ENOUGH TO LIFT ITS SPIRITS?
By Andrew McNulty
Booze and tobacco are often seen as safe havens in a recession, but that is only partly true. Though sales of alcoholic drinks have held up better than in many other sectors, they have still come under intense pressure. Volumes have...

THE MYSTERY OF YIELD
By Ian Fife
If you invest R1m in the listed property sector, your payout in a year is likely to be just above R90 000 on a forward purchase yield of 9,1%. This compares to between R20 000 and R40 000 - 2% and 4% yields - you'll be paid in the re...

MOTSEPE WON'T CHANCE HIS ARM
By Matthew Hill
It's not as though he needs it, but Patrice Motsepe (ranked as the richest South African) isn't getting a cent of Anglorand Securities analyst Louis Venter's money. African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), of which Motsepe is chairman and ow...

STILL IN THE TRENCHES
By Sasha Planting
All the evidence points to the end of the recession, and an uptick in consumer spending is sought around every corner. But continuing retrenchments, most recently at PG Bison and Afrox, and rising utility and fuel costs have curbed any tempta...

COMING UP FOR OXYGEN
By Razina Munshi
To offset projections of a drop in margins, Afrox has cut a substantial R200m in costs. The gases and welding company, which has a market cap of R7bn, embarked on an extensive cost-cutting exercise, after its volumes dropped as a resul...

LOOK FURTHER AHEAD
By Matthew Hill
"No nasty surprises" was the theme of Anglo American's results for 2009. In fact, all those who had it in for CEO Cynthia Carroll had a lousy morning last Friday, when the group presented a US$4bn profit. But they might have had a c...

NOT SO COMFORTABLE
By Matebello Motloung
To diversify or not to diversify? This is clearly no longer an option for media companies, and Caxton/CTP Publishers is proof. The chickens have finally come home to roost for the printing and publishing group, home to the Citize...

A CASE OF USE IT OR LOSE IT
By Stephen Cranston
The end of February has traditionally been one of the peak sales times for life insurance companies. Every year a tax incentive is offered to invest in retirement annuities (RAs) on a "use it or lose it" basis. For people who are alre...

A MATTER OF TIMING
By Razina Munshi
Grindrod has been one of the best-performing equities in the market in the past decade, but the recession has caused its sprint to flag. Lower demand coupled with soft commodity prices and the strong rand have knocked the shipping com...

NOT EVEN CHOCOLATE'S SAFE
By Evan Pickworth
Social justice is close to finance minister Pravin Gordhan's heart but he remains pragmatic about his ideals and reality. In his address to the media in October last year, he highlighted that Marxist principles underpinned the struggle...

LEANER AND LOOKING GOOD
By Larry Claasen
At first glance, it looks like Simeka BSG is in the process of reinventing itself. A sharp drop in sales volumes has driven the technology group to shut down its plant, which assembled computers on behalf of Hewlett Packard (HP), at...

BATTERED, NOT TOO BRUISED
By Stephen Cranston
Hedge funds are designed to be uncorrelated with other asset classes. Internationally, they lost a great deal of credibility when even diversified funds of hedge funds lost 19% of their value in 2008, when they should have provided...

CRISIS WATCH
By Andrew McNulty
The link between domestic economic growth and company earnings is often tenuous. Many of the biggest companies on the JSE depend on the world economy, or on markets outside SA, rather than the local economy. But government's forecasts ...

THE UGLY DUCKLING
By Larry Claasen
MUSTEK 1. Cash positive - yes 2. Revenue up - yes

DIAMONDS & DOGS
Jamie Carr's picks of the week
Diamond - AngloGold Ashanti This week the spotlight turns to the shovellers, which AngloGold Ashanti is leading by posting record profits. A 40% surge in the gold price during 2009 didn't hurt, and the hugely exp...

INVESTOR'S NOTEBOOK
By Stephen Cranston
Is it appropriate for the board of an organisation to unilaterally defect to a much bigger organisation? The board of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) last week suddenly announced that it would re-form as a sub...

RETAIL STRENGTH

The JSE general retailers index has been climbing steadily since the March 2009 lows. Recently the index has broken out above a triple top resistance line, created by several peaks which appeared late last year. This takes th...