Fresh out the oven:

• Ghost Bites: Dis-Chem was full of news on Friday, ranging from results through to an executive share deal and an investment in a US-based start-up. Credit sales continue to fuel growth at Lewis. Nedbank's recent performance reflects cautious corporates. I also covered Adcorp, AME, AYO, Brikor, Crookes Brothers, Finbond, Gemfields, Huge Group, Insimbi Industrial and Trustco on a very busy day, all in Ghost Bites>>>

• Ghost Wrap: Enjoy a brand new episode covering Balwin, Quantum Foods, De Beers, Tiger Brands and Bidcorp, brought to you by Mazars. Listen to it here>>>
  

• This year, South Africa is set to become the tenth-largest solar market in the world. In 2023, R17.5 billion rands of solar panels were imported into this country. In episode 4 of The Current brought to you by Investec, Iman Rappetti spoke with Investec's Melanie Humphries, Bernard Geldenhuys and De Wet Taljaard from the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) to explore SA’s apparent solar boom. Enjoy it here>>>

• Over in Paris, the locals are planning a rather revolting protest against upcoming Olympics, Even that isn't the weirdest story to come from this event that is steeped in history. That honour surely goes to the Men's Marathon at the 1904 Olympics, with enough characters to justify an entire TV series. Dominique Olivier entertains you with this story here>>>​

Local company news:


Dis-Chem has some work to do on its cost control, but the business is expanding rapidly and that's a good thing. Around 85% of capital expenditure has been allocated towards expansion rather than maintenance capex, including the new distribution centre in Gauteng. To add to the offering, the company is investing in a US-based start-up called OneSpark Holdings, which just so happens to have the Saltzman family and a couple of other directors as its anchor investors. Dis-Chem is a consistent source of related party deals, but it's hard to fault the underlying business growth.

Speaking of growth, Lewis is being driven by credit sales rather than cash sales. This is nothing new, but it's still interesting to take note of this after the Pepkor release last week that had much the same trend.

The credit vs. cash news is even more interesting when you layer on Nedbank's recent performance, which reflects modest demand for credit from corporates and caution around unsecured lending to retail bank customers.

On a super busy day of news, we also saw numbers from Adcorp, African Media Entertainment, AYO Technology, Brikor, Crookes Brothers, Finbond, Gemfields, Huge, Insimbi and Trustco.

Along with the Little Bites, everything is available with one click Ghost Bites at this link>>>
 

International business news:


In an interview with CNBC, Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll gave some rather interesting insights into the publicly listed company that he is trying hard to save. Here's one for you: the customisation program has boosted the average sale price by 35% over the past two years to $294k. Luxury car manufacturers make a fortune from helping customers stand out, as though a normal car off the showroom floor isn't special enough.

Here's another one: the average age of a customer is 42, down from 55 just four years ago. Formula 1 is helping here according to Stroll, although he's obviously very biased because of his son.

And in music to my ears (literally), the launch of an all-electric Aston Martin has been delayed from 2025 to 2026. Why? Because customers aren't showing enough demand.

They still have quite the economic miracle to perform over at Aston Martin. For all the hype and prettiness, the company is still making huge losses.

We just covered tech group Intel in Magic Markets Premium and this week we will be covering Foot Locker. To get access to this research and the rest of the vast library, subscribe to the platform here.

Macroeconomic Update

The rand has taken a knock from the elections but has started the new trading week on a steady footing it seems, despite all the uncertainty around a coalition government. There are many different permutations at this stage, some of which are far more investor friendly than others. Look out for increased volatility in the rand as the negotiations play out.

The dollar is marginally weaker this morning after US PCE came out largely as expected, leading to a slight improvement in rate cut bets. The market will focus on non-farm payrolls this Friday, as well as unemployment numbers and ISM manufacturing PMI data due later today. The ECB interest rate decision is on Thursday, with that bank widely expected to be the first major central bank to cut rates.

Although OPEC+ agreed to extend production cuts into next year, the oil price remains under pressure due to lower US and Chinese demand. Copper continues to pull back from the recent record run.

Key indicators: USD/ZAR R18.72; US 10-year 4.49%; Gold $2,321; Platinum ZAR R19,446; Brent Crude $81.01

This macroeconomic update is based on TreasuryONE's morning update.