By Alec Hogg Enjoyed a stimulating few hours at the annual Morningstar Conference in Cape Town yesterday. Topped by listening to two low-profile doyens of the money management business, Dave Foord (Foord AM) and Sandy McGregor (Allan Gray). Foord has spent the last 33 years building his successful business by keeping a tight team, focusing … Read more
Jason Liddle runs the Satrix Low Equity Balanced Fund which was launched at the end of July. It is targeting pent-up demand for a passive fund that protects capital but focuses on achieving growth of inflation plus 3%. In this interview he explains the fund is not an alternative place to park cash. It is … Read more
Here’s research to be interpreted one of two ways. South African retirement portfolios are only 50% exposed to the country. Great news for prospective pensioners if the Rand keeps sliding. But it won’t look smart should the exchange rate move the other way. And as living expenses of SA pensioners is in Rand, what this … Read more
A couple of global ratings agencies have been making some mis-steps lately. Almost a reminder of the 2008 debacle when they got the credit ratings of US banks to terribly wrong, so over-corrected in an attempt to regain lost credibility. First we heard that Fitch had downgraded Naspers’s debt  to junk status, using an overly rigid … Read more
By Alec Hogg I received interesting response from yesterday’s newsletter regarding Coronation’s dumping of 170m Abil shares after the profit warning. Including an insider who suggested the asset manager, which for months had been former CEO Leon Kirkinis’s biggest supporter and at 20% Abil’s biggest shareholder, either employs clairvoyants or had some insights the rest … Read more
Market watcher David Shapiro unpacks last week’s frenzied sale of Abil shares by Coronation, something he hasn’t seen since the Lehman panic in 2008. He unmasks the purchasers as private clients who were in for a punt, speculators who thought the shares were too cheap to miss – and the venerable Allan Gray. Also in today’s Podcast, … Read more
The big news shocker for the day was the downgrading of Naspers’ senior unsecured debt by Fitch to the status of non investment grade, which is also known as junk. Whilst trying to make sense of the bold move by Fitch, and whether or not it is cause for alarm, Alec Hogg spoke to expert … Read more
Market watchers and commentators reacted with surprise and confusion to the downgrading of Naspers‘ senior unsecured debt to ‘junk status’ which is identified as non investment grade by Fitch. The general consensus is that the ratings agency is far off the mark with many finding the move unfounded, given the success and position of Naspers. Fitch’s … Read more
Naspers was a hot topic today after Fitch downgraded its debt to junk, noting that Naspers’ intensive investments would hinder its profitability. The market was unphased, and Naspers’ share price actually rose despite the news. Group Five was another company that impressed investors with its full year results reporting a 26% increase in normalised headline … Read more
BEIJING (Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd, China’s biggest listed tech firm, posted quarterly earnings that beat analyst estimates as smartphone gaming and social networking contributed a large share of sales growth for the second quarter in a row. Net income for the quarter ended June rose 59 percent on year to 5.84 billion yuan ($949 million), slightly above … Read more