Optasia, AI-enabled fintech business, listing on the JSE. Worth buying?

🌍 Worldwide Markets Ep. 653 – Gold Crashes, Markets Burn, and Optasia's JSE Listing 🎙️ Hosted by Simon Brown 📅 Recorded: Tuesday, 21 October 2025 📈 Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets, Retail & Shyft – The global money app that puts travel, shopping, payments and investments in the palm of your hand. 💥 Local Markets Crushed A brutal day on the JSE as the market closed down 2.5%, with resources tumbling 7.8% despite a steady rand (R17.43). Gold miners collapsed: Implats & Sibanye -10%, Gold Fields & Harmony -9%, AngloGold* -8%. PGMs also fell hard: Northam & Impala down over 7%. Retail pain: TFG* dropped a shocking 16.6% after a poor trading update, dragging down Pepkor, Mr Price*, and even WeBuyCars. U.S. markets were red but only mildly so — calm compared to SA's bloodbath. 🪙 Gold: After 9 Green Weeks, the Pullback Arrives Gold finally broke its 10-week winning streak, plunging from $4,378 to $4,122 — a $250 drop in two days 😬 Simon notes this was inevitable after nine straight weeks of gains. Likely short-term support around $3,950–$4,000, with potential consolidation below $4,000. Despite the scare, the Satrix Resi is still up over 100% for 2025. 💡 Lesson: even in a bull run, sharp corrections are part of the journey. 🧠 Optasia: AI Fintech Listing on the JSE A major new listing — Optasia (code: OPA) — is set to debut 3 November. Valued at around R20–25 billion, it's one of the largest fintech listings in years. Key Facts: Business: Micro-loans & airtime credit to the unbanked and underbanked. Reach: 38 markets (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe). Scale: 120 million customers/month 32 million loans/day $13m total daily loan value Average loan: $5 (microfinance) and $0.25 (airtime credit) Defaults: impressively low at 1.14% 💪 Backers: Standard Bank, RMB, EcoBank, MTN, Vodacom, Airtel, Zain, and more. Listing price range: R15.50–R19.00 per share. Lockup: 180 days for sellers, 365 for directors. Existing shareholder exit: Ethos Capital (EPE) partially selling down. Simon's Take 🎯 Solid business with real revenue and strong growth (≈90% YoY in 2025H1). But… valuation not cheap (PE ≈ mid-20s). Concerns over allocation uncertainty and currency/regulatory risks in frontier markets. 💬 Verdict: "I'm not applying — great business, fair valuation, but not compelling enough." 🚗 CMH* (Combined Motor Holdings): Excellent Results & Share Buyback Vehicle sales hit their highest levels since 2015, and CMH delivered stellar numbers 🚙💨 Headline earnings: +25% No dividend this time, but a 15% share buyback instead. Strong exposure to Indian & Chinese brands (nearly 50% of sales) plus Suzuki, now SA's #2 brand. Legacy luxury brands are struggling. Historic returns: Share price last decade: 12% Dividend yield last decade: ~10% Combined ≈ 22% annual shareholder return over the past decade! 📊 The Twist Founder Jeb McIntosh (79) may be looking to gradually exit — Simon suspects the buyback could facilitate this. Still, Simon's holding: "I'm not selling — unless they offer me a crazy price." 🏦 Upcoming Event: Standard Bank Client Migration 📢 Important for OST, WebTrader, and AutoShare Invest clients: Standard Bank is migrating investment clients to Shift. Join Simon Brown and Adish from Standard Bank on Tuesday, 28 October, 5:30 PM (Rosebank or Webcast). 🔗 Register at justonelap.com/events 💬 Final Thoughts Markets can be messy, but knowledge is power. Simon wraps up with his usual reminder: "Look after yourself — and if you can, look after somebody else too." ❤️ 🔑 Episode Summary 🪙 Gold's epic run ends with a sharp pullback. 📉 JSE hammered by resources & retailers. 🤖 Optasia brings fintech AI excitement to the JSE. 🚗 CMH delivers strong results and a massive buyback. 🏦 Big changes coming for Standard Bank investing clients. Simon Brown * I hold ungeared positions. All charts by KoyFin | Get 10% off your order