BizNews Radio

This episode of the Briefing features Sasol's results - and its CEO's defence of a contract with Bain & Co (with Biznews's Michael Appel's response); a surge to just below $100 in the oil price; excellent day for resources shares on the JSE and reasons why sceptics are returning to Wall Street after a strong recovery since mid-June.

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Just before the credit crunch in 2009, Wall Street brokerage firms and stockbrokers aggressively marketed what appeared to be safe and conservative Lehman Brothers structured notes and we all know how that turned out. The big losses that investors suffered and the ripple effect it had across the world have led to some investors steering well clear of these securities. Wealth Migrate and their deal partner, Cashbox Global, however, feel that structured notes have evolved substantially since then. Scott Picken, the CEO of Wealth Migrate, told BizNews that structured notes meant that retail investors could invest like the ultra-wealthy, while Riaan van der Vyver from the Global Wealth Group highlighted the benefits of predefined outcomes. Cashbox Global head of product structuring, Andrew Mobsby told BizNews that it is important for investors to pick a structured note supplier with a robust track record. – Linda van Tilburg

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Two years ago SA’s fuel-from-coal and chemicals champion Sasol was selling off assets to urgently raise cash - and preparing to ask shareholders for a $2bn bailout. Today the business is released financial results for the year to end June which reveal a business back in rude health, one that declared a dividend, cut debt and looks well set for the future. In this interview CEO Fleetwood Grobler shares valuable lessons learnt from the near-death experience - and how different life is for the ‘twenty bagger’ whose share price peaked above R420 in May - having fallen to just above R20 two years earlier. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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Arthur Fraser is in the headlines a lot these days - for two reasons specifically - he’s the former spy boss who granted former President Jacob Zuma his medical parole, and also the man who laid charges against Cyril Ramaphosa over the February 2020 Phala Phala theft saga. The fifth instalment of the Zondo Report makes damning findings against Fraser and a dubious cast of characters in the intelligence world. Michael Appel takes a look at the man instrumental in shaping South Africa from the shadows.

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An adjustment to the normal format in this episode of the BizNews Business Briefing where Alec Hogg and Lucy Ferreira are joined by colleagues Stuart Lowman and Nadya Swart to provide context on the day's major business news; including Purple Group's big Asian deal that was announced on Friday; the Time Travelling Economist not countering lobbyists for Western Cape Independence; debate on remote work after Apple's CEO demands staff return to the office; and controversy around an apparent 70 year old myth that has delivered massive profits to Big Pharma. All that plus the latest on markets and shares that moved on the JSE today.

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Purple Group's share price jumped 10% on Friday, swimming strongly against the sliding market. Reason was a rather cryptic SENS announcement about a major partnership secured in Asia. Although details were deliberately sparse to ensure the partner's Big Bang launch won't be compromised, Purple CEO Charles Savage visited our virtual studio to share the context - and ventured that once the market became fully appraised of the significance of the deal, it's not only existing Purple fans who will be impressed.

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South Africa features in Charlie Robertson's recently released book, The Time Travelling Economist: Why Education, Electricity and Fertility are the key to escaping poverty. Not in a flattering way. So we asked the author, whose day job is chief economist of the world's leading emerging markets specialists Renaissance  Capital, to unpack his masterful analysis of what drives economic growth by comparing countries over extended periods. In this interview with Alec Hogg of Biznews, Robertson uses numerous examples to explain what bedevils the South African economy - using the three key economic factors to explain part of SA's massive underperformance in the past half century. A sobering assessment by an independent thinker - and grist for the mill of the Western Cape independence lobby. A must listen.

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In this episode of the BizNews Business Briefing we take a look at last week's market movers and provide the investment news you need to know. In focus is the end of a four week rally for stock markets and the impact of investors switching away from higher risk assets with the Rand, Gold and Crypto falling sharply. Also in this episode, the FT's Gideon Rachman considers whether China would go to war over Taiwan.

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When the emergence of Covid-19 and resultant restrictive measures were imposed across the globe in early 2020, the world witnessed submission of an unprecedented and surprising nature. One motivator, fear, is fairly obvious and understandable but it in no way explains the collective psychology in play. BizNews spoke to Professor Frank Furedi, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and the author of several books covering the cultures of fear and safety which have insinuated themselves into practically all corners of society. Furedi highlighted a particularly interesting side-effect of the pandemic: the downgrading of human capacity and simultaneous inflation of threat. Another fascinating observation explored was the way in which the fundamental subject matter that children are taught has shifted from the virtues of courage and morality to psychological values such as self-esteem. This shift, together with the growing undercurrent of safety culture, is a breeding ground for an infantalised, anxious future population.

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After running hard since mid-July, Standard Bank's share price dropped on the release of half year results to end June, reflecting Mr Market's inclination to buy on rumour, sell on fact. But with a 33% surge in headline earning to a fresh half year record, CEO Sim Tshabalala's description of "reasonable" results is an understatement. The bank's numbers are now back to pre-pandemic levels and in this in-depth interview with Alec Hogg of BizNews, the man who will next year celebrate a decade in the top job looks ahead and addresses key issues including booming non-SA operations; ambitious commitments for 2025; and 20% Chinese shareholder ICBC whose $5.6bn investment in 2007 is now worth a modest $3.5bn. Tshabalala also responds to criticism on BizNews by SA's leading banking analyst Kokkie Kooyman who opined that rather than challenging FirstRand as SA banking's top dog, Standard Bank's #2 spot is in danger of being yielded to Absa.

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