nasty 80% for a variety of reasons. Operating losses were higher than in the prior period. Inventory levels are down 74% vs. the prior period.
In Fishmeal and Fish Oil (USA), this period saw just one month of operations during this period under review. Sales volumes were up 7.7% vs. the prior period, but selling prices were much lower – average fish oil prices were down 45%! Along with the strong rand, this put pressure on the financial results. Inventory levels increased 25% in this business.
As usual, there’s plenty of volatility at segmental level. Lucky Star seems to regularly save the day!
PSG Financial Services remains a strong growth story (JSE: KST)
The power of distribution continues to shine through
At PSG Financial Services, they don’t sit around and wait for assets to come to them. The company has a powerful distribution network, which means they are actively growing their asset base all the time.
The benefit of this is clear in the numbers. For the year ended February 2026, the company expects HEPS and recurring HEPS to increase by between 32% and 35%.
If you exclude performance fees, the growth would be 24% to 27%.
These are exceptional numbers, with full results due for release on 16 April.
Thungela has swung into losses (JSE: TGA)
The dividend per share is down by a whopping 69%
If you’re going to buy cyclical stocks with exposure to a single commodity, then you need to be prepared for a rollercoaster ride. Thungela is the perfect example of this phenomenon.
Revenue for the year ended December 2025 fell by 17% vs. the prior year. This led to adjusted EBITDA margin plummeting from 18% to 4.1%. HEPS never really stood a chance, with Thungela now reporting a loss of -R6.47 per share vs. positive HEPS of R25.59 in the prior period.
The dividend per share has dropped from R13.00 to just R4.00.
The cash story isn’t much better, with adjusted operating free cash flow down by 89% to just R396 million. Net cash on the balance sheet has decreased by 42% to R5 billion.
There aren’t many highlights for investors, but credit must go to the company for the metrics that are within its control. For example, saleable production of 13.9Mt was ahead of guidance (12.6Mt to 13.6Mt). In Australia, export saleable production of 4.0Mt was at the upper-end of guidance (3.7Mt to 4.1Mt).
Importantly, the FOB cost per export tonne was better than the guided range in South Africa and Australia.
As a further highlight, Transnet Freight Rail delivered improved rail performance of 56.8Mt, much better than 51.9Mt.
Now if only coal prices would play ball, as there isn’t much that Thungela can do in a period where export coal prices fell by 20% in South Africa and 17% in Australia.
How do you treat Thungela in your portfolio?
Vukile Property Fund is delivering solid results for investors (JSE: VKE)
They are on track to meet guidance
Vukile has certainly been busy in Iberia, with significant asset rotation in Spain. This is to position the portfolio with dominant assets in Spain’s three largest cities. They’ve also been recycling capital in South Africa, where the portfolio is exposed to fast-growing lower-income areas.
In a pre-close update for the year ending March 2026, Vukile has confirmed that they expect to meet guidance of at least 9% growth in both funds from operations (FFO) per share and the dividend per share. This is good news!
In the South African portfolio, they expect like-for-like growth in net operating income of 10.1%. They are enjoying 5.1% growth in trading density, positive reversions of 3.5%, steady vacancies at 1.7% and contractual escalations that look favourable vs. inflation.
The rural and township portfolios have particularly impressive vacancy rates of just 0.4% and 0.8% respectively.
Fascinatingly, bottle stores experienced a 7.1% decline in trading density. Perhaps people really are drinking less these days? Health and Beauty dipped by 3.7%, so it could just be a consumer affordability thing. 11 out of 14 retail categories showed growth in turnover and trading densities.
In Spain and Portugal, the Castellana portfolio enjoyed footfall growth of 3.3% and sales growth of 4.1%. Leading activity is strong and so are the positive reversions.
The loan-to-value as at 31 March 2026 is expected to be around 42% based on their expectations of when transactions will close.
Nibbles:
- Director dealings:
- A non-executive director of Supermarket Income REIT (JSE: SRI) bought shares worth R900k.
- Des de Beer has bought R485k worth of shares in Lighthouse Properties (JSE: LTE). In case you’re new here, I mention him by name because he buys shares in the company so often!
- An executive director of Momentum (JSE: MTM) has bought shares worth R355k.
- A senior executive at Pan African Resources (JSE: PAN) bought shares worth R170k.
- ASP Isotopes (JSE: ISO) has completed the well drilling for Phase 1 of the Renergen helium project four months ahead of schedule. The words “ahead of schedule” will be very foreign to anyone who has prior experience with Renergen! It clearly helps to have access to the balance sheet and expertise at ASP Isotopes. Recent drilling has delivered much better results than in the earlier wells. They now feel confident that they can meet or exceed Phase 1’s nameplate capacity. As an aside, ASP Isotopes points out that Qatar produces between 25% and 33% of the world’s helium. Although Renergen can’t take advantage of a spike in prices at the moment, they can certainly remind investors that there are good geopolitical reasons why South Africa should become a major helium producer.
- Zeder (JSE: ZED) announced that circular for the Category 1 disposal of Zaad Holdings is expected to be posted to shareholders on 31 March 2026. For reference, the Firm Intention Announcement was released on 3 February 2026.
- After various further acquisitions of shares, AttBid now has 9.42% in RMB Holdings (JSE: RMH). Together with Atterbury Property Fund, this takes the aggregate stake to 42.19%.
- Sun International (JSE: SUI) has received approval from the SARB for the special dividend of 100 cents per share. The payment date is 13 April.
- Jubilee Metals (JSE: JBL) is putting steps in place to enable the company to pay dividends. This includes reducing the share premium account and increasing the distributable reserves. Perhaps more importantly, investors should also keep an eye on dilution – the company is seeking authority to issue shares and remove pre-emption rights for existing shareholders. A circular has been posted to shareholders.
- It may surprise you to learn that Anglo American (JSE: AGL) has a listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange. And since nobody actually knew this, it won’t surprise you to learn that they’ve decided to get rid of that listing. I think being listed in Johannesburg, London and Toronto is quite enough, not to mention the American Depository Receipts planned for New York.
