Reviewing the COVID-19 financial support for South Africans

Lockdown is supposed to be over, but it isn’t. In fact, it’s just getting weird now, with increasingly strange decisions coming out of government. I’m sure nurses and doctors really appreciate the nonsensical ban on frozen prepared meals when they get home late at night. At least Fikile Mbalula can be proud of his Easter road death toll statistics, which …

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Coronavirus has the oil world over a barrel

We should be thanking our lucky stars every day that South Africa’s fortunes aren’t dependent on the oil price. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq are enormously dependent on oil. Saudi Arabia’s petroleum sector accounts for over 40% of GDP. Closer to home, countries like Angola and to a lesser extent Nigeria also count the oil price among their …

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The debt virus is tough to treat

Investment analysis is hardly ever as simple as it initially seems. People are too quick to assume that an entire sector is going to do very well from a specific event. Let’s take healthcare as a topical example. With hospitals overflowing and medical infrastructure buckling under pressure in many countries worldwide, one may be quick to assume that companies in …

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Globetrotting through the JSE

Those of you who watch the markets have probably wondered how on earth the JSE manages to rally on a day when bad news comes out about the South African economy. ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? Most JSE indices (e.g. the “All Share Index”) are market cap weighted. This means that larger companies carry a higher weighting in the index. …

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The Brexit Burger isn’t delicious

Famous Brands is well on its way to being another great case study of a South African business failing miserably to expand globally. They announced last week that they are not going to give financial assistance to Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) in the UK, the business they wish they had never bought back in 2016 for £120m. the_ad id=”3223″ It …

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Naspers blocked from buying WeBuyCars

Naspers is a giant – the company is worth over R1.1tn (yes, trillion)! To give you an idea of how enormous that number is, that’s only slightly less than the total taxes collected by SARS in the 2019 financial year. Amongst a zillion other things, Naspers owns AutoTrader and OLX. Back in September 2018, they announced an intention to acquire …

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Capitec’s Corona-coaster ride

Capitec has had a volatile few weeks even by current market standards. The bank has been the darling of the market for years, growing from obscurity to become South Africa’s largest bank by retail customer numbers. So, what’s going on? Tracking the Corona-coaster. Capitec fell from around R1,440 per share in mid-Feb to R1,110 by the third week of March, …

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GDP: Let’s get real

You’ve probably heard the term “GDP” many times before, but do you actually know what it is and why it is so important? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????? This isn’t the simplest concept in the world, so let’s start with the basics. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product, which (despite the name) has nothing to do with your baby’s nappy. Instead, it …

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