Welcome to episode seven of the BizNews podcast which offers fresh ideas on investing and moneycraft. In this episode, stock market veterans David Shapiro and Piet Viljoen provide perspective on a strong run in South African shares; Sasol chief executive Fleetwood Grobler faces a hostile Piet Viljoen; Kisby chairman Mark Barnes provides good news about South Africa’s innovative SME supporting fund, sharing how it is attracting interest from foreign institutions and providing a date by which the first loans will be provided; and we hear from the CEO of global pharma major Eli Lilly on progress in the high stakes race for a Covid-19 vaccine. – Alec Hogg
This episode of Inside Investing is brought to you by the Kisby SME Fund – getting South Africa back to work, one business at a time.
In this episode:
We kick off with some common sense and perspective on the shares of South African companies from Sasfin’s David Shapiro and RECM’s Piet Viljoen who offer some practical advice after some good gains on the JSE.
Now for that straight shooting discussion with Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler, who marks his first year in the hot seat this weekend. We stocked up on Sasol in our BizNews share portfolio when the share price plunged into the twenty-rands, our view being it was simply too cheap and was being priced for bankruptcy. Deep value investor Piet Viljoen reckons that may well have happened – as you’ll hear in this interaction with the Sasol bossman during Monday’s Rational Radio webinar.
Later in the discussion, David Shapiro said he’d be a buyer of Sasol at between R70 and R80 a share. The stock, which was trading over R100, dropped sharply after those discussions and is now just above Shapiro’s targeted purchase price. Onto some good news now. I caught up with entrepreneur and former Post Office chief Mark Barnes about the progress at the Kisby Fund, the innovative platform that is raising money from major institutions to reinvest in medium sized South African companies.
As the race for a Covid-19 vaccine hots up, Big Pharma groups around the world are pouring billions into finding ways to defeat the virus. Among them Eli Lilly, an American company established in 1876 and named after its founder, a Civil War Colonel and pharmaceuticals chemist. David Ricks, chairman and CEO of this 35000 employee, $25bn a year group this week spoke to our partners at Bloomberg whose Tom Keane started the conversation by reminding us of Eli Lilly’s proud history.
This episode of Inside Investing is brought to you by the Kisby SME Fund – getting South Africa back to work, one business at a time.
