Our strategic execution and trade-offs for 2022
The Board had to make various decisions to deliver on our strategy and KPIs. The challenges with banking institutions had a negative effect on all the business units and impacted our ability to create value for our stakeholders in the short-term. This was exacerbated by the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the macroeconomic climate, high-interest rates, volatile exchange rate, the constant increase in fuel prices and civil unrest, which led us to review our business portfolio.
However, the Board’s strategic focus was to continue unlocking shareholder value and responding to critical issues and the COVID-19 response strategy albeit in a difficult environment. The Board remains committed to returning the financial performance to pre-COVID-19 levels.
| FINANCIAL KPIs | DELIVERING ON OUR STRATEGY | TRADE-OFF CAPITALS IN PLAY |
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| NON-FINANCIAL KPIs | DELIVERING ON OUR STRATEGY | TRADE-OFF CAPITALS IN PLAY |
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| Note: The impact of the banking facilities and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic during the year under review severely impacted our financial and non-financial KPIs | ||
Our outlook and priorities for 2023
The timing for our next growth phase depends on how the macroeconomic environment unfolds and stabilises. With the uncertain macroeconomic environment, we will continue to assess various scenarios to inform our decisions. For the next 12-18 months, our aim is to ensure our businesses survive and stabilise, ready to take on the opportunities that we are confident we can harness in the future. Key to harnessing these opportunities is the need for us to rebuild a strong relationship with banking institutions and securing stable and reliable banking facilities. Regaining the good reputation of our brand will also be of utmost importance.
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Re-establish a good relationship with banking institutions |
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Continue to manage our reputation and brand |
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Ensure survival and sustainability of the businesses by focusing on stringent cash management, operational efficiencies, and smart innovation |
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Seek opportunities to increase revenue and profit without risking the assets of the business |
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Deliver sustainable growth to shareholders |
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Leverage the Group’s combined synergistic power to achieve efficiencies |
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Focus on selective acquisitions in line with the Group’s risk appetite |
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Continue to engage with our stakeholders proactively |
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Grow our businesses through greater collaboration with our associates and strategic partners outside of South Africa and Africa |
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Attract, retain, and develop our human capital |
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Build a resilient workforce |
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Maintain competitive remuneration to our employees |
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Continue to drive transformation |
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Create employment opportunities, especially for youth and women |
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Continue to promote responsible business practices and good corporate governance |
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Identify opportunities to expand our product portfolio |
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Explore additional joint-venture partnerships |
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Continue to practice responsible environmental management |
The Company will continue working towards improving its SDGs and continue to improve reporting on its ESGs Data Transparency Index.
Post-balance sheet events
On 11 November 2022, AEEI and Premier Fishing and Brands Ltd (PFB) announced on SENS that AEEI, in concert with other related entities, are working on a potential transaction to buy out the minority shareholders in PFB and delist the company. On 9 December 2022 PFB and AEEI published a joint announcement of a firm intention for the offer to PFB minority shareholders.
On 4 November 2022 and 16 November 2022, AEEI announced on SENS that it would be concluding a small related party transaction whereby a portion of shares held in Sygnia Ltd by AEEI would be sold to Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
In the previous financial year, AYO disposed of 5.5% of its shareholding in Zaloserve (Pty) Ltd (Zaloserve) to Zaloserve management. On 19 October 2022, the Board approved the transaction to reverse the sale of 5.5% of the issued share capital. As of 19 October 2022, the AYO Group held 55% equity interest in Zaloserve.
The Chief Executive Officer of AYO, Mr Howard Plaatjes, having reached retirement age, has elected to exercise his right to retire with effect from 13 December 2022.
AYO was publicly censured by the JSE on 21 December 2022 for a failure to comply with JSE Listings Requirements for certain transactions concluded between 2017 and 2019. AYO has issued a public response on the Stock Exchange News Service. The censure and response thereto are available for viewing on the JSE SENS Announcements webpage.
Share subscription binding agreement
Shareholders holding securities in Premier Fishing and Brands Ltd (PFB) and African Equity Empowerment Investments Ltd respectively are advised that Premier Fishing SA (Pty) Ltd (PFSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of PFB entered into a binding subscription agreement where PFSA will subscribe for 607 Ordinary shares of Talhado Fishing Enterprises (Pty) Ltd (Talhado) for a subscriptions price of R95,000,000 and Talhado will enter into a binding share repurchase agreement to subscribe for 607 Scofish (Pty) Ltd (Scofish) shares, for a repurchase price of R95,000,000.
The lease term for the premises located at the V&A Waterfront, the group head offices were revised after year end, a new lease contract was signed into effective 1 December 2022. The effect of the lease contract cancellation on the reported financial statements are that a lease liability and right of use assets reported on the statement of financial position will be written off to a nil value in the next financial year.
