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Christo Wiese’s Invicta Holdings reported steady revenue growth for the year to end-March as the firm continues to diversify beyond South Africa.The R250m acquisition of its new UK agricultural business Spaldings helped boost revenue by 4% year on year and saw the group’s total net asset value rise by 7% per share.This, together with the company’s R177m share buyback and cancellation programme, allowed it to maintain steady growth in HEPS, which were up 1% in the latest financial year.Basic earnings, however, were down 28% on an annualised basis: a windfall from the sale of Singaporean property in the 2025 financial year meant that profit plunged 36% year on year.Invicta, which is now worth R3.3bn on the JSE after climbing just more than 17% in the past year, gave shareholders a gross cash dividend of 125c per share, up from 115c in 2025 and 105c in 2024.Invicta’s strong financial performance is a feather in the cap of its geographical diversification strategy, which aims to shift the group’s asset base such that half of its earnings come from outside South Africa.In its annual financial statements, published on Monday, the company flagged a set of high-priority risks which have become familiar to investors after its results in recent years, from the “de-industrialisation of South Africa” to “South Africa’s electricity and water supply and stability”.Invicta CEO Steven Joffe told Business Day last year the company had earmarked several inorganic growth opportunities as it aimed to expand into new markets and grow its presence overseas.The group’s previous results also took a somewhat unfavourable view of the government’s intervention in energy-intensive industries, a situation which has only escalated over the past year.It flagged a risk that “government interventions to protect local industries could lead to greater production inefficiencies, hampering South Africa’s ability to compete”.Added to this was political concern around the stability of the coalition government, which continues to loom over investor confidence.Invicta now operates in 17 countries, with manufacturing facilities in China and distribution platforms across Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa.
