Capitec shoots lights out: up to R17.2 billion in headline earnings, becoming SA’s most valuable bank

Capitec CEO Graham Lee. Picture: LinkedIn/Graham Lee The 2026 financial year appears to have been one of growth for Capitec, with the bank expecting its headline earnings per share (Heps) to rise by more than 25%. In terms of the Listings Requirements of the JSE Limited, a listed company is required to publish a trading statement as soon as it is satisfied that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that the financial results for the period to be reported on next will differ by 20% or more from those of the previous comparable period.

In a trading statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Capitec said it expects its headline earnings to be between 14 294 cents and 14 890 cents per share. This forecast places the group’s total headline earnings between R16.5 billion and R17.2 billion. The bank’s earnings forecast represents a 20% to 25% increase over the 11 912 cents per share for the previous financial year.

Group headline earnings per share (heps) is calculated similarly but excludes certain one-off or non-operational items, such as profits or losses from asset sales, to provide a clearer picture of the group’s core operating performance. Heps helps investors compare performance over time and across companies without being misled by one-off gains or losses. The market responded positively to Capitec’s growth, with its market capitalisation reaching R535.85 billion by 17:15 on Wednesday.

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This means Capitec has once again overtaken FirstRand as the country’s most valued bank. FirstRand, parent company to FNB, Wesbank, among others, has a market capitalisation of R535.03 billion. Market capitalisation is the total value of a company’s shares on the stock market.

This shows how big or valuable the market thinks the company is. It is calculated by multiplying the share price by the total number of outstanding shares.

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