Three JSE turnaround winners

With impressive financial recoveries and strategic management decisions, these companies exemplify the high-stakes nature of turnaround investing, highlighting the potential for substantial returns

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Turnaround stories always seem to capture the imagination of the market. The reason is quite simple, really: when turnarounds go well, the potential returns are very high.

This is the classic risk-reward trade-off that underpins that entire market. The flip side of this coin is that turnarounds can go badly, with a poorly performing company disappearing into obscurity despite the best efforts of new management teams and recharged balance sheets.

Last week on the JSE, we saw a few turnaround updates that show what is possible when these things go well.

We begin with the strongest example of all: the mighty roar of Tiger Brands.

A special turnaround: Tiger Brands

Tiger Brands declared a R4-billion special dividend as part of releasing results for the year ended September 2025, adding to the R1.8-billion special dividend that it declared for the interim period. When you add on billions more for ordinary dividends and share buybacks, it’s clear that there’s no shortage of cash at Tiger Brands.

Getting to this point wasn’t easy and was by no means guaranteed. Management had to take decisive action by focusing on the underlying businesses where Tiger Brands has a clear path to success, or a “right to win” as they call it in corporate language.