Your daily market overview delivered in bite-sized bullets:

• Sygnia has released interim results and they look to be a rock solid set of numbers. I was particularly impressed by net inflows in the retail business over the six months to March, a tough period in the market. I wrote in detail about the results at this link.

• Attacq has released a pre-close update in which the property fund has disclosed movements in debt, growth in trading densities, a slight improvement in vacancies and an update on properties under construction. I’ve written on the numbers in more detail at this link.

• Sirius Real Estate is a industrials-focused fund that achieved excellent share price gains during the pandemic. Things have cooled off substantially in 2022, something I warned about during 2021. THis is a great example of a momentum trading strategy and the importance of getting out of the way once the momentum turns against you. The underlying results are still good, with the fund announcing that its dividend for the year ended March 2022 is going to be 15.5% to 16.5% higher than the prior year. Importantly, this is mainly driven by an increase in funds from operations, so there is high “cash quality of earnings” – this is what investors want to see vs. fair value gains which are a paper return rather than an improvement to the bank account. Sirius is down around 28% this year.

• Omnia Holdings has released a trading statement for the year ended March 2022. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) is expected to be between 70% and 90% higher, coming in at between 639 cents and 714 cents. There’s noise in the numbers from hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and the disposal of Umongo Petroleum and Oro Agri over the past two financial reporting periods. Omnia has a strong balance sheet and has said that a “decision regarding dividends” will be communicated with results. Is another special dividend on the way?

• Sabvest Capital has been a great story for investors over the past year, proving that there is value to be found among JSE-listed investment holding companies. The company is also proof that even with a truly terrible website, excellent returns can be achieved. The share price is up almost 40% in the past year and the latest update is that the CFO has bought over R1 million worth of shares.

• Oando Plc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority for a rollout of electric mass transit buses, the necessary supporting infrastructure and related service centres. Lagos has 25 million residents and the city is clearly concerned about the impact on air quality of a growing population that needs to move around the city. Oanda is an energy company that is trying to transition away from fossil fuels. The stock has very little liquidity on the JSE.

• Nutritional Holdings is back at it with colourful and unusual SENS announcements. A former shareholder and director has taken steps to apply for a provisional liquidation of both the holding company and a subsidiary to recover a shareholder loan. The matter for the subsidiary has been postponed to July 2022 and the holding company judgment is pending. The new board is investigating the matter and notes that there may have been Companies Act breaches related to the loan. The soap opera continues and I’m glad that I am watching from a distance, as I never have and never will own shares in this company.

• Safari Investments RSA has responded to Heriot REIT’s firm intention announcement relating to a general offer to be made to Safari shareholders. At this stage, the independent board is not expressing a view on the offer of R5.60 per share. The immediate next step is for Heriot REIT to issue a circular with details of the offer. Safari then needs to issue a response circular, which will include the opinion of an independent expert on whether the offer is fair and reasonable.

• There’s been another loss-of-life incident at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine, near Carletonville. In the strongly-worded announcement, the company notes that there have been too many incidents at this mine and that safety messages to staff have been re-emphasised. Harmony will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident.

• Nictus Limited is one of the smallest companies on the JSE, with a market cap of under R37 million. This obscure listed company is a retailer of furniture and electrical appliances. In a trading statement, Nictus updated the market that for the year ended March 2022, HEPS is between 39% and 59% lower than the prior period.

• A director in WBHO has bought a small number of shares, with a transaction value of almost R55,000.