Richemont's online bet

Good Morning Voornaam,

The most complicated and interesting announcement on the JSE yesterday was Richemont's deal with US-listed FARFETCH (yes, all in capital letters so people can HEAR HOW RICH YOU ARE) and Mohamed Alabbar, the founder of the property company that built the Burj Khalifa in Dubai! When these people go for business lunches, they don't settle for Wimpy.

Only the best will do, which is why it's perhaps ironic that Richemont is suffering a EUR2.7 billion impairment in this deal and FARFETCH's share price would justify the company being renamed FARLOWER, down 77% for the year before the Richemont announcement gave it a boost of over 20%. At the centre of this transaction is another company that has never heard of lower case: YOOX NET-A-PORTER, thankfully called YNAP for short. Richemont's vision was to take luxury goods retailing into the online space, there by locking in the full retail and manufacturing margins on timepieces and necklaces that frequently cost more than a new family car. "Yoox" is perhaps the noise made by the CFO when he finished calculating the impairment.

FARFETCH and Alabbar are investing in YNAP, with FARFETCH as the far more important of the two with a 47.5% stake after this deal. FARFETCH will pay for the stake by issuing shares to Richemont, who will hold 12% - 13% in the company when all is said and done.

In addition to more details on this story, Ghost Bites is packed with news like earnings from KAP Industrial, Bidcorp, DRDGOLD, Harmony Gold (a shocker) and others. I read nearly 30 SENS announcements yesterday so that you don't have to (unless you want to do detailed research). Many fund managers read Ghost Bites on a daily basis and you should too!

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Daily Market Wrap with Treas uryONE

The market took a breather in anticipation of the Jackson Hole Symposium. All eyes will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday, with market moves likely before and during the speech. The US dollar is now camping below parity against the euro and this may be the new status quo, as the Eurozone is expected to come under further pressure. The rand traded sideways for the day, just below R17.

Local inflation printed in line with expectations, increasing by 7.8% year-on-year. Core inflation was slightly higher than expected at 4.6%. Inflation is below more developed economies but is trending higher, with fuel costs as the main culprit. The MPC is almost forced to hike rates at the next meeting, with the decision coming down to a 50bps or 75bps hike.

It's not too late to register for the TreasuryONE webinar at 9am but you have to move quickly! Register here for this morning's event.

Podcasts

Make the most of your quiet moments today and enjoy one of these podcasts:

That's all, folks. Have a great day!