Your Guide to Investment in Africa

The African growth story is only just beginning. A land of fertile soil, rich resources, diverse cultures and innovation-seekers is taking its first steps onto the world stage. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the beating heart of African investment, offering the most liquid market on the continent and is your portal to own a part of the story.

Which part of the story should you own? There is no shortage of heroes and villains in any capital market. Join FarSight in discovering which leaders are building solutions for society and how your investment can grow alongside Africa.

Who are your Guides?

FarSight is a multi-award winning research team born, bred and based in Cape Town, South Africa. The team has been on the pulse of corporate developments in the African economy since 2016. Having extended our research to the local asset manager industry across 550+ presentations, we were awarded the FM Intellidex Best Analyst Award in our category 6 years running.

Our passion is deciphering corporate reporting to determine good leaders from bad. Which leaders are most aware of the risks facing their companies? And which are building resilient businesses with value propositions that support African society into the future and preserve the environment for future generations? Which leaders are dismissive or unaware of the myriad risks facing their companies and on a path to destroying value for investors, customers, employees and society?

The Heroes and Villains of African Investment

Using the JSE All Share Index as a benchmark comparator, we have graphed the performance of our Heroes and Villains - our top and bottom quintile performers respectively. It is clear from the performance since July 2017 that the Heroes significantly outperformed the All Share, while the Villains substantially underperformed the All Share. FarSight has called almost all the companies that failed as a result of poor leadership, with some of the most notable Villains including Steinhoff, Ascendis, Massmart, Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Tongaat, Sasol, Anheuzer-Busch and Tiger Brands.

And we called these before they destroyed value for investors and society at large.

Testimonial

“Thank you for your detailed work your team has delivered to us from the four step FarSight ESG Model. It is very different work to what we do in our analysis and enhances and complements our process. You have raised awareness for us and identified issues that are material to companies and their sectors that encompassed several dimensions (governance, ethics, environment, customers, labour, and society).  It has been enlightening that you rate the company’s response to these issues, calculate a score that is tracked over time and present us with an all-round view of pertinent ESG matters. Thank you for adding value to our clients’ funds’ performance.”

Mark Ansley, Portfolio Manager, Argon Asset Management