WeBuyCars investors enjoy 198% return since JSE listing

WeBuyCars investors would have seen an impressive 198% increase in their investment in the used vehicle group in just under 18 months since its listing on the JSE in April, 2024, chairman Johan Holtzhausen said.

Writing in the annual report released on Friday, he said their shareholders had enjoyed an aggregate 195.4% growth in share price and cumulative dividend payout of 55 cents a share since listing.I

n the past financial year to end-September 2025, the share price had increased 64%, which he ascribed to mostly a function of performance and growth prospects. During that year, core headline earnings, which is the key performance metric for management to gauge the company's success, increased 15% to R937.6 million. Revenue increased by 13.1% to R26.4 billion.

Meanwhile, Friday's closing price of R52.85 means the share price has gained a further 12.8% since the end of the last financial year, September 30, 2025.

Holtzhausen said he was "deeply optimistic" about the road ahead for WeBuyCars. Despite South Africa's well-known challenges, "it remains an incredible place to do business."

CEO Faan van der Walt said that to support their growth ambitions, they last year invested ahead of demand by onboarding and training staff in advance of major new supermarket openings.

This resulted in a significant increase in employee costs during the year, an investment that was expected to yield benefits from the second quarter of the 2024 financial year. The staff complement increased by 13.5% or 422 to 3 562 staff in the past year.

Physical expansion continued. The Rustenburg supermarket opened at the start of the financial year and the Vereeniging supermarket in August 2025. The Montana and Lansdowne supermarkets opened in November 2025 and January 2026 respectively. In addition, land was secured in eMalahleni (Witbank) for further expansion in 2026.

The Pietermaritzburg supermarket was relocated to a larger site, with capacity for 300 parking bays, while the facilities at George, Polokwane, Mbombela, the Dome, Johannesburg South, RiverHorse Valley, Gqeberha and Germiston were expanded. WeBuyCars also added 23 new buying pods, located at prominent shopping malls across the country.

The annual report also disclosed a National Consumer Commission (NCC) settlement agreement reached on December 1, 2023, following several months of engagement, which included paying an administrative penalty of R2.5m, and R3.4m refunds and reimbursements to 31 consumers who had lodged complaints with the NCC, a large majority of which had been paid prior to the conclusion of the settlement.

The initial engagement with the NCC arose as a result of differing views on the interpretation of certain terms and conditions in sales agreements.

The settlement agreement also included a commitment to review and, where appropriate, amend certain terms and conditions in WeBuyCars' sale agreements within 60 days, and an undertaking to create 300 employment opportunities over five years.

"The settlement with the NCC is not expected to impact how WeBuyCars applies its terms and conditions. Our focus has always been on ensuring our terms benefit the consumer. However, there may be one or two changes that will provoke healthy debate with the NCC, ultimately aiming to enhance consumer protection and understanding," the group noted.

WeBuyCars acquired a 49% stake in the digital vehicle auction platform GoBid for about R376.8m, which was concluded on December 18, 2023.

By formalising a long-standing operational relationship with GoBid – a platform the group already uses to dispose of accident-damaged, uneconomic-to-repair and other non-core inventory – WeBuyCars aimed to gain significant influence over a key digital auction channel.

This would allow the group to secure a more stable and efficient outlet for vehicles that fall outside of its own retail quality standards, while also enhancing overall inventory throughput and value creation.

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