Different ways to leave

Good morning Voornaam,

SENS is starting to calm down, which is excellent news for anyone in the markets who is ready for a proper switch-off holiday. Like me, for example.

There are still a few interesting stories this morning. Fascinatingly, on the same day, we saw updates on both Mondi and AB InBev exiting Russia. They are doing it under very different economic circumstances, a direct result of varying levels of political pressure on those entities. Read Ghost Bites for the full details.

There's one more great article from Dominique Olivier to cap off the year. The Kardashians could be one of the most polarising families in the world, yet there's no denying that their business journey is incredible. I was amazed by just how many businesses and products they've launched! It has all the makings of a juicy business story, which is exactly what Dominique loves writing about. Find it here>>>

The final Ghost Wrap of 2023 brings you a whirlwind update on Tharisa, the enX - Nedbank deal, Thungela, Italtile and Grindrod. Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars. You'll find the latest episode here.

The penultimate Magic Markets podcast of the year delivers insights on international group Lululemon's results and an overview of South African fashion retailers, including an explanation of why they tend to be so diversified. Magic Markets is made possible by data automation experts B2ITFind the latest episode here
.

Although we seem to be in a lull for load shedding at the moment, we all know it won't last. If you've been wondering how a solar subscription works, then AA Inform has put together a helpful article that gives you the basics. Read it here>>>

Have a great day!

BRAND NEW: Money, Grede and Business - a Kardashian Success Story
(by Dominique Olivier)

In her latest column, Dominique Olivier tries to keep up with the Kardashians and their business journey. You'll need your running shoes for that - they've launched a LOT of things!

But what can we learn from them?

LATEST: Ghost Wrap podcast

(Tharisa | enX - Nedbank | Thungela | Italtile | Grindrod)

The latest Ghost Wrap podcast goes into more detail than usual, as these stories are too important to miss. Ghost Wrap is brought to you by Mazars.

LATEST: Magic Markets podcast

In Episode 155 of Magic Markets, we looked at pure-play athleisure business Lululemon and compared it to various South African apparel retailers, with particular attention paid to why local retailers are far more diversified than a group like Lululemon and what this means for investors.

This show is brought to you by international data and automation specialists B2IT

LATEST: Simple, but Effective Investing

Nico Katzke of Satrix is passionate about helping people achieve investment success.

Diversification is a critical ingredient in that recipe. He writes about it in this article. I highly recommend reading it.

LATEST: How to really manage your money,
featuring Nico Katzke of Satrix

If you can't save, then you can't invest. Managing your money properly is the first step in any investment journey. I loved discussing real-world ideas and strategies with Nico Katzke of Satrix in this podcast. It's well worth a listen.

DAILY: TreasuryONE Market Update

Traders are still betting on a rate cut in March next year, despite the Fed warning that cuts are only likely to be later in the year. In practice, this means the dollar is being sold off against major other currencies (except the Japanese yen at the moment), including emerging market currencies. That's good news for the rand, with lack of liquidity at this time of year leading to exaggerated moves.

The rand has erased all the losses over the last two days, trading at around R18.32.

From a data perspective, the market is looking ahead to Friday's US PCE price index inflation data and jobless claims number. Talk about working right up until Christmas!

Commodities are higher on the back of the softer dollar, including PGMs. As a country, we desperately need the PGMs to move significantly higher.  What we don't need is petrol prices to go up, so Brent Crude moving up to $79 on the back of the closing of the Red Sea shipping lane isn't good news. 

DAILY: Ghost Bites

Get the latest on AB InBev, Mondi and MTN. This is all available with a single click in Ghost Bites.

From Russia, with varying outcomes

The economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was driven by sanctions. For companies governed by Western countries, that meant an extreme exit of Russian operations practically overnight. Of course, the undesired outcome of that approach is that economic value is literally gifted to the very country that they are hoping to punish. In some cases, the buyer wasn't Russian, but rather a company from a country that isn't following an approach of active sanctions.

Other countries and companies took a more measured approach, with a plan to exit Russia over time and at least extract some value. In these cases, assets were often sold at a discount. This was still a better outcome for the Russian buyers than would otherwise be the case, but at least it wasn't a complete donation of corporate assets.

On an otherwise quiet day of news, we saw AB InBev and Mondi demonstrate the spectrum of outcomes in terms of an exit from Russia. AB InBev shareholders will effectively get nothing, whereas Mondi shareholders will receive a special distribution from the cash that the company managed to extract in the process.

There's also news from MTN Nigeria that is worth reading, alongside the various Little Bites that you know and love (including director dealings).

Full details on these stories can be found with a single click in Ghost Bites. Find it here>>>

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