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Vodacom (VOD) is South Africa's largest airtime and data provider for cell phones. It is a subsidiary of the international company Vodaphone. Its competitors are MTN, Cell-C and Telkom. The cell phone industry has been hammered by a steady decline in voice revenue which has to some extent been compensated by a sharp rise in data usage. The disadvantage which...

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Shoprite (SHP) is the largest grocery retailer and consumer goods company in Africa. Intense price competition has prevented supermarkets from passing on price increases to consumers. The share price was hammered down from a high of R275 in March 2018 to levels around R100 in July 2020 but has since recovered strongly. We expect it to benefit directly from any...

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Sasol (SOL) is a massive international chemicals and energy company which has its roots in the oil-from-coal technology developed during the apartheid era in South Africa. About 50% of the company's profits are directly linked to the oil price. It has two main growth areas - its 50% stake in an ethane cracker plant in Louisiana, America, known as "Lake Charles...

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Raubex (RBX) is a construction company that was started in 1974 and listed on the JSE in 2007. The company has three divisions in construction, materials, and infrastructure. Recently, with the dearth of work in road-building, especially from Sanral (who have halved the value of the tenders which they issue), the company has branched out into solar and wind energy...

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Premier is a food producer which was spun out of Brait (BAT) through an initial public offer (IPO) and separately listed on 24th March 2023 which raised R3,6bn at a share price of 5382c per share. Brait retained 47,1% of Premier. Premier has managed to mitigate the impact of loadshedding on its operations, the costs of which were not a material impact on its...

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Harmony (HAR) is probably South Africa's most marginal gold mine. A marginal gold mine is one which has a cost of extraction which is relatively close to the current gold price. This means that small movements in the rand price of gold can have a radical impact on the mine, pushing it from profit to loss and back to profit very quickly. The result tends to be a...

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Allied Electronics Corp, or Altron (AEL), is an information and communications technology company which was started by Bill Venter in 1965. It has recently been re-focusing on its core business and has sold its 80% stake in Powertech and its 100% subsidiary, Altech UEC (a developer of set-top boxes). Powertech was also sold to a BEE consortium. Altron is in the...

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Alexander Forbes (AFH) is a financial services company offering asset management, insurance, healthcare, retirement, consulting, and wealth management to both corporate and private clients. It has a presence in 5 countries in Africa outside South Africa - Namibia, Nigeria, Botswana, Uganda, and Zambia. In the past, the share has fallen from its high of just over...

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East Plats (EPS) is a mining exploration and development company engaged in the platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome markets in South Africa. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the JSE. The company has three projects - the Crocodile mine, which ceased operating in 2012 and is under care and maintenance, Sound Mine Solutions engaged to...

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ISA Holdings (ISA) is a small Alt-X listed IT company offering network, internet, and information security in sub-Saharan Africa. The company claims to employ some of the leading IT security specialists and to have the tools and experience to offer effective information security solutions. In its results for the six months to 31st August 2023 the company reported...

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Quantum (QFH) is in the chicken business. It has four divisions - Animal feeds, eggs and layers, broilers and an African division where it sells related products. Quantum was obviously badly impacted by the drought in Southern Africa, but since that abated and the price of animal feeds came down, it has benefited from the much higher prices of eggs and the lower...

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Rhodes (RFG) is a Western Cape manufacturer of convenience foods - started by Cecil John Rhodes in 1896. It has several well-known South African brands like Bisto, Bull Brand and Hinds. It has 15 manufacturing plants in South Africa and a fruit processing plant in Swaziland. In its results for the six months to 2nd April 2023 the company reported revenue up 10,2%...

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Richemont (CFR) is the world's second-largest supplier of luxury goods controlled by the Rupert family in Stellenbosch. Its sales are entirely located overseas so it is an excellent rand-hedge. Its luxury brands include Mont Blanc, Cartier, Lancel, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Van Cleef and Piaget. It has boosted online sales to 21% of turnover by acquiring Yoox-Net-A-Porter...

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The Foschini Group (TFG) is an international retailer of 28 fashion brands. It has 4083 trading outlets in 32 countries around the world. It has a division in London and one in Australia, aside from its extensive presence in the South African market. One of the notable achievements of TFG is that it has managed to establish a successful business in Australia where...

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PPC is a leading manufacturer and supplier of cement, aggregates, ready-mix, lime, limestone, and fly-ash in Africa. It has eleven cement factories in South Africa, Botswana, the DRC, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Ethiopia with a total production capacity of 11,5 million tons. It produces aggregates at its Mooiplaas quarry in Gauteng which is the largest aggregates...

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Primeserv (PMV) describes itself as a "...provider of integrated business support services focused on providing client-centric human capital services, spanning staffing and recruitment services, productivity and functional outsourcing services and training and consulting services". In its results for the year to 31st March 2023 the company reported revenue up 4%...

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Sappi (SAP) manufactures paper, dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and paper pulp internationally and supplies products in 150 countries. DWP is used to manufacture clothing, packaging products and many other applications. DWP, specialty and packaging products were seen as the profit generator in the future, but until recently, the price of DWP had fallen sharply. Then in...

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Sephaku (SEP) is a construction materials business in South Africa which supplies ready-mixed cement products and cement to the construction industry. The group consists of 100% of Metier Mixed Concrete and 36% of associate company Sepcem where the remaining 64% is held by Dangote. Obviously, Sephaku is directly impacted by the difficulties in the construction...