JSE CEO Leila Fourie says the local bourse has a “reasonable” listings pipeline for the year ahead, reflecting a changing macroeconomic environment.
Speaking after the release of the JSE’s 2024 results, Fourie told Business Times potential IPOs include Virgin Active, African Bank, Fidelity Security and Coca-Cola.
Anglo-American Platinum will be unbundled from parent Anglo-American by mid-year, while French-based entertainment group Canal+ is considering an inward listing in South Africa.
“We are starting to see an improvement. Our listings are a function of the macroeconomic context and confidence in our business, in our country. We are cautiously optimistic that the trend is beginning to switch,” said Fourie.
A number of high-profile de-listings over the past three years, including Royal Bafokeng Platinum, PSG, Distell and Mediclinic, have raised concerns about the JSE’s ability to maintain blue chips on the board.
Fourie said the JSE added eight new exchanges that could fast-track listings, increasing exchanges from six to 14. The JSE was also investing in technology and simplifying rules to make it easier to list.
We had 28 new bonds listed for a nominal value of R22bn as compared to 2023, where we had 12 new bonds
— Leila Fourie, JSE CEO
The JSE reported R918m net profits, up from R774m in 2023. Its cash equity market had a constrained growth of 1% in 2024. However, revenue from the bond and financial derivatives market was up 7%, and commodity derivatives increased by 12%, helping to cushion the effect of muted growth in the equity market.
“What we have seen in our cash equity market, which is our biggest trading revenue driver, makes for a remarkable turnaround post the government of national unity. We’ve seen our equity value traded up for the second half of the year, and that has continued into this year. In fact, we’ve seen our average daily value traded increase by 45% for the first two months of the year.”
Asked about the government’s long-term plan to list some of the larger state-owned entities, Fourie said this would create a “very good” investment proposition. “Companies that could be potential listings in the SOE space must have a clean balance sheet, a track record of cash generation and positive earnings growth in order to be bankable,” she said.
“There are SOEs that display those characteristics, many of our SOEs already raise capital in the public market through bonds, through debt. That is an important way to increase access to capital.”
Fourie said blended capital presents an opportunity for SOEs, which could involve the listing of projects or subsidiaries that are in a healthy financial position, allowing them to raise capital. “Those blended financing components could be a combination of debt, equity and potential development bank contributions to take the second loss.”
She said the JSE had also seen a 133% increase in sustainable bonds compared to the previous year. “We had 28 new bonds listed for a nominal value of R22bn as compared to 2023, where we had 12 new bonds ,” said Fourie.
Profit after tax increased 10.4% to R918m, up from R831m a year earlier, with a strong return on equity of 20.2%.
Headline earnings per share were up 9.6% year-on-year to 1,128.6 cents per share compared to 1,029.8 cents per share in 2023. Net cash generated from operations was R1.09bn, paving the way for the JSE board to declare an ordinary dividend of 828 cents per share for the year.
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