JSE-listed African Rainbow Capital (ARC) Investments made some significant investments in its ARC Fund in the first quarter of its 2025 financial year, which ended on September 30.

The company’s Rain business has reported a successful quarter marked by significant growth in mobile customers, fuelled by the popularity of the rainOne and rain mobile offerings.

This success was further underscored by a major network upgrade to Huawei's Apollo 5.5G, boosting performance and capacity. Additionally, Rain expanded its connectivity options with new offerings, including the 101 pro and 101 xtender, providing customers with more choices. These achievements highlight Rain's continued growth and momentum in the telecommunications market.

The Kropz business continued making progress at both the Elandsfontein and Cominco operations. Production at Elandsfontein was, however, slowed to reduce operational costs and losses as process modifications were implemented.

Kropz expects these modifications to result in production efficiencies as early as this month. Elandsfontein produced 69 532 t of phosphate in the quarter under review.

The ARC Fund injected an additional R140-million in capital during the quarter.

After the reporting period, ARC Fund provided an additional R270-million as part of restructuring and capital raise transactions of the Kropz Group.

Moreover, the Bluespec Group continues to be a strong performer within the business process outsourcing pillar of the ARC Fund with strong financial performance across the various business units within the group.

ARC says Bluespec is performing in line with the high growth budgets set by the board.

The Weelee business is also growing, with successful marketing campaigns launched and monthly sales volumes increasing in the reporting quarter.  

ARC expects strong growth into the medium term with new product and service offerings, and it believe the management base is strong and highly competent regarding successful execution of the growth strategy.

Further, Consumer Friend, the biggest business unit in the Upstream Group, took two prestigious awards at this year's Debt Review Awards. These awards recognise the company’s unwavering commitment to supporting consumers in managing their debts and achieving financial stability.

“As we reviewed the financial performance of the Upstream Group, we observed contrasting results among the individual companies, which reflects the diverse conditions within the debt recovery industry.

"Overall, this business reported a 13% increase in earnings in the quarter under review, compared with the same quarter last year,” ARC reports.  

Despite navigating a challenging economic environment with rising costs and logistical constraints impacting some business units, the agriculture portfolio's overall financial performance remains in line with projections.

RSA Group celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year. Over the past four decades, the business has been pivotal in developing South Africa's fresh produce industry, fostering trade, and creating opportunities across the value chain.

Looking ahead, ARC and the various executive management teams are focused on optimising operational efficiency and profitability. This includes restructuring initiatives, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to expanding market share through increased footprint and product diversification.

The Tyme Group continued its strong growth trajectory, with 14.4-million customers across TymeBank and GoTymeBank as of September 30. The average activity rate is 74% across these customers, including transactional activity and deposit balances.

TymeBank continues to grow its lending book within well-defined risk parameters. Tymebank's deposit base also continues to grow, with notable growth in the fixed deposit product in line with expectations.

Tyme Group is now pursuing a Series D capital raise to enhance the profitability of the existing operations and fuel expansion into new markets.

Meanwhile, other businesses such as Ooba are experiencing a marked increase in home loan applications following the recent interest rate cut. This positive trend is reflected in key metrics exceeding budget expectations, including average daily application intake, average bond size, and conversion rates.

Ooba’s October bond production increased by 18.7% compared with the same quarter last year and 26.8% compared with September.

The Crossfin business achieved a significant milestone this past quarter with the successful sale of its portfolio company, Adumo, to Lesaka Technologies for R1.6-billion. This transaction resulted in ARC acquiring shares in Lesaka Technologies.

Crossfin also a delivered strong year-on-year performance, with notable increases in both revenue and earnings. ARC anticipates this positive trend to continue, driven by an expected upswing in merchant transaction activity in the last quarter of the year.

“Despite muted business confidence and economic pressures impacting consumer spending, which led to lower-than-anticipated growth across our merchant acquiring platforms, we remain optimistic,” ARC states.

The company adds with improving national sentiment and anticipated economic recovery, we expect a corresponding improvement in platform performance going forward.

Moreover, Capital Legacy, South Africa's leading estate administrator, continues its impressive growth trajectory despite challenging economic headwinds. The company's unique estate administration insurance product sets it apart in the market, and its recent strategic moves have further solidified its position.

Following a 26% investment from Sanlam and the acquisition of Sanlam Trust, Capital Legacy has bolstered its resources and is now leveraging this enhanced capacity to drive new business growth.

This partnership with Sanlam is yielding significant results, and Capital Legacy remains committed to exploring the considerable growth opportunities it presents.

ARC itself reported healthy operating margins, well-managed expenses and strong liquidity, which allows for continued investment in key growth strategies.

“While we anticipate challenges in the coming quarters owing to the prevailing economic climate, we remain confident in our ability to navigate these headwinds and deliver continued growth,” ARC says.