Exxaro Resources has raised its annual dividend despite a difficult year for coal prices, declaring a final dividend of R10 per share — 15% higher than the prior year — bringing total payouts for the 2025 financial year to R18.43 per share, or R6.3 billion in aggregate. The declaration marks the group’s 46th consecutive dividend since listing on the JSE in 2006, and comes as the company accelerates a strategic pivot away from its coal base towards manganese and renewable energy.
Exxaro CEO Ben Magara described the final dividend as a gesture of appreciation to shareholders, noting that the group no longer requires the R12 billion to R15 billion cash buffer it had maintained to fund strategic acquisitions — having now completed the R10.6 billion purchase of manganese assets from Ntsimbintle Holdings and OMH. The group ended the year with net cash of R17.6 billion prior to funding that acquisition and the R6.9 billion investment into its renewable energy subsidiary Cennergi, and retains R13 billion in bank facilities.
Full-year profit fell 7% to R7.1 billion and EBITDA eased 2% to R10.2 billion, while revenue rose 3% to R41.8 billion. The key pressure point was a 14% decline in export coal prices to $90 per tonne, which offset volume growth across the business. Coal output increased 1% to 39.9 million tonnes and sales grew by the same margin to 39.6 million tonnes. Export volumes rose 2% to 7.1 million tonnes, supported by incremental improvements at Transnet Freight Rail and the expanded use of alternative logistics channels. Headline earnings per share rose 8% to R32.47. Every $1 increase in the coal price translates to an additional R127 million in EBITDA for Exxaro, offset by a R16 million cost for every 1% increase in the fuel price — a sensitivity that underscores why the group is building revenue streams less exposed to commodity price cycles.
READ – Inside Exxaro’s R10.6bn Strategic Shift
The manganese acquisition is central to that strategy. The deal gives Exxaro a majority stake in the Tshipi Borwa mine in the Northern Cape — one of the world’s largest open-cast manganese operations — as well as stakes in Jupiter Mines, Mokala, and the Hotazel manganese assets. According to Exxaro’s investor centre, the group’s Sustainable Growth and Impact strategy is designed to transform it from a coal-dependent business into a diversified natural resources and renewable energy group, with a net-zero carbon target of 2050. The manganese transaction adds exposure to both steel-making demand and battery-related applications, the latter linked to growing global uptake of electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage. The deal was awarded BEE Deal of the Year at the 2025 DealMakers Annual Awards, recognised for its transformational impact, execution complexity, and innovation in structuring.
On the renewable energy front, Exxaro commissioned a 68MW solar plant at Lephalale during the year and reached financial close on the 140MW Karreebosch wind project, which will supply power to Northam Platinum under a long-term power purchase agreement. With Karreebosch added, Cennergi’s portfolio has expanded to 437MW, and capacity is set to more than double by 2027 once the Lephalale Solar Project reaches full operation. Through Cennergi, its joint venture with Engie, Exxaro was also named a preferred bidder in the latest round of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme — a designation that opens the path to a further contracted revenue stream independent of coal market dynamics.
Magara has indicated that the group’s long-term renewable energy ambition is to reach close to 1,500MW of installed capacity, more than three times its current footprint. He has also confirmed that Exxaro will not pursue copper assets at current market prices, preferring instead to enter advanced exploration projects and build value from earlier in the development curve. With its coal division supplying Eskom on a cost-plus basis providing earnings stability, and two new growth pillars now operational, the group enters 2026 with a balance sheet and a strategy it believes can sustain shareholder returns through the energy transition — even as the coal price continues to fluctuate.
BEFORE YOU GO – Exxaro Snaps up Renewables Portfolio in R1.8bn Acciona Deal