The JSE has suspended trading in Labat Africa’s shares with immediate effect after the technology investment holding company failed to pay the first dividend in its 27 years as a listed company.
In a notice published on Thursday, the JSE said Labat had failed to pay the declared dividend in accordance with the corporate action timetable announced to shareholders, and had failed to make alternative arrangements to transfer the full amount due to Strate, the country’s central securities depository, as the JSE had required.
The JSE said it had considered information from Labat about proposed alternative settlement arrangements, and that “uncertainty remains regarding the settlement of the declared dividend”. The company had objected to the proposed suspension. The exchange proceeded anyway, and said it had placed the notice itself in the interest of shareholders.
Labat declared the maiden dividend on 23 June, at 1c/share. With 2.268 billion shares in issue, that put the gross amount at about R22.7-million, or R18.1-million net of the 20% dividends withholding tax.
The declaration described the dividend as “a landmark achievement” reflecting “a period of significant operational progress and value creation”. In the same announcement, the directors confirmed that the company would satisfy the liquidity and solvency requirements immediately after paying it. Under section 46 of the Companies Act, a board must apply that test before authorising a distribution.
The timetable set the last day to trade cum dividend at 28 July, the record date at 31 July and the payment date at 3 August.
On 30 July, four days before the money was due and a day before the record date, Labat announced that it was extending the implementation timetable. The board had resolved to align the dividend with the publication of the company’s audited annual financial statements, it said, following consultations with management and the external auditors during finalisation of the annual audit.
Three reasons
The announcement gave three reasons at the time:
- Shareholders would have the latest audited financial information before implementation;
- The administration of the dividend would be orderly; and
- The approach would reinforce the company’s “commitment to sound corporate governance, transparency and shareholder protection”.
It said the quantum was unchanged and the board was “pleased to be implementing” the dividend once the revised timetable was approved.
A second announcement the same day clarified that only the payment date was changing and that shareholders on the register at the close of business on 31 July remained entitled.
Neither announcement gave a new payment date. None has been announced since. The audited annual financial statements for the year to 31 May 2026, which the dividend was to be aligned with, have not been published.
What Labat is now
Labat describes itself as an investment holding company focused on technology and ICT businesses. Its two operating assets are Classic International, a software and technology distribution business, and a 51% stake in Ahnamu Investments, an importer and distributor of enterprise hardware operating in South Africa and the wider Southern African region.
The company acquired a further 24.45% of Classic from Muziwakhe Ndhlovu in July, concluding an agreement first flagged in May. Ndhlovu is Labat’s largest shareholder, holding 28.41% of the issued share capital.
Labat listed on the JSE in 1999 as one of the country’s first black-owned listed companies, founded four years earlier by Brian van Rooyen and Victor Labat. It entered the cannabis sector in late 2019, acquiring cultivation, retail and healthcare businesses, before the strategy unwound. For the year to May 2024 it reported a loss of R26.4-million on revenue of R48.5-million.
In November 2025 Labat sold its cannabis and healthcare businesses to All Trading, a company beneficially owned by two of its then directors, for R23-million. The transaction was disclosed as a related-party deal under the JSE listings requirements and the consideration was settled through partial repayment of loans owed to related parties rather than in cash.
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Van Rooyen resigned as CEO in January 2025 and was replaced by Irfaan Mohamed, an ICT executive. He retired as a director on 10 December 2025, after 30 years with the company.
This is the second time in roughly two years that trading in Labat shares has been suspended. The previous suspension was lifted as a precondition for the Classic acquisition.
The JSE has instructed Labat to publish an announcement with further information about the matters in its notice.
TechCentral approached the company via e-mail on Friday morning, asking whether the R22.7-million was ever funded, when shareholders can expect payment, on what basis the board certified solvency in June and when the audited annual financial statements will be published. It had not responded by the time of publication. This article will be updated if and when it does. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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