Iqbal Survé’s AYO and AEEI narrowly avoid JSE delisting

Two of businessman Iqbal Survé’s companies, AYO Technology Solutions and African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), have avoided delisting by the JSE for not timeously posting their results.

The JSE had warned, “If the above-mentioned companies still fail to submit their annual reports on or before 31 January 2024, then their listing may be suspended.”

The companies finally posted their results on Wednesday, 31 January.

Management said several factors, including a new management team, led to the results being posted late (they should have been published in December). 

Amit Makan, the CEO of AYO, said the new management team joined the company six months into the financial year and during a major restructuring.

The company flagged irregular expenditures at AYO Technology subsidiary Sizwe IT in September last year. The results this week noted an operating loss of R638-million after taxation. AYO saw revenue up by 4% to R1.76-billion.

Management noted that the settlement reached last year with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) on behalf of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) was a positive development.

Read more in Daily Maverick: AYO Technology finally reveals full details of PIC settlement

Parent company Sekunjalo is embroiled in litigation appealing against court decisions upholding the rights of banks to decline all dealings with Sekunjalo companies. Most recently, earlier this month Sekunjalo revealed it was suing the government for R75-billion.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Sekunjalo plans to sue government for R75-billion

The losses incurred in the 2023 financial year were also attributed to the decrease in gross margins across subsidiaries, lower fair value adjustments on investments, the derecognition of derivatives and the impairment of loans.

African Equity Empowerment Investments’ annual financial results reflected a 27% increase in revenue to R734-million, while continuing operations showed a loss of R1.24-billion before tax. Group revenue increased by 27%, mainly due to an increase in the fishing division’s revenue from better squid catches and improved market prices.

The loss before tax was due to accounting adjustments for impairment of the investment in an associate held for sale and the unbundling loss from the disposal of the AYO Group from the technology division. These were once-off adjustments of R702-million and R515-million, respectively. 

The net asset value per share of the group decreased by 75% from 993.32c to 246.07c. This also was largely attributed to the unbundling of the AYO Group assets from the balance sheet. DM