Time is not on the side of AYO or African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI). Having failed to submit their annual reports on time, their listings are at risk of being suspended in the latest controversy to emerge from a group that stands accused of milking government pensioners out of billions of rand.  

“The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (‘JSE’) wishes to advise that the …. companies have failed to submit their Annual Reports within the four-month period stipulated in the JSE’s Listings Requirements,” the JSE said in a Sens announcement this week. 

“Accordingly, their listing on the JSE trading system has been annotated with a ‘RE’ to indicate that they have failed to submit their Annual Reports timeously and that the listing of their securities are under threat of suspension and possible removal.”

The statement continued that if the annual reports were not submitted by 31 January, “then their listing may be suspended”.

One wonders who is remotely interested in the stock these days anyway. Since its listing on the JSE in late 2017 at the dubious valuation of around R45 a share, the price has plunged over 98% to 79 cents — effectively penny stock status. 

The announcement did nothing to move the needle on its share price, suggesting a dearth of interest that goes beyond the fact that South Africa is still largely in holiday mode. 

A spokesperson for AYO did not immediately respond to emailed queries about why the annual reports have not yet been submitted.

But it is certainly a red flag of note which points to possible dispute with the auditors or dysfunction within the organisation — or both.

AYO has certainly come under a lot of critical scrutiny. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and AYO announced an out-of-court settlement last year, the details of which were first reported by Daily Maverick. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Terms of the PIC/AYO deal revealed – it is a bloodbath for state pensioners

Ultimately, the PIC is supposed to get back about R600-million of its original 2017 R4.3-billion investment in AYO, which is ultimately controlled by Survé. The PIC launched its legal action to recoup some of its money — on the grounds that it had been misled by the group — as it watched in horror as AYO kept dishing out lavish dividends even as it reported annual losses.

Read more in Daily Maverick: After the Bell: Going through the AYO of a needle 

Now AYO may lose its JSE listing, raising question marks about what drains the remaining cash has been flowing through. The annual reports have not yet been submitted for a reason. DM