Abil

How SA’s favourite shares performed in 2013 – JSE Alsi 40 by numbers

A case to read Nassim Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness is emphasised in the 2013 performance of the South African stock market’s most valuable counters, the members of Alsi 40.  This was a year when it was far better to be lucky than skilled.   Had you enjoyed the good fortune of spreading your investment rands … Read more

Discovery; Goldman Sachs fund

Take a bow Discovery – again

By Alec Hogg There are a handful of globally competitive South African businesses. SAB Miller was the pioneer. It’s being joined by a growing number of others. After a shaky start Old Mutual is getting into that league. Judging by its success with French retailer Conforama, Steinhoff is also graduating into that elite club.  Investec, … Read more

Turning AECI’s Modderfontein into Manhattan? Joburg’s Chinese Emerald City is more pie than sky

South Africa seems to be going through the kind of carpet-bagging phase the Southern States of the US experienced after the American Civil War. Any number of snake oil salesmen have been breezing through with wild promises sucked up by gullible locals. Latest in this vein, perhaps, is the astonishing claims surrounding JSE-listed AECI’s apparent … Read more

shea shea

The (Brian) Joffe Jump debuts in Dubai, more to come in UK, Jhb. Maybe.

Stand back Frankie Dettori. Your famous Flying Dismount has a challenger called the Joffe Jump. Performed on Saturday for the first time, its debut was to a global television audience of millions from the winner’s enclosure at Dubai’s Meydan racecourse. This new move is named after its inventor, South African billionaire industrialist Brian Joffe, the … Read more

Barry Irwin

Irwin cuts and runs

Divesting racing king Barry Irwin says “power freaks” causing his SA exit  For most South Africans, horseracing is very much on the fringe. In its rare appearances on the public agenda, the sport is dismissed as a harmless distraction for inveterates.

tom

Breeding breakthrough

TBA’s chief Callaghan says thoroughbred export breakthrough just months away   Markus Jooste of Steinhoff is one of the smartest guys I’ve met. Ditto Investec co-founder Bernard Kantor. Both are self-made billionaires who know about buying at the bottom. Both are also huge investors in SA’s thoroughbred breeding sector. A fresh arrival in my inbox … Read more

bettencourt

Thinkpiece: What the Wealth Tax call means for South Africans

Warren E Buffett sure knows how to toss a cat among the pigeons. True to form, in August the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway wrote an op-ed headlined “Stop coddling the super rich” for America’s leading newspaper, The New York Times. It was a full frontal attack on a tax system that favours the wealthy.Buffett’s well-argued … Read more