Momentum Investments voted against 9% of the shareholder resolutions it considered at South African companies in the year to June 2026. Executive pay was the most common reason for opposition, according to the asset manager’s seventh annual stewardship report.
The firm, part of Momentum Group, manages R584.2bn in discretionary assets for retail and institutional clients. Between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 it voted at 189 shareholder meetings on 3,795 resolutions. It supported 90% of them and abstained on 1%, which it does only where there is a conflict of interest.
Remuneration accounted for 37% of its votes against. Director matters and capital structure each made up 27%. The company said it opposed pay arrangements that were unclear, gave boards too much discretion or lacked a credible link to performance. It also challenged directors who were still classified as independent after more than nine years on a board, particularly on audit committees. Its voting and engagement policies were updated during the year to align with the King V governance code.
| Indicator | F2026 | F2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Discretionary assets under management | R584.2bn | – |
| Resolutions voted on (SA) | 3,795 | – |
| Votes against | 9% | – |
| Implied temperature rise, SA portfolio | 3.7°C | 2.7°C |
| Coal exposure, SA portfolio | R3.8bn | R3.7bn |
| Sasol exposure, SA portfolio | R971m | R507.9m |
| Curate Global Sustainable Equity Fund | R28.6bn | R22.3bn |
Momentum’s own engagement team held 28 meetings with companies and industry bodies. Water and other natural resource issues made up 30% of the topics discussed, as did remuneration policy. Basic resources was the most engaged sector, at 34% of engagements. The 25 external South African managers that run 93% of the assets it outsources held 1,085 meetings with companies on its behalf, and nine global managers held 243.
The report says three thematic engagements led companies to add climate measures to executive pay. Spur Corporation introduced a greenhouse gas emissions target, with a 10% weighting, into its long-term incentive scheme for the 2026 financial year. Hyprop Investments made the installation of solar panels and battery systems a performance measure in its 2026 short-term incentives. Hyprop also confirmed it was running a tender to replace its external auditor, whose tenure had exceeded Momentum’s nine-year limit. At Sibanye-Stillwater, Momentum pushed for site-level water targets and planning for a potential “Day Zero” scenario.
Climate data shows the scale of the transition challenge. The South African listed equity and fixed income portfolio, which covers R263.7bn in assets, has an implied temperature rise of 3.7°C, up from 2.7°C a year earlier. Momentum attributes the increase to a change in MSCI’s methodology rather than higher exposure to heavy emitters. Only 19% of companies in the portfolio are aligned with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement, and 39% with keeping warming below 2°C. Materials companies account for 58.5% of the portfolio’s financed emissions, and utilities for 26.3%.
Coal exposure rose slightly to R3.8bn, while holdings in Sasol almost doubled to R971m. The firm says it will not invest directly in financing new coal-fired power stations.
On transformation, 93% of the external managers Momentum appoints have Level 1 B-BBEE status. However, only 18% are majority black-owned, and only 13.8% report black female ownership above 30%. Momentum identifies black female ownership as the area with the greatest room for improvement.