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Good Morning Voornaam,

I hope you thoroughly enjoyed Women's Day yesterday and made the most of it. I also hope you enjoyed International Cat Day on Tuesday. My cats celebrated it like any other day, with a solid 18 hours of sleep.

Onwards to business, starting with a selection of podcasts:

In Episode 37 of Ghost Wrap, you can get the latest on AngloGold, Pan African Resources, Impala Platinum, Mondi, Sappi, Mpact, Spur and Standard Bank. Yes, all of this in just over 5 minutes! Brought to you by Mazars and designed for busy people, you'll find it here>>>
In Episode 18 of Ghost Stories, Siyabul ela Nomoyi of Satrix joined me to talk about bond ETFs. These are overshadowed by their far more popular cousins: the equity ETFs. In a high yield environment, should this be the case? Find out here>>>
In Episode 136 of Magic Markets, we talked about the retail sector and ran through the different business models at retailers in the US and locally. There's a vast amount to learn in just 20 minutes of your time. Enjoy it here>>>
Finally, in Episode 13 of the bizval podcast, I talked to Mike Finger who helps small business owners in the US sell their businesses. He spe nt 10 years building a business that he discovered was unsellable. The lessons from that are invaluable for any entrepreneur. Listen to them here>>>

That should keep you more than occupied today. Let's deal with Tuesday's market news.

My interview with Mike Davis, CFO of Nedbank

Nedbank released interim results on Tuesday. I've covered them in Ghost Bites of course, but I also have further juicy insights for you. Nedbank wants Ghost Mail readers to fully understand the context to the numbers, so I was granted an interview with CFO Mike Davis where I could ask whatever I wanted. The transcript is included in this article, along with the latest results. Enjoy it and learn!

The Comp Comm says no to Vodacom (and Remgro indirectly)

There's always an eerie silence in the graveyard shift on SENS: the final hour before a weekend or public holiday. I was waiting to see if anything juicy would come out. As is so often the case, I wasn't disappointed.

The telecoms industry really isn't a great place to play these days. I'm the perfect example, with a Vodacom contract that is costing me far less in nominal terms (nevermind inflation-adjusted terms) than I was spending just a few years ago. My money is being spent on data-related services an d Vodacom gets very little of that, with data prices having plummeted. To react to this world, the company is investing further in areas like fibre. Or at least, they are trying to.

The Competition Commission isn't keen on Vodacom's proposed joint venture with Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa, currently held by Community Investment Ventures Holdings and with implications for Remgro as well. These are early days in the process, as the Competition Tribunal actually makes the decision. It's not a great start that the Commission is recommending that the deal be blocked.

Moving on, Glencore also released results. I included a very important chart of six-monthly HEPS in Ghost Bites for you today to show you what a mining cycle looks like. I went back to 2018 in this analysis and the visual outcome is powerful. I hope you're enjoying the charts in Ghost Bites that I started d oing this week - let me know!

Aside from these updates and the Nedbank results already mentioned, there was news from Hulamin, Kore Potash, Quilter and Tongaat Hulett as well. For a public holiday week, there were some really important updates that you simply cannot miss. Get them all in Ghost Bites at this link>>>

Get ready for US CPI

Poor Chinese trade data on Tuesday gave the market a risk-averse flavour, which isn't good news for the rand. It reached R19.00 yesterday, so any news of a global slowdown is being met with a sell-o ff of emerging market assets. Against this backdrop, TreasuryONE has flagged today's release of US CPI data as the major focus. Look out for a volatile end to the week. Also, have you checked out the new TreasuryONE website yet?

With that, I wish you a great Thursday!

Ghost Bites (Glencore | Hulamin | Kore Potash | Nedbank | Quilter | Tongaat Hulett | Vodacom)

Right at the death, Vodacom dropped a bombshell on the market that also impacts Remgro. Look out for earnings from Glencore, Hulamin, Nedbank and Quilter, with important news from Kore Potash as well.

Nedbank Group 2023 Interim Results and Mike Davis interview

Along with the release of 2023 interim results, Nedbank CFO Mike Davis granted me an interview. It was insightful to say the least and is well worth reading with the results.

Ghost Wrap #37 (AngloGold | Pan African Resources | Impala Platinum | Mondi | Sappi | Mpact | Spur | Standard Bank)

Get ready to play rock, paper, scissors in this edition of Ghost Wrap. I covered mining and paper stocks, with some sharp results from Spur and Standard Bank as well. Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars.

Listen Now

Magic Markets Ep136: Retail Stock Reality

Working through local and global retailers as well as their business models, we covered a lot of ground in just 20 minutes. Expand your knowledge with Magic Markets.

Listen Now

Ghost Stories #18: Spotlight on Bond ETF Investments with Siyabulela Nomoyi (Portfolio Manager at Satrix)

Equity ETFs dominate the narrative among investors, particularly retail investors. Fixed income or bond ETFs are often ignored, which is a pity now that yields have picked up. With Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix, we put the spotlight on bond ETFs.

Listen Now

Help - I built an unsellable business!

Mike Finger was 10 years into building a business that had 50 employees. Despite this, it was unsellable. He spoke to me about his incredible learnings from this and how he now helps entrepreneurs sell their businesses. Founders, don't miss this!

Listen Now

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