The JSE was a difficult place to be for investors in 2020, with the All Share Index returning less than 1% over the year. That is, unless you were invested in resources or a handful of small-cap shares that managed to outperform. Of these, one that stands out is AYO Technology Solutions, whose shareholders must be smiling.
First published by Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
Technology company AYO, owned 29% by the PIC, 49% by African Equity Empowerment Investments and 20% by individual investors, has delivered stellar returns for its shareholders in the past year. Its share price appreciated by more than 300% – from 148c in January 2020 to 600c in January 2021 – making it the second-best performer of the year, after AH-Vest, makers of tomato sauce.
Incredibly, on Monday, 11 January, the share leapt once again, this time from R6 to R30 after an on-market acquisition of a paltry 400 shares.
In a year that also saw a dividend drought, AYO shareholders had another reason to smile – dividends leapt by 100% from 51c in 2019 to 100c in 2020.
This sudden reversal in fortune must be of interest to the PIC, given that it acquired its…