{"id":853920,"date":"2026-03-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853920"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:53:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:53:54","slug":"the-south-african-ceo-who-plans-to-sail-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/853920\/the-south-african-ceo-who-plans-to-sail-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African CEO who plans to sail around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JSE CEO Leila Fourie will retire from her role at the end of the month and plans to practice her hobbies, including rock climbing and sailing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourie will retire as the Group CEO on 31 March 2026, bringing to an end a roughly seven-year tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her tenure, the group has delivered a turnaround in earnings, diversified its revenue base and modernised its technology and regulatory frameworks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with BusinessTech following the release of the group’s results, Fourie said that she will not entirely vanish from corporate South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She plans to sit on a host of boards and give back to initiatives that she believes in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourie already serves as Co-Chair for\u00a0the United Nations<\/em>\u00a0Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. She is also a non-executive director for Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also plans to indulge in her hobbies, which include rock climbing and a plan to sail around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her time at the group, Fourie was grateful to the staff at the bourse and believes the strong leadership team will continue the bourse’s strong performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourie will be replaced by Valdene Reddy, who currently serves as the JSE’s Director of Capital Markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board previously said that Reddy’s deep industry expertise, strategic acumen, and stakeholder relationships will position the JSE for continued success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

End on a R1 billion high <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The JSE\u2019s new Group CEO, Valdene Reddy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Fourie leaves the JSE just as it reached over R1 billion in profit for the first time in its history amid the heightened investment in South African assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JSE’s results for 2025 showed that Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) increased to 16.7%, to R1,071 million\u00a0(2024: R918 million). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This translated into Headline Earnings Per Share growth of 17.7% to 1,329 cents per share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s operating income grew by 14.2% to R3.5 billion, supported by strong delivery across its main business lines, including growth in: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Capital Markets (+18%), <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Post-Trade Services (+18%),<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Information Services (+10%) and,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • JSE\u00a0Clear (+10%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The group said that the strong performance came amid a renewed national confidence and global interest in South African assets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fourie noted that non-resident equity ownership on the JSE increased from 29.3% at the start of 2025 to 32.9% at the end of 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She added that South Africa\u2019s weighting in the FTSE EM Index grew from 3.16% to 4.29% in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fixed income also remains attractive for foreign investors, with net foreign inflows into South African bonds standing at R122 billion (2024: R82 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The group\u2019s cash balance increased by 12.7% to R3.2 billion, allowing it to declare an ordinary dividend of 961 cents per share and a special dividend of 100 cents per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Its total dividend payout ratio reached 85.6% (2024: 78%), and total dividends increased by 28.1% year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    R million (unless otherwise stated)<\/th>FY2025<\/th>FY2024<\/th>% change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    Revenue<\/td>3 401<\/td>2 971<\/td>14.4%<\/td><\/tr>
    Operating income<\/td>3 535<\/td>3 095<\/td>14.2%<\/td><\/tr>
    Total income<\/td>3 549<\/td>3 167<\/td>12.1%<\/td><\/tr>
    Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)<\/td>1 203<\/td>1 000<\/td>20.3%<\/td><\/tr>
    Net finance income<\/td>197<\/td>205<\/td>(3.9%)<\/td><\/tr>
    Share of profit from associate<\/td>52<\/td>46<\/td>12.6%<\/td><\/tr>
    Income tax expense<\/td>381<\/td>333<\/td>14.4%<\/td><\/tr>
    Net profit after tax (NPAT)<\/td>1 071<\/td>918<\/td>16.7%<\/td><\/tr>
    NPAT margin<\/td>30.3%<\/td>30.2%<\/td>0.6 pts<\/td><\/tr>
    Earnings per share (EPS) (cents)<\/td>1 322.3<\/td>1 129.4<\/td>17.1%<\/td><\/tr>
    Headline earnings per share (HEPS) (cents)<\/td>1 328.9<\/td>1 128.6<\/td>17.7%<\/td><\/tr>
    Ordinary dividend per share declared (cents)<\/td>961<\/td>828<\/td>16.0%<\/td><\/tr>
    Special dividend per share declared (cents)<\/td>100<\/td>\u2013<\/td>100%<\/td><\/tr>
    Net cash generated from operations<\/td>1 229<\/td>1 094<\/td>12.3%<\/td><\/tr>
    ROE<\/td>22.0%<\/td>20.2%<\/td>1.8 pts<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    JSE CEO Leila Fourie is calling it a day at the bourse at the end of the month, with Valdene Reddy taking on the top job. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":853939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-853920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-jse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853942,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853920\/revisions\/853942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}