Johannesburg Stock Exchange reports record profits as foreign investment in South African assets accelerates

JSE CEO Leila Fourie reports 2025 net profit surpassed R1 billion, with foreign equity ownership rising to 32.9% and major IPOs like Coca-Cola HBC expected.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 4, 2026, 7:37 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from BusinessTech

Record financial performance for the exchange

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has announced its financial results for the 2025 fiscal year, marking the first time in the organization’s history that net profit after tax has surpassed the R1 billion threshold. Headline earnings per share saw a robust increase of 17.7 percent, reaching 1,329 cents. This financial strength allowed the group to declare a total dividend of 1,061 cents per share, which includes a special dividend of 100 cents. The exchange’s cash balance has grown to R3.2 billion, reflecting a significant year on year improvement in operational efficiency and market activity.

Growth in foreign equity ownership

According to JSE Chief Executive Leila Fourie, the South African market significantly outperformed many of its global counterparts throughout 2025. The JSE All Share Index recorded a 57 percent gain, substantially higher than the 30.58 percent rise seen in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. This performance has attracted a notable increase in non resident investors. Foreign ownership of South African equities rose from 29.3 percent at the beginning of 2025 to 32.9 percent by year end, signaling renewed international confidence in the country's economic trajectory.

Strategic shifts in emerging market weightings

A critical factor for future capital inflows is South Africa’s growing prominence in global financial indices. The country’s weighting in the FTSE Emerging Markets Index increased from 3.16 percent to 4.29 percent over the course of the last year. Fourie indicated that reaching a five percent weighting would be a transformative milestone, as it would likely trigger a massive influx of capital from passive foreign investors who track the index automatically. This structural driver, combined with cyclical gains in the mining and commodity sectors, underscores the current attractiveness of the local market.