BizNews Rational Radio

Rational Radio

Rational Radio is the weekly business news show hosted by BizNews editor Alec Hogg. It runs for around an hour and features leading commentators from the investment and financial world, including regular guest David Shapiro.
Weekly English South Africa Business News · Investing
421 Episodes
112 – 132

Chris Logan: Hulamin managers even worse than at former parent Tongaat.

I met Chris Logan more than a quarter century back when presided over South Africa's hottest unit trust management company in an era when these pooled investment funds were mushrooming.  Under his watchful eye, the funds managed by Logan's star team at BOE Asset Managers (like Jenny Ferrini, Anet Ahern…
18 Jul 2019 8 min

Peter Hain targets Bain & Co over premeditated capturing of SARS

South African-raised British peer Lord Peter Hain is applying pressure on the Westminster Government to stop doing business with global consultancy firm Bain & Co over its misbehaviour in South Africa. The commission of inquiry into the near collapse of SA Revenue Services concluded that there was a "premeditated offensive…
17 Jul 2019 7 min

David Shapiro: Mourning Clegg, JSE's fallen angels and finding value

South Africa's favourite market commentator David Shapiro broke away a little from his usual contribution to reminisce about an interview he conducted with the late musical icon Johnny Clegg who passed away yesterday. In this episode of Rational Radio, Shapiro also shares his thoughts about Impala and Aspen, two of…
17 Jul 2019 10 min

The full hour of Rational Radio: 17 July 2019

Here's the producer's cut of the Rational Radio show broadcast on 17 July 2019. Featured this week in order of appearance: David Shapiro reminisces about the late Johnny Clegg who died yesterday; addresses the reasons for Impala and Aspen's fall from grace; and offers some juicy investment options. Lord Peter…
17 Jul 2019 1 hr 02 min

Why Milestone's Oscar Phoku wants R80m in damages from the CCMA

Milestone Property CEO Oscar Phoku has been through the wringer over the past five years, courtesy of South Africa's Council For Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. But his struggle came to a successful conclusion on July 4 when Justice Maletsatsi Betty Mahalelo ruled in his favour, and ordered the CCMA to…
16 Jul 2019 7 min

Juan Lerena: Whistleblower who brought two colluding multinationals to heel

Seven years ago, when Juan Lerena encountered things he couldn't stomach at his employer, Malaysian multinational Sime Darby Hudson Knight, he decided to do something about it. After resigning, Lerena reported the company and Dutch multinational Unilever to the South African competition authorities - and every other regulatory body he…
16 Jul 2019 4 min

Nick Dreyer: Making SA's iconic Veldskoen into a global champion

There was no time in my recollection when my modest shoe collection did not include a pair of "vellies" - the iconic South African product that goes back to the days when people used animal hide to make their footwear. But it was only in January that I became acquainted…
16 Jul 2019 8 min

EOH's Van Coller on the record: "Clearly, today is not a great day."

EOH chief executive Steve van Coller has had a roller coaster ride since his appointment a year ago, hitting another trough this morning. At a hastily called media conference this morning, the CEO of the one time JSE darling, did his best to explain that Friday's resignations of two divisional…
16 Jul 2019 14 min

Zuma at Zondo: Odds shorten on another BRICs president behind bars

Whomever advised Zuma on how to handle himself when providing testimony to the Zondo Commission Inquiry in to State Capture needs their head read. The first rule when you’re on the record, is to stick to a script: keep it short and clear. Zuma’s testimony was the precise opposite. Another…
15 Jul 2019 12 min

Orbvest's story: SA Entrepreneurs turn offshore idea into a winning formula

In this sponsored interview, the chairman and CEO of Orbvest's sat down with Biznews's Alec Hogg to unpack how a quest to diversify their own investments evolved into a fund that is now over $200m and growing fast. Successful entrepreneurs in their own right, Hennie Bezuidenhout and Martin Freeman are…
15 Jul 2019 15 min

The Editor’s Desk: The strange truth about the SA housing market

It’s no secret that the SA housing market is not in great shape. House prices are down, sales are few and far between, and there are many lovely homes standing empty in good suburbs in Joburg and Cape Town. But the picture may not be quite as dire as it…
13 Jul 2019 16 min

Cyril's soldiers go marching in to tackle gang crime on Cape Flats

In most countries, calling the troops into suburbs will not be met with shouts of approval. But in Philippi and Hanover on the Cape Flats where gang violence has turned the lives of so many people into misery, the local residents and community policing forums have asked the SANDF to…
12 Jul 2019 11 min

Woollam on Tongaat latest: Auditors must be more Bloodhound, less Labrador

In a superbly researched Financial Mail cover story this week, editor Rob Rose leads one to the obvious conclusion that Tongaat CEO Peter Staude bet the proverbial farm on a sugar price rebound. That aligns with the view of former banker Dave Woollam, a CA, who unpacked deficiencies that accumulated…
11 Jul 2019 12 min

David Shapiro: Take Naspers offshore option and pay the tax now

On Rational Radio this week, SA's favourite market commentator shares his call on Naspers's Dutch listing and finds us another company on the Amsterdam Exchange that he has bought into. Shapiro also assesses Brian Joffe's proposed R500m investment into Edcon - reckoning that the veteran entrepreneur was done a huge…
11 Jul 2019 10 min
112 – 132