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African Bank swung to a loss of nearly a billion rand after a four-year spree of buying and bolting together three banks to build a full-service lender, and the bad debt charge is still climbing. The contrast is brutal: a focused platinum-and-chrome miner, Tharisa, is printing cash with profit up more than sixfold, and the very morning African Bank’s loss landed, Tharisa was locking in fresh funding for its next mine. Anglo American, meanwhile, is reshaping itself around copper, selling out of coal and much of its South African portfolio while holding on to iron ore, and what that signals for local investors is the real question.
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Daily Market Runsheet
Today’s Lineup
LeadAFBAfrican Bank
JSETHATharisa
GlobalAGLAnglo American
01
AFB
Lead
~2.5 min
African Bank
Swung to a half-year loss of nearly R1bn (six months to end-March) — more than 3× larger than a year ago
Four-year buying spree: three banks acquired to shift from a single-product unsecured lender to a full-service retail & commercial bank — a strategy it called “Excelerate”
Integration cost is the story: new systems, a redesigned organisation and duplicate costs all landed in these numbers
Bad debt worsening — the slice going sour climbed from ~R5 to ~R8 per R100 lent; the bad-loan charge jumped close to half
Strategy reset from “acquisition & diversification” to “focused consolidation”; interim CEO and group finance chief now fronting results
My View — Irakli Rekhviashvili
“You cannot buy your way to a better bank. Consolidation is always a multi-year operation — and the number I’m watching, the cost of bad debt, is heading the wrong way. Until that turns, this is a story to watch.”
02
THA
JSE Local
~1.5 min
Tharisa
PGM & chrome miner (dual-listed JSE / London) — Nedbank to fully fund the fleet for the move underground at the Bushveld mine
Results a month ago: earnings before tax up more than sixfold
PGM basket price roaring back — rhodium & platinum leading, chrome holding its own; dividend raised
First underground blast end-March; development running ahead of plan; the project is now fully paid for
The one shadow: Karo Platinum keeps drawing in capital and needs more before first production
My View — Irakli Rekhviashvili
“The mirror image of the empire-builders — a company that stayed firmly in its lane and is being richly rewarded for it. The PGM basket is the engine; Karo is the one to keep an eye on.”
03
AGL
Global
~1.5 min
Anglo American
Anglo and Chile’s Codelco have completed a deal to run two neighbouring Chilean copper mines as a single operation
The prize: an extra ~2m tonnes of copper over two decades and at least $5bn of value for very little new spending
Still needs environmental permits — so it’s a 2030 story; Anglo was among the firmer resource names this morning
Part of a clear pivot: selling coal, exiting nickel, spinning off De Beers — concentrating capital on copper
My View — Irakli Rekhviashvili
“Anglo is telling you exactly what it intends to be — a copper house. The bet is a long one, and even Goldman sees copper softer in the near term, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.”
The Bottom Line
“The day on one line: the reward is flowing to the disciplined operators sitting on real assets — and away from the so-called empire-builders who bought their growth. The diggers are printing.”
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