Altron's shares were strangely unmoved by the news that it expects to fetch a better price for shares of Bytes Group when it lists its UK business on the London Stock Exchange later this month. That's good news for shareholders, who'll receive shares in Bytes with its secondary listing on the JSE. It's also good for Altron, which will receive a chunk of cash by selling new shares. At its current projection, Bytes will have a market cap as big as, if not bigger than Altron's current value.

While Altron's shares ended just a little higher, Sygnia's rallied after the fund manager released an upbeat trading statement ahead of results next week. Nampak's, on the other hand, declined after it revealed a full-year loss due to impairments and the significant impact of Covid-19 on its business.

Also today, results from Redefine Properties and an update from Ascendis Health. And Equities Properties has struck a deal to develop a new distribution centre for Amazon in the UK.

Finally, it appears there was a gremlin rather than a ghost in the machine when yesterday's newsletter went out. The latest podcast from The Finance Ghost, where's he's joined again by macroeconomic market analyst Mohammed Nalla to discuss the recent downgrade of SA's sovereign credit rating, disappeared! I've included it in today's newsletter because I'd hate you to miss out.

I hope you have a good day.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect

The latest from Ingham Analytics

Ingham Analytics previously called the top in gold at $2,000/oz. The metal has retreated to around $1,800/oz, breaking a key support level. However, gold is still up 20% this year. Gold ETFs, they say, remain a useful portfolio diversifier (see "Added weight" and "A blemished trading jewel?"). Continuing the commodity theme is "BHP scopes up", issued yesterday, which takes an ESG angle, an increasingly important investor consideration. The Rio Tinto public relations disaster over Juukan Gorge is the type of ESG you don't need in mining.