Blue Label, red flags?

Good Morning Voornaam,

Happy Friday! Kick it off the right way with a new episode of Ghost Wrap. I covered Spur, Adcock Ingram, Bidvest, Bidcorp, NEPI Rockcastle, DRDGOLD, Harmony Gold, BHP and Sasol. Brought to you by Mazars, you'll find it here>>>

Speaking of Sasol, the company is always topical and the full results are worth a read. Sasol has placed them in Ghost Mail for your convenience at this link>>>

Give yourself a double header of Magic Markets today if you didn't get enough time to listen to last week's show. You can get the latest news on Caterpillar and Home Depot in this show, or Disney and Yum! Brands in the latest show here>>>

There will be two new Ghost Stories podcasts next week with highly experienced finance experts. Make sure you're up to date with these educational shows by listening to Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix and his discussion with me on bond ETFs vs. equity ETFs. This show was packed with insights>>>

One of those podcasts will be on structured products and it will really stretch your mind in terms of understanding how they work. I think you'll love it. Get yourself ready for that show by reading the introductory article on the latest structured product from Investec, available here>>>

And finally, with the Barloworld recording due to be released early next week, get the next Unlock the Stock event in your diary and prepare to learn. Learning is what it's all about, with education group Curro joining the platform next week Thursday at midday. Attendance is free thanks to A2X and retail and institutional investors are all invited to attend. You just need to register here>>>

Confusion drives apathy

Blue Label Telecoms is a frustration for those who have tried to understand the numbers. The share price has been one-way traffic this year and I'm convinced that market apathy is the problem. The numbers are so ridiculously complicated that even my old 4th year lecturers at Wits would think twice before inflicting a case study like that upon the students.

Not only are they asking you to believe that the zillionth iteration of Cell C will finally wor k, but they want you to believe it by working through an almost endless number of financial adjustments. The cherry on top for me is that they report two different core HEPS numbers without making a clear distinction between the two unless you read really carefully. For those who look for red flags in financial reporting, this is the kind of stuff that sets the alarm bells ringing.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the company isn't legit or that there is anything sinister going on. I'm merely pointing out that if you're hoping for the Blue Label Telecoms share price to reward you, it's probably only going to happen if they can start reporting much simpler numbers. At the very least, they need to start reporting in a way that doesn't get the international IFRS committees buzzing while making everyone else nauseous.

In addition to this update, we saw numbers come in from African Rainbow Minerals, Momentum Metropolita n, South32 and Workforce Holdings. There was a comment in Workforce about the current recruitment environment that I found particularly interesting.

As ever, this is all available to you in Ghost Bites here>>>

All eyes on Powell today

TreasuryONE notes that the markets are eagerly awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium today. Against this backdrop, US jobless claims came out lower than expected, supporting the previous data showing a resilient labour market . After a strong run, the rand lost 1% against the dollar yesterday and traded just below R18.70.

Notably, BRICS+ appears to be a thing, with six countries handed invitations to join this bloc of nations. Oil-rich countries Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are on the list. Ethiopia, Egypt and Argentina were also on the list.

With oil, great beef (and a soccer GOAT), ancient tourism and the best long-distance runners in the world, BRICS is looking more like a powerhouse by the day! Just kidding. Still, you can't deny that this is an interesting development.

With that, I wish you a great weekend!

PS: your eyes didn't deceive you today - the DealMakers team is on leave and will be back next week.

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