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Good morning Voornaam,

Happiest of happy Fridays! I had a fantastic day yesterday with my co-founders at bizval. I absolutely love the combination of building businesses from the ground up and following listed companies as well. It's amazing how much you can learn from that approach.

Best of all, I get to share as many of those learnings as possible with you in Ghost Mail, so thanks for being here and reading my work.

If you're short on time, I want to draw your attention to Ghost Bites that brings you three particularly important stories: (1) the trend at De Beers, (2) a deal at Fortress to sort out the dual-class structure and (3) Life Healthcare announcing a buyer for Alliance Medical Group.

And before you move on, make sure you register for Unlock the Stock next week with Lesaka Technologies. This is a fantastic way to get access directly to management to ask your questions. Attendance is free thanks to A2X. Get your name on the guest list here>>>

Have fun!

NEW: Magic Markets podcast

In the aftermath of the pandemic, it's been fascinating to follow the recovery of the hospitality and tourism sector. In the latest Magic Markets episode, we cover local hotel group Southern Sun and international cruise business Carnival Corporation. Episode 145 of Magic Markets is brought to you by B2IT.

Listen to Magic Markets Episode 145 here (19 minutes long)

Friday means... DealMakers!

DealMakers is here with the latest summaries on local M&A activity, local corporate finance and African transactions. There are also articles on mandatory audit firm rotation and exchange controls in Africa.

Ghost Wrap podcast (Rex Trueform \| Barloworld \| Spar \| Capitec \| Vukile + Attacq)

The Ghost Wrap podcast is a great way to stay on top of local company news. I went into more detail than usual on these stories, covering an acquisition by Rex Trueform, results from Barloworld and Spar, important trends at Capitec and the outlook at Vukile and Attacq. Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars.

Listen to the Ghost Wrap podcast here (7 minutes long)

The lessons dished out by the markets this year have been all about how companies cope in inflationary conditions. The winners have one thing in common: pricing power.

Learn about pricing power in this piece I wrote for EasyEquities

Ghost Stories podcast

How have ETFs done thus far in 2023 and where was the right place to put your money? Find out in Ghost Stories with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix.

Listen to Ghost Stories with Siya

For founders: the bizval podcast

Designing a business through critical thinking is a major ingredient for success. Hugh Stafford-Smith from the UK spoke to me about this topic on the bizval podcast.

Learn business design

Satrix INDI is an ETF with a Proudly South African flavour. Learn more here.

NEW: CA Sales Holdings is a really strong example of how locally listed companies can deliver great returns. The management team returned to Unlock the Stock to unpack the recent performance and answer questions about the strategy and business model. Don't miss it! Unlock the Stock is brought to you by A2X.

Watch Unlock the Stock

TreasuryONE Market Update

The rand moved into the R19.60s, with local issues seeming to come to the fore again. The Mexican peso also had a bad day, for what it's worth.

In the US, jobless claims were in line with expectations, with the non-farm payroll release later today as the next obvious catalyst for the dollar.

Commodities had another tough day in the office, across gold, oil (at $84 this morning!) and PGMs. A poor outlook on economic activity remains the driving factor for commodity prices. The anticipation of further rate increases in the US doesn't help.

For more information, you can watch the TreasuryONE weekly market review below or on the YouTube channel at this link.

NEW: Ghost Bites

Get the latest on De Beers, Datatec, Fortress, Kibo Energy, Life Healthcare and Newpark. It's all available with a single click in Ghost Bites.

Read Ghost Bites at this link to stay updated on local company news

My views on lab-grown vs. natural diamonds are unchanged

I wrote an article for the Financial Mail a couple of months ago about how the diamond industry is facing its own "quartz crisis" - a key learning from the Swiss watchmaking industry. When we covered Swatch in Magic Markets Premium, I realised how similar the situation was and hence I wrote the article.

Long story short, lab-grown diamonds are just as good as natural diamonds these days (unless you are really picky) and come in at a fraction of the price. Younger generations are way more focused on experiences than material items, so why not save on the ring and spend more on the honeymoon?

Diamonds are luxury goods that have been masquerading as affluent goods for decades, supported by the De Beers marketing budget. There's a place for diamonds in this world. I just think that the future lies in genuinely "luxury" products, rather than wedding rings for everyone.

Imagine if for the past few decades, everyone was pressured by society into buying an incredibly expensive luxury coat. Along comes a perfectly good coat at a vastly lower price, with only a few people able to tell the difference. If buying the luxury coat was a source of great financial stress, wouldn't you consider the lower priced option?

I've spoken to enough young people to know I'm right about the shift in demand. The bigger question is whether De Beers (part of Anglo American) can adapt its model to respond to what is happening.

Can the marketing budget save the day? Will natural diamond prices need to be hiked to be truly luxury in nature? Only time will tell.

For me, this is one of the most fascinating trends in the business world right now.

You can get the latest on De Beers (and of course the Fortress and Life Healthcare transactions, both of which are very important) in Ghost Bites today.

You should expect us in your inbox Monday – Friday. If you don’t receive an email, please check your spam, or junk folder and “move us” into your primary inbox to ensure you get it each morning.

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