Consistency, or complacency? In business, the difference can be a fine line. Doing more of the same only works when the "same" has a defendable market position. If you keep doing what you've always been doing when the world is clearly changing, you're setting yourself up for failure. By tapping into recent research in Magic Markets Premium, I looked at Visa and Tupperware as a perfect example of consistency vs. complacency. Read the latest Ghost Global here>>>

Of course, sometimes businesses have no choice but to respond to external pressures. Trive South Africa decided to take a look at how South Africa's retail giants have had to spend a fortune in response to load shedding. Although I haven't seen any doomsday writing about a grid collapse for a while now, this spend does at least put them in a stronger position than before if Stage 6 load shedding returns. Read Trive's analysis here>>>

And to help keep you busy and focused today, here are four great podcasts:

• Learn how to Do Your Own Research (DYOR) in Episode 131 of Magic Markets.
• Get a whirlwind update on eight companies in fewer than eight minutes with Ghost Wrap, brought to you by Mazars. The latest episode featured AECI, Argent Industrial, Hudaco, PBT Group, Invicta, Hyprop, Advanced Health and the Naspers/Prosus stable.
• Inspire yourself to invest for your children by listening to my discussion on Ghost Stories with Thembeka Khumalo from Satrix. We talked about what risk means, the gift of compound returns and so much more in this episode.
• For something completely different, learn how to spot gaps in a market and scale into them using technology and clever outsourcing by listening to the latest bizval podcast with Adi Kaimowitz of Virtual Actuary. I highly recommend this show if you are interested in business strategy.

No teardrops at this Waterfall

I hold shares in Attacq and I was thrilled to see the initial announcement of the potential Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) investment in the Waterfall portfolio. The point here is that the listed company trades at a much higher discount than the value of the Waterfall deal, so this is essentially a value unlock for shareholders.

Although the full terms of the Waterfall deal show that it is also at a discount to NAV, the 42% increase in the share price over the past year worked beautifully for me.

For full deta ils on this transaction and the latest from Invicta, RMB Holdings and Wesizwe as well, read your Ghost Bites this morning>>>

If you want to really dig into Attacq, then refer back to the recent appearance on Unlock the Stock alongside Tharisa. You can watch that recording here. While you're at it, register for the next Unlock the Stock event on Thursday, 13th July at 12pm featuring PBT Group.

Look back on the week with DealMakers

As always on a Friday, the team at DealMakers has provided us with their weekly summary of local M&A activity, local corporate finance activity and deals in Africa.

US 10-year yields over 4%

With the release of the services ISM reading in the US that came in well ahead of expectations, the US economy continues to show its resilience and strength. The June data in the ADP report showed the highest job gains since February of the previous year. The economy isn't weak enough to suggest lower inflation, which sent US 10-year yields above 4%. This increases the likelihood of a rate hike this month, with all eyes on US non-farm payroll numbers today.

TreasuryONE also highlights that commodities are not in a happy place when treasury yields move higher. Gold etc. doesn't offer any yield, with the yellow stuff reaching its lowest closing level since March. The rand gold price is a different discussion, as the rand lost 1 .7% against the dollar and moved back above the R19.00 mark once again.

With second quarter company earnings coming in the next few weeks, the outlook for companies appears more pessimistic in this higher rates environment, despite the underlying economic strength.

And with that, I wish you a great weekend!

PS: I'm #humbled #blessed and mildly #irritated to have joined LinkedIn, mainly in response to Musk playing too many games with Twitter. I'm giving it a fair go, so if you want quality insights in your feed amongst the cringeworthy posts that are a feature of LinkedIn, please follow me here>>>