Simon’s weekly wrap: Widening the focus

I had a great chat with Nosibusiso Ngqondoyi from Old Mutual Multi-Managers about the local hedge fund industry. It is surprisingly small, at just under R90 billion of assets under management, but importantly the industry has a great track record. Net of fees the out performance against traditional fund managers is some 2% a year using the long/short strategy, and something investors should consider for a portion of an overall portfolio (read the transcript).

Redge Nkosi, executive director at Firstsource Money, is concerned by central banks’ singular focus on interest rates as their only mandate to control inflation. He says a dual mandate that includes unemployment is very much possible and should be considered in order to get the economy growing (read the transcript).

Over the last year inventories have been expanding, in large part a response to supply chain constraints. Keith McLachlan of Integral Asset Management as a warning about these increased levels, especially as under pressure consumers are spending less. In many cases that extra stock is going to have to be discounted in order to be sold and this will hurt margins into the new year (read the transcript).

Black Friday has finally arrived, albeit the specials started at least a week ago and, in some cases, even earlier. I spoke with Isana Cordier at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking about trends we’re seeing. One noticeable trend has been discounting of consumer staples rather than the traditional big-ticket items, as consumers feel the pressure of rising interest rates and inflation (read the transcript).

Also this week:

Vusi Mahlangu of Tamela Capital Partners on providing gap capital for student accommodation (read the transcript).