Integrated Annual Report
2025
The Group regards transformation as a social, moral and strategic business imperative. Management recognises that as a responsible corporate citizen, the Group has an obligation to contribute to bringing about a more equal and inclusive society – starting within our own business.
Our transformation strategy is closely aligned to the objective of the B-BBEE codes and we employ an integrated approach to accelerate transformation across the code’s five criteria.
Employment equity committees, comprising senior management, are tasked with driving transformation – including B-BBEE – in the Group. The committees meet quarterly to gauge and manage progress against set targets.
Sustained focus and implementation of a range of meaningful interventions over recent years has enabled the Group to improve its B-BBEE status from non-compliant in 2016 to Level 2 in 2025.
Although every effort will be made to maintain a high score, in light of continued unfavourable conditions, this rating is expected to remain flat in the year ahead.
Our B-BBEE verification certificate is published below.
Our qualifying and recognised spend on the B-BBEE scorecard totalled R87 million (2024: R109 million), allocated primarily to:
The Group continued to invest in a range of skills development programmes focused on employees from previously disadvantaged groups. These included:
In addition to our spend with suppliers with improved B-BBEE credentials (including black ownership), the Group recognises the importance of meaningful enterprise development and supplier development initiatives to create jobs and grow a sustainable resource of successful black-owned businesses.
In this regard the Group supports a number of black-owned businesses with grants and/or preferential rate funding. Beneficiaries of such include the black partners in the TopT franchise network, suppliers of finished goods, service providers, and funds focused on investing and growing black-owned businesses.
Recognised weighted B-BBEE procurement spend on our B-BBEE scorecard was as follows:
| Category | 2025
Rm |
2024 Rm |
2023 Rm |
2022 Rm |
2021 Rm |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying small enterprises | 617 | 861 | 759 | 733 | 709 | |
| Exempted micro-enterprises | 294 | 467 | 121 | 732 | 467 | |
| 51%+ black-owned suppliers | 1 616 | 1 567 | 1 476 | 1 533 | 1 202 | |
| 30% black female-owned suppliers | 670 | 786 | 902 | 898 | 580 |
The qualifying and recognised annual value of contributions (made up predominantly of grants and loans) for supplier development and enterprise development for 2025 totalled R46 million (2024: R52 million).
The Group’s spend on socio-economic development exceeded 1% of net profit after tax. Contributions of product and/or cash were also made to eligible schools and charities, with the largest donation made to the Foundation. The Foundation is the Group’s broad-based black ownership scheme, whose goal is the transformation and upliftment of previously disadvantaged communities through distributions made to public benefit activities related to education, sport and conservation.
The Foundation’s spend of R26 million for 2025 (2024: R33 million) was allocated to the following categories:
Refer to the Foundation's report on Italtile and Ceramic Foundation Trust report.
Through our employment equity initiatives, we strive to align to the national economically active population statistics where possible. Equal gender representation is a focus in recruitment and appointments across the Group, especially at management level. Maternity benefits were also recently revised to attract more females into the business.
The Group's employment demographic is as follows:
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The Group will continue to vigorously drive its empowerment agenda. Given the current unfavourable trading environment and concomitant reduced spend in this area, we will strive to maintain and improve our current B-BBEE status level in the year ahead, through the following key initiatives:
