INTRODUCTION

About our integrated report

Our Integrated Report provides insight into the Company and the Group and is structured to show the relationship between the inter-dependent elements involved in our value creation and covers the period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. It enables our providers of financial capital and all stakeholders to make an informed assessment of our ability to create sustainable value. It covers the Group’s primary activities and subsidiaries and is the primary report to our stakeholders.

The Group’s Annual Financial Statements provide a comprehensive report of the Group’s ﬁnancial performance for the year. Refer to the chief ﬁnancial officer’s report

The Group’s online Annual Financial Statements document is available for download here

Our integrated reporting process

Our Integrated Report is guided by the International <IR> Framework of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC); the Companies Act; the SAICA Financial Reporting Guides as issued by the Accounting Practices Committee; the Financial Pronouncements issued by Financial Reporting Standards Council from time to time; the JSE Listings Requirements; King IV™; and IFRS.

Our Integrated Report is prepared from board meetings, discussions, committee and exco meetings and insight and input provided by executive and non-executive directors. Our Integrated Report considers the following:

Our business model - how we create value.
Outcomes - our activities’ material impact and inﬂuence on the six capitals.
The external environment - material trends, risks, and opportunities.
Strategy - our business strategy
Stakeholders - noting the material interests of our key stakeholders..

Our independent assurance providers provide oversight. Our Board of directors provides ﬁnal approval of the Integrated Report.

Our Board of directors ensures the integrity of the Integrated Report through our integrated reporting processes. The Audit and Risk Committee provides internal assurance to the Board on executing the combined assurance plan.

Our Integrated Report provides insight into the Company and the Group and is structured to show the relationship between the inter-dependent elements involved in our value creation and covers the period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. It enables our providers of ﬁnancial capital and all stakeholders to make an informed assessment of our Ability to create sustainable value. It covers the Group’s primary activities and subsidiaries and is the primary report to our stakeholders.

Our corporate governance section provides a brief overview of the Group, and covers ethics, directors’ and executive proﬁles, key policies, and committee reports. The online Corporate Governance Report includes Board and governance, ethics, policies, procedures, stakeholders and committee reports and is available for download here.
Our Investment Portfolio section covers the various divisions within the Group. The online Investment Portfolio Report provides insight into the Group’s investment portfolio and is available for download here.
Our sustainability section has provided a brief overview of our sustainable development goals (SDGs) and ESG achievements and objectives. It also covers our approach to sustainability, human capital, social and relationship capital, intellectual capital, natural capital, manufactured capital, and ﬁnancial capital. The online Sustainability Report includes information regarding sustainable development, human resources, transformation, stakeholder engagement, Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) and Global Reporting Initiatives and is available for download here.
Our Notice of Annual General Meeting (AGM) and form of proxy provide supporting information for shareholders to participate in the AGM and is available for download here.

Our reporting boundary

Our integrated reporting boundary covers the risks, opportunities and the outcomes faced by the Company.

Our targets and strategy

Our Integrated Report covers the strategic progress made during the 2022 ﬁnancial year. In addition, it provides insight into the Group’s strategy and ﬁnancial and non-ﬁnancial targets for the short-, medium-, and long-term. Our business strategy and key targets remain unchanged but the execution of our strategy has been adapted, as necessary, to meet the challenges of: (i) the macroeconomic and external environments; (ii) the banking challenges faced by the Company and its subsidiaries; and (iii) the COVID-19 pandemic, and to take the Company to the next level and beyond.

Our materiality and material matters

This report aims to disclose matters that substantively affect our ability to create value over the short-, medium- and long-term. Our materiality process, that identiﬁes our key material matters and is assessed regularly, is subject to Board approval. Accordingly, material matters and developments that inﬂuence our business model, strategy, and our long-term strategies (including our short-, medium- and long-term targets) are comprehensively dealt with throughout the report.

Our approach to materiality

Our report provides information that we believe is relevant to current and prospective investors and other stakeholders who wish to make an informed assessment of our ability to generate value over the short-, medium-, and long-term.

It also covers our business model and activities, as well as the impact of our activities on our ability to create, preserve, or erode value within the six capitals. Our ability to create value is determined by the material risks and opportunities facing our business, our response to our operating context, and our key stakeholders’ material interests. It also covers our leadership team, our corporate governance principles, and our remuneration practices.

Identify and assess

We identify issues that have the potential to impact our sustainability and create, preserve, or erode value for our stakeholders and continually assess them to ensure that they remain relevant to our strategy.

Compile, prioritise and deliberate

We compile a list of material matters that have the potential to impact our ability to create sustainable value for our stakeholders and, thereafter, prioritise the material matters in accordance with our operating context and rank the material matters by overall relevance. These are then deliberated at executive management level.

Apply

Our material matters inform our strategy, our targets, and the creation, preservation, or erosion of value within the six capitals.

Validate

The validation of our material matters and the confirmation of their relevance to our strategy is done by the Audit and Risk Committee.

Our integrated risk management approach

We believe that an effective risk governance model contains checks and balances to support appropriate consideration and management of risk and opportunity throughout the Group. Further information can be found here

Our sustainable development goals (SDGS)

We aim to deliver societal and environmental value through our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In doing so, we have aligned our sustainability goals with our business strategy in respect of the six capitals and disclosures relating to our sustainability goals and business strategy have been cross-referenced in the report:

Detailed information on our goals and targets is provided in the Sustainability Report

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

Our ESG policy covers the impact of our operations and forms part of our integrated thinking and value creation. It is one of the three main factors that investors measure when deciding whether to invest in a company. It informs our strategic decisions and operations with the objective to safeguard long-term value creation while ensuring transparency and accountability in our actions.

Further information is provided here

as well as in the Sustainability Report

Our outlook

Our outlook is determined by all the information regarding the challenges, opportunities and uncertainties we will likely encounter in pursuing our strategy and the potential implications for our business model and future performance.

Although our outlook is reflected throughout this report, information on our outlook can be found primarily in the following sections:

Our board responsibility statement

Our Board acknowledges its responsibility to ensure the integrity of the Integrated Report and that it is not compromised. In its opinion, our Board believes it has applied its collective mind in the preparation and presentation of the Integrated Report and offers a balanced view of our strategy and how it relates to our ability to create value in the short-, medium- and long-term. The Board believes that it has adequately addressed the use of capitals, our strategy and business model. The Board conﬁrms that the Integrated Report has been prepared in accordance with the International <IR> Framework.

Our Board is ultimately responsible for the Integrated Report, prepared under the supervision of executive management and is subject to rigorous internal and external reviews and controls and processes. The Integrated Report is submitted to the Audit and Risk Committee to review its content, relying on the assurance provided through the various reporting elements and then recommends the Integrated Report for approval to the Board.

Accordingly, the Integrated Report and the Annual Financial Statements for the Group for the year ended 31 August 2022 were approved by the Board.

Our Board of directors

Our independent assurance providers provide oversight. Our Board of directors provides ﬁnal approval of the Integrated Report.

Aziza Amod
Non-executive chairperson

Valentine Dzvova
Chief executive officer

Jowayne van Wyk
Chief financial officer

Willem Raubenheimer
Lead independent non-executive director

Carin-Lee Geuking-Cohausz
Independent non-executive director

Bongikhaya Qama
Independent non-executive director

Ambassador Membathisi Mdladlana
Independent non-executive director

Stephen Nthite
Independent non-executive director

Gaamiem Colbie
Non-executive director

Combined Assurance

AEEI has a combined assurance model, which includes internal and external assessments of crucial strategic risks, internal controls, and other material aspects of the business in order to support the integrity of management, as well as management’s ability to monitor and report performance-related data. The Company’s joint auditors are Crowe JHB, which is a member of Crowe Global and THAWT Inc. as the other independent auditor, audited our 2022 consolidated Annual Financial Statements and has provided an unmodified opinion thereon.

We continually optimise our combined assurance model to avoid a duplication of efforts, rationalise collaboration, and manage assurance costs. This enables an effective control environment and ensures the integrity of the information used for reporting and decision-making.

The Board regularly assesses the combined assurance model, ensuring that our combined assurance model adequately addresses the Group’s risks and material matters. The Audit and Risk Committee provides quarterly internal assurance to the Board on the execution of the combined assurance plan. The Group’s financial, operating, compliance, and risk management controls are assessed by the Group’s internal audit function, which is overseen by the Audit and Risk Committee.

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