Super Group profit jumps 33.5% to R1.77 billion while its lowest-paid worker earns R63,538
The JSE-listed logistics and mobility group cut its permanent workforce from 18,842 to 15,974 even as profit before tax climbed and its chief executive took home R26.03 million.
Super Group has reported profit before tax of R1.77 billion for the year ended 30 June 2026, up 33.5% from R1.33 billion a year earlier, on revenue that grew only 6.2% to R45.83 billion. The gap between the two numbers is the story of the year at the JSE-listed logistics and mobility group. Earnings rose far faster than sales, which means the improvement came from margin and efficiency rather than from the group selling substantially more.
As Sunday World reported on 15 October, the group’s latest remuneration disclosures also show how far apart its top and bottom earners remain. That reporting is accurate on the figures it carries, and South African readers should have the whole set of them in one place.
Operating profit increased 26.6% to R2.37 billion. Headline earnings per share climbed 36% to 334.6 cents. Cash generated from operating activities rose 24.3% to R2.44 billion, which is the number that tells a reader the profit is being converted into money the group can actually use.
The divisions did the work. Supply chain, the largest part of the business, lifted revenue 6.1% to R20.47 billion and operating profit 20.8%. Fleet Solutions was the standout, with revenue up 30.1% and operating profit up 54.3%. In South Africa the dealerships business raised revenue 12.3% and operating profit 5.5%. The United Kingdom dealerships grew operating profit 74.5% on revenue that fell 1.7%, a combination that points to better efficiency and stronger sales of newer Chinese vehicle brands.
Management attributes the year to demand in industrial supply chains, more activity in commodity transport including coal and copper, a vehicle replacement cycle at Fleet Africa, and contributions from acquisitions. The group sold non-core businesses including SG Fleet, inTime and AMCO, and bought DIG and Gestservi in higher-margin segments. The DIG plant-hire acquisition extended its reach across 19 mining sites.
Chief executive Peter Mountford said the group entered the new financial year with strategic clarity, strong cash flows and resilience despite inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainty.
What the pay numbers say
The remuneration report puts Mountford’s total remuneration at R26.03 million for the year, down from R27.04 million in 2025. Chief financial officer Colin Brown earned R12.97 million, up from R10.61 million.
At the other end, the group’s lowest-paid permanent employee earned R63,538 for the year. Average employee remuneration was R457,762 and median remuneration was R361,540. The company disclosed a CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio of 38:1. Employees in the top 5% of earnings received 16.5 times more than those in the bottom 5%.
The remuneration committee noted that senior executive pay remains below the median of comparable listed companies and that executive increases were kept below inflation. Both statements can be true at the same time as a 38:1 ratio. South African readers have watched this pattern across the JSE for years, and the useful question is not whether the executives were paid above or below their peers but what the ratio does to the people at the bottom of it.
R63,538 for a year is R5,295 a month before tax. That is below what a single worker needs to rent, commute and eat in most of the metros where Super Group operates, and it is the figure against which the group’s own workforce decisions should be read.
The permanent workforce fell to 15,974 employees across 12 countries from 18,842 a year earlier. The group attributes the decline to portfolio changes and restructuring. Total employee remuneration was R5.7 billion. Super Group maintained Level 2 B-BBEE status, with black employees at 87% of the workforce and 81% of management positions.
That last set of figures matters in South Africa because it is the part of the transformation record the group can point to. A workforce that is 87% black and 81% black in management, at a company whose lowest-paid permanent employee takes home R5,295 a month, is a reminder that representation and pay are two different measures and the country keeps conflating them.
What the disclosures do not show is how many of the 2,868 jobs that left the group were permanent, how many were contract or labour-broker positions, and what happened to the people who held them. Super Group has not set that out in the material available. Until it does, the workforce decline sits alongside the profit growth as an open question rather than a settled one.
The group operates across South Africa’s mining regions, moving commodities for mining companies, runs Fleet Africa for corporate fleet customers, provides warehousing and distribution through its supply chain division, and sells vehicles through dealership networks in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Its UK and South African dealerships have expanded their representation of Chinese brands including Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo, Geely, GWM and Jetour, which is where a good part of the dealership growth is coming from.
For a reader in Gauteng or Limpopo, the practical version of this result is straightforward. The trucks on the N1 and the plant hire on the platinum belt made more money this year than last. The company kept more of every rand it earned. The number of permanent people it employs fell by just over 2,800, and the person at the bottom of its pay scale earned R63,538.
