JOHANNESBURGÂ (Reuters) – South African stocks stumbled on Wednesday after two straight days of gains, lead by banks such as FirstRand with the sector caught in the cross hairs of a technical sell-off. Johannesburg’s Banks index fell 2.60 percent, its steepest drop in six months, after its 14-day RSI, a momentum indicator tracked by analysts, strayed … Read more
The Boston Consulting Group recently named five South African companies as top performers in its 2014 Value Creators Report, Turnaround: Transforming Value Creation. Hans Kuipers who is responsible for Strategy and Corporate Developments at Boston Consulting Group discussed the report’s findings with Alec Hogg. What is it that Naspers, Imperial, Asor, Aspen and FirstRand have done to … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African stocks hit record highs on Wednesday, with index heavyweights such as FirstRand gaining after investor confidence was bolstered by expectations the United States will continue with its massive stimulus programme. But the advances were limited by concerns equities are overpriced after a series of record finishes this year. Investors were also looking … Read more
John Loos is the embedded economist at banking group FirstRand’s Home Loans division. His position gives him a unique insight into South Africa’s housing market, one of the key constituents of its economic growth. He was my guest in the CNBC Africa Power Lunch studio today with an update on the bank’s Building Confidence Index … Read more
RMB Holdings (RMH) and Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings (RMI), worth over R100bn combined, have appointed former Deutsche Bank CEO Herman Bosman as CEO-designate. He will succeed Peter Cooper, who will be retiring from his executive positions at the end of 2014, after 22 years with the group. RMH owns 34% of FirstRand and in 2011 … Read more
Piet Viljoen has much in common with Sage of Omaha Warren Buffett – which is hardly surprising considering Piet has made a study of Buffett’s investment strategy. He has also made the pilgrimage to the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders’ meeting. Like Buffett, Piet has a rare ability to cut through jargon and complexity to explain … Read more
A hangover from the history of isolation has left South Africans with an unfortunate habit of not paying enough attention to those who make it in the far more competitive international arena. Pretoria Boys High matriculant Elon Musk, rated by many as one of America’s top living entrepreneurs, is an obvious example. Durban-based film-maker Anant … Read more
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2012: At the time this article was written, Absa’s share price had dropped in a week from R157 to R135. The setback wasn’t temporary. In five months since the price has remained at the lower level, marking time. At the end of August, Absa’s parent Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as its new CEO. He has spent his first few months grappling with a group-wide review of Barclays, focusing on how to change its culture and strategy.