JSE breaks through R1bn profit mark, rewards shareholders with special dividend

Stephen Grootes speaks to JSE CEO Leila Fourie, about the JSE’s record-breaking R1bn profit milestone and how renewed confidence in South African markets has fuelled strong trading activity and boosted the group’s overall performance.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has crossed a major financial milestone, reporting more than R1 billion in profit for the year and announcing a special dividend for shareholders.

In simple terms, the company that runs South Africa’s main stock market had a very strong year, and it is now sharing some of that success with investors.

The jump in profit is largely linked to stronger trading activity.

When markets are volatile, when prices move up and down sharply, investors tend to buy and sell more frequently. That higher activity boosts the JSE’s transaction revenue.

For investors, the R1 billion profit mark is significant. It shows that the JSE remains profitable despite economic pressures facing South Africa, including slow growth and global uncertainty.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, JSE CEO Leila Fourie says this is a culmination of an excellent past 12-18 months.

"The JSE share price is indicated the bull market that we've been in, and we've also seen a tremendous surge in average daily value traded. So huge activity."

- Leila Fourie, CEO - JSE

"If we go back in history, you see that the index market cap and the value traded tend to correlate. We last saw a run of a similar nature between 2003 and 2006. And we've now seen a consistent uplift over the last two years."

- Leila Fourie, CEO - JSE

"The JSE is really pleased. Our shareholders are very pleased. They've indicated that through the share price. Today we ended as the top performing All Share stock for the day. I think this special dividend and the ordinary dividend was very well received."

- Leila Fourie, CEO - JSE

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.