Clicks took all its vitamins this year
Clicks released a voluntary trading statement today. Voluntary statements generally mean good news, because JSE executives in general aren’t famous for shouting from the rooftops when things are going badly. Clicks is an interesting business, operating an iconic retail business and a powerful wholesale business. The group also has a number of smaller retail chains. the_ad id=”3223″ Margin mix is …
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Sasol’s assets nosedive in value, but what about a rights issue?
Sasol released a trading statement today that used the word “impairment” many times. That isn’t usually good news for shareholders, but Sasol was up over 4% regardless. Let’s unpack how that might be possible. What is an impairment? An impairment is an accounting entry that recognises a drop in the value of an asset. Auditors place a lot of focus …
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Hotel industry suffers with vacant earnings
City Lodge’s well-documented pains are not unique. Covid-19 has smashed the tourism industry globally, with airlines and hotels the worst hit of all. These are costly businesses to run and losing practically all revenue for months on end was never in the disaster plan. It’s a global problem Hilton reported an earnings decrease of 77.3% to $564m, significantly worse than …
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City Lodge forces a shareholder check-in
City Lodge has had a shocking year, which came to a head this week amid a flurry of market activity and shareholder shock. Lockdown has crushed the business. Forced to close for months on end, the hotel industry is reeling. Despite being a respected, JSE-listed company, City Lodge is on its knees. the_ad id=”3223″ It’s a financial catastrophe Everyone knew …
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This economic mocktail tastes bitter
The alcohol ban really has gotten to the point of being ridiculous. The old saying of “cutting off your nose to spite your face” applies here. On one hand, government runs around trying to attract investment. Failing that, we take out loans from international finance organisations to keep the country afloat. On the other hand, we systematically destroy our sources …
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Deal-It-Yourself: Cashbuild takes a risky punt
In challenging times, companies often decide to stick to their knitting. They dispose of non-core businesses, especially when those businesses are underperforming and are dragging on shareholder returns. The cash is often used to pay down debt, de-risk the group and allow for complete focus on what the group is actually good at. This exact playbook has been used by …
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Telkom moves into financial services
Telkom is an excellent example of a company that has had to move away from its traditional business model, although the journey has been anything but straightforward. As Telkom emerges from a painful retrenchment and restructuring phase, the company is looking to the future. With more than 12m customers and a market share in the SA mobile market of more …
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FAANG? I choose FAAAM, fam.
Many of you are familiar with the term FAANG, although a recent poll I ran on Facebook did suggest that many readers think it is a type of tooth. It’s not a tooth It stands for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (although the listed holding company of Google is called Alphabet these days). Coined a few years ago, the …
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Courage Through Crisis
It’s a difficult word, courage. Brimming with emotive imagery, it unleashes thoughts of what you would do if you were plunged into the situations that heroes find themselves in. Getting to grips with the concept of courage requires us to consider potential scenarios that we hope won’t come to pass. These scenarios sometimes become reality, which is when crisis sets …
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Kodak – did some traders have a sharper image?
It’s worth stating up-front that references to photography in this article are quite naughty, because the current excitement around Kodak has absolutely nothing to do with photography. You may be old enough to remember yellow Kodak stores in shopping malls that allowed you to print photos from film (?!?) and even buy photo albums and cameras. Kodak’s business model was …
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