Vitality Rewards but no dividends

Good Morning Voornaam,

The Best Bites:

Zuck has the metaverse. Discovery has the bank.

If you've ever driven past the Discovery head office in Sandton, you'll know that the business makes plenty of money. It's quite the monument, paying homage to a group that has now taken Vitality to 35 global markets. Love them or hate them, Discovery's technology is one of our finest exports.

At some point in the story of a large and successful group, a decision nee ds to be made: do we become a boring dividend paying stock or do we keep shooting for the stars? Much like Zuckerberg and his ambitions for the metaverse, Discovery has clearly decided to keep building for the future.

Of course, this doesn't guarantee a happy outcome for shareholders. Investors tend to be impatient, particularly when economic conditions are tough.

Discovery Bank posted an operating loss of R990 million in the year ended June 2022. That's a lot of money - banks aren't cheap to build! Now boasting over 470k clients, the bank's ambition is to reach 1 million clients by 2026. The business is clearly focused on higher earners, as this is the way to generate all-important non-interest revenue.

Taking your money back to 2015

The products might be forward-thinking but the share price certainly isn't. In fact, Discovery is now trading at the same levels as in 2015. It's ent irely possible that you got more of a return on your Healthy Food benefit than on your investment!

You can read more about Discovery, The Foschini Group, Conduit Capital and other updates in Ghost Bites this morning.

TreasuryONE: the dollar is still dominating

The US dollar has determined the direction of currency markets in the past few weeks and yesterday was no different. The market is becoming more risk averse by the day, finding safety in the greenback. The rand touched R17.46 yesterday, a new level of weakness this year. The team at TreasuryONE expects that level to be tested regularly with the risk sentiment currently in the market.

Even with the ECB poised to hike rates by 75 basis points, there has been little in the way of a shift towards the euro.

In good news for people who drive cars with too many cylinders (like your favourite purple ghost), Brent Crude has broken below $90 per barrel. The market is expecting demand for commodities like oil to wane. This is now the lowest oil price since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. Even with OPEC cutting supply by 100,000 barrels a day, economic conditions are not looking supportive of the oil price.

Mining, be mine

You can make it yours by taking advantage of the 40% discount available to Ghost Mail readers on the Who Owns Whom online store. In th is article, I highlight two recent reports by Who Owns Whom dealing with the mining sector, including the summarised SWOT analysis from one of the reports.

This research gives in-depth insights into numerous sectors across the African continent and is used by many institutions as part of their knowledge base. With the discount exclusively available to Ghost Mail readers, they become more affordable for individuals who have an interest in the sector.

Have a great Thursday!