👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – New wine, old wineskins

After 27 years of owning shares in Labat Africa, a South African technology and investment holding company, investors were told that their dividend was coming. Yet, the payment date came and went; nothing happened. Now, in a small dose of stock market justice, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has suspended trading of the company’s shares.

What happened? In June, Labat Africa, a South African technology and ICT investment holding company, declared its first dividend since listing on the JSE in 1999. The company declared 1 cent per share, meaning about R22.7 million ($1.4 million) was due to shareholders across its 2.268 billion shares. After dividend tax, shareholders would receive about R18.1 million ($1.1 million). The payment was due on August 3, but just days before then, Labat postponed it until it released its audited financial statements. 

You don’t promise the market money and disappear: The JSE said Labat failed to pay the dividend by the date it had set. It added that the company did not make alternative arrangements to ensure the full amount was transferred to Strate, South Africa’s central securities depository, which processes securities transactions. So, despite Labat’s objections, the JSE paused trading in its shares. 

Explain like I’m new here: Buying a share means owning a tiny piece of a company. If that company decides to distribute some of its profits or reserves to its owners, that payment is called a dividend. Under South Africa’s Companies Act, directors must authorise the payment and satisfy a solvency and liquidity test; the company must still have enough assets to cover its debts and pay its bills when they fall due. Labat’s board said it met those tests. But two months later, the JSE said there was uncertainty over whether the dividend would be paid. 

The JSE has had enough: This is not Labat’s first time in the penalty box. Trading of its shares was previously suspended in 2023 after the company failed to publish its financial statements on time. Trading resumed in December 2024 as part of the process around its acquisition of Classic International, a software and technology distributor.

Other companies have also faced JSE suspensions for missing reporting deadlines. Wesizwe Platinum, for example, was suspended for about a year after failing to publish its financial statements on time. Trading, for Wesizwe, resumed in June 2026.

What happens to shareholders now? If you own Labat shares, they still belong to you; however, you can’t trade them until the JSE lifts the suspension. And if you’re still owed a dividend, you’re now stuck waiting for Labat. The JSE has told Labat to publicly explain what happened and provide more information about how the dividend will be settled. Maybe then, after 27 years of waiting, shareholders may get some closure.