More copper for African Rainbow Minerals (JSE: ARI)
They are investing more in Surge Copper Corp
African Rainbow Minerals is acquiring units in Surge Copper Corp. to the value of R48 million. They are paying C$0.50 per unit.
Each unit consists of a common share and a warrant entitling the holder to buy an additional share at C$1.00 per share. The warrant can be exercised for a period of three years from the date of issuance.
It’s worth noting that in September 2025, African Rainbow Minerals picked up 19.9% in Surge at a price of C$0.175 per common share. This was subsequently diluted to 18.2%.
The latest purchase will take them back up to a 19.9% stake on a non-diluted basis, or 21.5% on a partially-diluted basis (as they now also hold warrants).
Copper remains the commodity that everyone wants to dance with!
Datatec achieved double-digit growth in gross profit (JSE: DTC)
Detailed results are due for release in May
It’s unusual to see a company updating the market based on gross profit movements. But in the technology game, due to the way contracts are structured, it’s better to focus on this metric rather than revenue.
Datatec has guided that gross profit for the year ended February 2026 was up by around 10%. The star of the show was Westcon International (which also happens to be the largest segment), posting 13% growth in gross profit. Next up is Logicalis International, up 8%. Logicalis Latin America is the smallest segment and looks set to retain that position, with gross profit up by just 1%.
The share price is up 23% in the past year, so the market is well aware of Datatec’s growth potential.
Emira is on track in FY26 (JSE: EMI)
They’ve been recycling plenty of capital
Emira Property Fund released a pre-close update related to the year ending March 2026. The update provides numbers for the 10 months to January 2026.
In the South African direct portfolio, vacancies have increased from 3.8% in September 2025 to 4.5% at the end of January 2026. Reversions have improved though, from -4.7% to -3.7%.
The problem is the office portfolio, with a significant tenant vacating their space and driving vacancies up from 8.0% to 9.9%. Emira has a portfolio of P-grade and A-grade properties and they are flagging a “gradual recovery” in real rental growth in the office space.
In retail, vacancies improved slightly to 4.5% and reversions were flat at 0.5%. The industrial portfolio reported vacancies of 1.3% (up from 0.4%) and reversions of -8.0%, an improvement from -8.8% in the interim numbers. There’s also a residential portfolio of 2,104 units located almost entirely in Gauteng. Vacancies were similar at 1.8%.
During the period, they sold commercial properties worth R479 million and residential properties worth R782 million.
Although not part of the SA direct portfolio, Emira has a stake in SA Corporate Real Estate (JSE: SAC). They’ve been selling this down based on the strength in that share price, realising proceeds of R189 million.
The US portfolio of retail centres reported vacancies of 2.4%, an improvement from 2.8%. They’ve been disposing of properties in this portfolio, with R782 million in properties offloaded during the period under review. Since the end of January, they’ve agreed to sell another two properties for R306 million.
In Poland, the DL Invest portfolio includes logistics, retail and mixed-use properties. The vacancy rate improved from 3.0% to 2.7%.
To add to a busy period, Emira has been involved in restructuring Inani Prop Holdings, in which it holds (and will continue to hold) a 20% stake. Inani is in trouble, with shareholders having to commit to cover any funding shortfalls.
With all these disposals, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio improved from 35.6% to 34.1%. It will improve further based on the disposals since January.
The targeted distributable income for FY26 is 127.78 cents. The fund believes that it is “on track” with its objectives, so that implies that they will meet this guidance.
Hyprop has sold 50% in Woodlands Boulevard (JSE: HYP)
This unlocks capital of R825 million
In February, Hyprop announced the sale of 50% of Woodlands Boulevard. It didn’t take very long to go through, with the deal being registered in the deeds office on 31 March.
This means they’ve reduced their exposure to Gauteng (a stated strategic goal) and put almost R825 million in the bank (before costs). Hyprop is planning to retain the remaining 50% stake in Woodlands Boulevard.
What will they do with the money? We don’t know yet. They just include the usual vague commentary about new and organic growth opportunities and other projects.
Jubilee Metals wants you to focus on EBITDA from continuing operations (JSE: JBL)
The copper strategy needs to pay off in the near-term
Jubilee Metals has released results for the six months to December 2025. Due to the significant changes in the group and the focus on copper, it’s best to look at the continuing operations.
Saleable copper units increased by 8.7% and they expect a further uplift in production at the Roan concentrator. Combined with strong average copper prices, Jubilee enjoyed an increase in copper revenue of 70.5%!
Copper EBITDA was up by 125.8% to $0.2 million vs. a loss of $0.8 million in the prior period. Therein lies the issue though: this is still such marginal profitability.
EBITDA from continuing operations swung from a loss of $2.9 million to profit of $2.0 million.
Thanks to the $19 million received from the sale of the South African chrome and PGM operations, they have a net cash position of $11.5 million. Although hindsight is perfect, the timing of Jubilee’s sale was such that shareholders missed out on the PGM boom. This puts even more pressure on the copper operations to perform.
Separately, the company announced an updated plan for the Molefe Mine. The Phase 2 drilling programme will commence soon.
Master Drilling’s HEPS moved slightly higher (JSE: MDI)
But there’s no dividend
Master Drilling released results for the year ended December 2025. In USD terms, revenue was up 7.8% and HEPS increased by 5.1%. In ZAR terms, HEPS was only up by 1.4%.
The group boasts a record pipeline of $997.8 million. For context, revenue for the year was $292 million, so this shows you the gap between pipeline and banked revenue. Somewhere in the middle, we find the “order book” – stable at $371.4 million.
Here’s the really interesting thing: although the requirements to pay a dividend have been met, the company has decided not to. They are worried about the global geopolitical situation. They are therefore deferring the dividend decision, with a promise to investors to pay a special dividend as soon as things calm down.
Uncertainty is unfortunately the nature of the beast at Master Drilling, as evidenced by the substantial reversal of a previous impairment on a mobile tunnel boring machine. They have to constantly estimate what the likely mining exploration activity will be across the world, a difficult job made even trickier by the specialist nature of some of the equipment.
RCL Foods is pursuing growth in pet foods (JSE: RCL)
Fur babies are driving growth in an important grocery category
RCL Foods has announced the acquisition of Martin and Martin, a South African company that sells numerous pet food products under brands like Husky, Pamper, Beeno and Bob Martin. These are household names and feature strongly in the pet aisle at your local grocery store.
Such is the modern world that the pet aisle is a more exciting source of growth than the baby aisle!
RCL literally talks about the “ongoing humanisation of pets” and a “community of pet parents” – a fancy way of saying that people keep spending more and more on their pets.
Interestingly, the seller is an offshore entity called Simrose, but there’s no disclosure on who the ultimate beneficial owners of the seller are. People clearly want their privacy when they are about to be paid a gigantic sum of money for their business.
How much? Well, the enterprise value of Martin and Martin is R695 million. EBITDA for the year ended December 2024 (quite outdated) was R75.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA for that period was R90.2 million. RCL is paying a pretty serious multiple for this business, but they are getting their hands on extremely well known brands.
There are a number of conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals. There’s no need for a shareholder vote though, as this is a Category 2 transaction.
What do you think of this deal?
Remgro moves ahead with the Mediclinic deal (JSE: REM)
But the parties will continue to hold the Middle Eastern businesses 50-50
You may recall that a consortium of Remgro and IHL (a subsidiary of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company) took Mediclinic private in 2023 on a 50-50 basis.
Mediclinic primarily has businesses in Switzerland, Southern Africa and the Middle East. There’s also a minority stake in UK-based Spire Healthcare.
The parties have been talking about restructuring their interests for a while. A deal has now been formally announced, with Remgro and IHL choosing to focus on their respective home markets.
IHL will own 100% of the Swiss business, while Remgro will have 100% of Southern Africa. Interestingly, these transactions are not inter-conditional, which tells you that the parties expect the implementation timelines to be different across the two regions. Despite having different effective dates, the settlement of purchase prices will happen simultaneously.
The Middle Eastern business will continue to be held 50-50. This doesn’t surprise me – there’s too much uncertainty in the region for a sensible negotiation around this asset to be possible. There’s a lot of corporate spin around how great the growth prospects are for this asset. That may well be true, but I can’t see how regional instability didn’t contribute to the parties maintaining the status quo.
The Spire Healthcare interest will also be kept on a 50-50 basis.
The Swiss and Southern Africa businesses are each valued at $950 million, so this is a straight swap. Remgro is handing over the keys to Switzerland and receiving them for Southern Africa. There’s a chance of some adjustments here that might lead to a payment in one direction or the other, but the underlying principle in the deal is that they are simply swapping exposures.
Here’s a fun fact though: the Swiss business has a book value of assets of R32 billion and the Southern African book value is R16.7 billion. The Swiss business only generates 60% of the profits of the Southern African business.
The book values are perhaps a poor indication of value. As for the profits, this shows you that the Swiss business is valued at a significantly higher multiple than Southern Africa.
Growth is hard to come by at Sephaku Holdings (JSE: SEP)
Infrastructure activity remains subdued
Sephaku Holdings has released an update on the performance at Dangote Cement (in which it has a 36% attributable interest) and wholly-owned subsidiary Métier.
They refer to Dangote Cement as SepCem, so I’ll do the same. This business has a December year-end, with profit for the year ended December 2025 down from R42.6 million to R24.5 million. Remember, Sephaku Holdings only suffers 36% of the drop.
This decrease at SepCem was thanks to a 4.5% decline in sales volumes and a 4.4% drop in revenue. EBITDA fell by 6.8%. Aside from weather issues, there is also fierce competition in the cement bag market, made worse by imports.
At Métier, with a March year-end, sales volumes were up just 2% for the 11 months to February 2026. Despite this, EBITDA has increased by over R30 million based on management accounts. That’s a material uplift in a company with a debt balance of R80 million!
Will infrastructure activity ever pick up in a meaningful way? And if it does, will local players actually get a slice of the action vs. importers? One wonders.
Nibbles:
- Director dealings:
- It probably won’t surprise you to learn that several directors of Lighthouse Properties (JSE: LTE) elected the scrip dividend alternative. This includes Des de Beer, who received a casual R104 million in shares in lieu of a cash dividend! This is how big money compounds over time.
- The COO of Thungela (JSE: TGA) sold shares worth R5.7 million.
- A senior executive at Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) sold shares worth nearly R2 million.
- The UK Financial Conduct Authority is going ahead with the implementation of a mandatory industry-wide consumer redress scheme related to automotive finance. This is bad news for FirstRand (JSE: FSR), with the company conducting a detailed financial analysis and promising to update shareholders next week.
- Zeder (JSE: ZED) has released the circular dealing with the proposed disposal of Zaad Holdings for almost R1.4 billion. The independent expert has determined that the deal is fair and reasonable to shareholders. PSG Capital banked a casual R24 million advisory fee on this transaction! If you fancy some light reading for the long weekend, the 156-page circular is available here.
- Merafe (JSE: MRF) is still working towards a sustainable tariff solution with Eskom. The company submitted a counterproposal to Eskom on 12 March. The termination date for that proposal has been extended to 7 April, as Eskom has asked for more time to clarify certain aspects of it.
- Dis-Chem (JSE: DCP) announced that Stanley Goetsch is retiring from the board of Dis-Chem. As one of the founding directors of the company, he’s certainly earned that retirement!
- Wesizwe Platinum (JSE: WEZ) released results for the six months to June 2025. Yes, they are still busy catching up. HEPS for that period was 13.2 cents, up from 8.88 cents in the restated prior period. They are looking to publish financials for the year ended December 2025 by no later than 30 April 2026. The announcement includes this rather embarrassing line: “In light of the restatement, the Board has advised management to regularly attend IFRS refresher training to further strengthen financial reporting expertise going forward.” Ouch.
- Oando (JSE: OAO) announced a production sharing contract for Block KON 13 in Angola. Oando has a 45% participating interest and will serve as operator of the block. The company has been building a vertically integrated business in countries like Nigeria and Angola, with a vision to grow the upstream operations across Africa. The share price has very little local trade, so you can ignore a drop of 32% on the day. Only 3 shares actually traded!
- Europa Metals (JSE: EUZ) recently delisted from the AIM market in London due to the company being classified as a cash shell. The company has released results for the six months to December 2025 that reflect net assets of $3.4 million. The results are prepared on a going concern basis, which means that the company is looking for opportunities to pursue.
- Sebata Holdings (JSE: SEB) is currently suspended from trading. They need to release results for the year ended March 2025. The complexities around the failed Inzalo transaction have led to the delay. The technical work is done and the results are expected to be released by no later than 17 April 2026.
- Sail Mining Group (JSE: SGP) has been suspended from trading since July 2022. They need to catch up on several years of financials. They are working on these audits and also pursuing a repurchase of shares and subsequent delisting.
