I had so much electricity yesterday that I was anxious. Sadly, it surely won't last. For a competitive quote on financing your business's solar installation, reach out to Jaltech by clicking here. They are focusing on funding new and existing solar installations for companies in South Africa.

This is your last chance to register for the webinar at 12pm today on emigration, delivered by yours truly alongside TreasuryONE who will be talking about the forex side of the process. For some help in making this decision objectively, register for free here>>>

Don't miss these

With several new articles and podcasts coming out shortly, make sure you are up to date on these:

• The Ghost Wrap podcast (brought to you by Mazars) is a whirlwind summary of the latest from Nedbank, Spar, Hudaco, Pepkor, Sirius Real Estate and Tiger Brands. Find it here>>>
• In Ghost Stories, Duma Mxenge of Satrix joined me to talk about the usefulness and importance of ETFs in a portfolio. This is a worthwhile listen to improve your portfolio strategies>>>
  
• Speaking of portfolio strategies, the latest Magic Markets show saw the team from Westbrooke give us the latest on the Westbrooke Yield Plus fund in the UK that is currently returning an annualised 9% return - in pounds! As an offshore compounder, that's interesting. Find out more here>> >
  
• Trive South Africa recently looked at Renergen from a fundamental and technical standpoint, giving you insights into this popular stock>>>
• On Unlock the Stock (brought to you by A2X), you can hear about the latest numbers directly from the management team of Calgro M3. The Q&A session at the end of this recording was also very helpful. Watch it here>>>

Food businesses that are working b>

It's not all doom and gloom in the food and FMCG space. There are two companies on the JSE that reported solid numbers yesterday, although it obviously comes down to nuances like regional focus and the reporting period in question. It's also important to always look at strategic moves in the period in question and whether they can be repeated.

In the case of global food service giant Bidcorp, the group is so big that regional diversification is its greatest strength. I was surprised to note that the rebound in China has been disappointing, with growth being driven elsewhere. The market didn't like the trading update despite Bidcorp achieving such good numbers, presumably because of the comments made in the outlook section.

At Premier, life-after-unbundling from Brait is going well thus far. Results were strong in the latest per iod although margin pressures are there. Whether or not this can be repeated in the next period is the big question, particularly with major new operations being completed in the past year and acquisitions as well.

Along with these groups, I covered Aveng, AYO, British American Tobacco (with a share price that I think looks vulnerable), Capital Appreciation (check out that dividend yield on a tech company), Copper 360, Emira, Jubilee, Santova and Steinhoff (specifically Pepco). It's all just one click away in Ghost Bites>>>

A day of consolidation for the rand

The rand had a solid run the past few days and took a breather yesterday, staying rooted in the R19.20 - R19.30 range yesterday. Importantly, the rand held its ground despite the dollar strengthening against the euro. With little in the way of new data out this week, TreasuryONE expects the market to trade sideways heading into next week with US CPI and the Fed decision on the horizon.

In very happy news for South Africa, Brent Crude traded lower despite the cut of Saudi oil production over the weekend. This perhaps doesn't say good things about the global economic situation, but my view is that the pressure put on South Africans by energy costs makes us net winners in a cheaper oil environment. It also helps the rand, since we import our oil and export commodities.

With that, I wish you another electricity-filled day of goodness!