An opportunity to learn about Aimia (JSE: AII)

This is Rhys Summerton’s new kid on the block on the JSE

Rhys Summerton is the CEO of iOCO (JSE: IOC), one of the very few companies on the JSE that gives guidance based on free cash flow per share. Summerton is a capital allocator, so he gets traditional investors excited.

Aimia, an offshore company run by Summerton as executive chairman, recently executed a rather quiet listing on the JSE. I’m not sure what the exact plan is here, but people don’t implement new listings for no reason.

In a management information circular released for the AGM, there’s a really interesting letter from Summerton that gives information on the group.

Here are some great nuggets as we start to build familiarity with Aimia:

• Aimia has been a public company for 20 years, beginning life as Air Canada’s frequent flyer program. After an initial frothy period and some exciting acquisitions, it nosedived during the Global Financial Crisis and spent years clawing its way back. It never actually recovered to the pre-crisis highs, as absolute disaster hit the company in 2017 when Air Canada elected not to renew the commercial agreement.
• What followed was a period of multiple management changes, litigation with investors, fights over operational control and eventually a few more acquisitions for good measure. It’s quite a spicy history for a company that basically started out as a loyalty club!
• Summerton became chairman on 27 March 2025. This led to the company being divided into four investment categories, one of which was its tax losses of $1.1 billion. Ever seen a tax loss segment before? Me neither.

So, what do they hold today, other than the tax losses?

Well, I should note that one of the other investment categories is the Holdco, which holds cash, debt and a small stake in Clear Media and other companies. Summerton has promised that Holdco costs will be reduced to below 1.5% of net asset value (NAV). It looks like they are also monetising the small stuff.

This leaves us with two other investment categories.

The first is Bozetto, an Italian specialty chemicals business which is currently being disposed of. The company needs cash to grow, something that Aimia isn’t in a position to provide. Net proceeds of $265 million to $271 million will be realised through this sale.

The second is Cortland, a rope and net manufacturer. Tariffs have been a difficult issue, but the company has put in a resilient performance nonetheless. They are sorting out the management structure, as the top execs are quite literally sprinkled around the world. I’m all for a hybrid working environment, but I agree with Summerton’s assessment of the current structure being “clumsy” – with execs based in Norway, the US, Canada and India! They are centralising the management team in the US.

If this has piqued your curiosity, then you’ll love the entertaining letter. It even makes reference to Remgro and quotes Jesus, albeit in different contexts! I think it’s worth reading in full.

What does the future hold? Well, the combination of a fresh listing on the JSE and the planned inflow of cash from Bozetto probably isn’t a coincidence. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see some local acquisitions by Aimia. Either that, or Summerton has come here in search of capital.

What are your initial views here?

Schroder European Real Estate’s valuation is still under pressure (JSE: SCD)

Does the portfolio have too many single-tenant buildings?

Another quarter, another decrease in the portfolio valuation at Schroder European Real Estate. This time, it’s down 0.7% between December 2025 and March 2026. That’s a material decrease over just three months, particularly in hard currency!

“Hard” is the word at Schroder, as they always seem to be dealing with some issues in the portfolio. These often relate to tenants either being in financial difficulty or simply vacating premises in the ordinary course of business, leaving Schroder with buildings that aren’t as easy to fill as you might expect.

Each quarter, there are bright spots and concerns in the portfolio. This is normal. The challenge at Schroder is that the negatives tend to outweigh the positives, with the share price down 15.2% in the past year. I appreciate that it’s not a direct comparison, but the Satrix Property ETF (as a proxy for the broader sector) is up 28% over the same period:

That is severe underperformance vs. the sector.

Tharisa begins the transition to underground mining (JSE: THA)

The latest quarter reflects a dip in PGM output due to lower grades

Tharisa, the PGM and chrome group, has released production results for the three months ended March 2026. This represents the second quarter of the 2026 financial year.

PGM production of 34.3 koz was down 11.6% vs. the quarter ended December 2025. If we take the six months for the year thus far, then production of 73.1 koz was 17% higher year-on-year. With PGM prices coming in so much higher than before, that’s good news for investors, even if the latest quarter was a slight disappointment.

The dip in PGM production on a quarter-on-quarter basis was due to a substantial 29.6% decrease in the reef mined during the period. They attribute this to “in-pit constraints” in the operations. Recovery rates were only slightly down, thankfully.

Chrome production was up 15.6% quarter-on-quarter, so that’s strong momentum. If we take the six-month view, production was flat year-on-year. Chrome prices are also up nicely though, so shareholders will still benefit from growth in chrome revenue.

Tharisa is taking a huge step forward with the transition into underground mining. They are looking to invest more than $500 million over the next decade at the Tharisa Mine, based on over 60 years of underground mining potential.

The Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe is also making progress, with various workstreams underway. They are targeting first ore in mill in the second half of 2027.

The group’s net cash balance of $54.7 million is 16.4% higher than the $47 million balance as at the end of December 2025.

Full-year production guidance is set between 145 koz and 165 koz for PGMs. They are on 73.1 koz at the halfway mark in the year. For chrome, the target is 1.50 Mt to 1.65 Mt of chrome concentrates. They are sitting on 0.75 Mt after six months.

So far, so good then.

Nibbles:

• Director dealings:
  • A prescribed officer of Absa (JSE: ABG) sold shares worth R5.6 million.

• The new era of Mr Price (JSE: MRP) is upon us – the board has resolved to provide up to R200 million in financial assistance to foreign subsidiaries. The share price is still in the toilet after the shock of the NKD transaction announcement.

• RMB Holdings (JSE: RMH) announced that the Competition Tribunal has approved the offer by AttBid. There have been many juicy discussion points around this transaction, but the competition regulator has never come up as a potential stick in the mud. I’m not surprised at all to see an easy approval here.

• One of the funnier things you’ll see on SENS is a reference to “disinterested directors” – and no, this has nothing to do with whether they would rather be playing golf. This means that they don’t have a commercial interest in the contract being discussed. In the latest example, the disinterested directors of Salungano Group (JSE: SLG) resolved to extend CEO Robinson Ramaite’s term by another 12 months to 31 March 2027.

• A change to the lead independent director of a company is always worth noting. Anel van Niekerk has resigned from this role at Copper 360 (JSE: CPR). A new lead independent director hasn’t been announced yet.

• Sasol (JSE: SOL) debt holders responded strongly to the company’s tender offer to repurchase 8.750% notes due in 2029. Sasol is happy to repurchase up to $334 million in notes, and the market has already validly tendered $533 million in notes. For context, the principal amount outstanding on these notes is $1 billion.

• We are seeing a very similar story at AngloGold Ashanti (JSE: ANG), with the company looking to repurchase up to $650 million in notes of various types. This means that there is an acceptance waterfall with different priority levels for the various notes. AngloGold has received almost $1.1 billion in tendered notes, so the cap will come into play. But only $558 million of priority 1 notes have been tendered, so the mix of acceptances might still change.