Eric Edelstein

I went with my dad to the JSE AltX investor forum this evening to get an update from the CEO’s of a number of the AltX company’s.

It was held at the Radisson Waterfront Hotel which is always a good sundowner spot if you’re not sure where to go.

The lineup was impressive.

Jason Drew, CEO, Dialogue Group - outsource call center specialist

Dave van Niekerk, CEO, Blue Financial Services - an African Financial Services company

Rick Jackson, CEO, Sanyati Holdings - a civil engineering  construction holding company

Ian Lourens, CEO, OneLogix - specialist logistics service provider

Marius van Tonder, CEO, African Dawn - property finance & financial education

Tony van Marken, Executive Chairman, DataPro - integrated telecommunications company

Paul Fouche, CEO, Imuniti - pharmaceutical products, complimentary natural medicines, food products and supplements

Each speaker, introduced by Noah Greenhill, who runs marketing and business development at the JSE, had 9 minutes to speak.

The only one who I had heard speak in the past was Dave van Niekerk from Blue Financial Services.  I had heard Dave speak when he was doing the Blue Roadshow prior to their IPO, and he impressed me enough that I invested in the IPO - Blue hasn’t disappointed - the Blue Financial Services share price which was offered at R1 per share, went as high as R4 per share, and is currently trading around the R3 level.

Unfortunately 9 minutes was only enough time for a snapshot of what the company’s did - and as most of these company’s have a number of divisions, most of the presentations involved a quick overview of each division.

Each presentation offered a positive view of the company, and were highly impressive, and after each CEO had finished speaking, my dad and I exchanged quick words why on earth we weren’t investing in that particular company - so 7 company’s later, we had 7 company’s we were tempted to invest in - especially when the one company showed how their share price had gone up exponentially in the last 2 years (2% per day since they had listed - that is an INSANE price movement), and they required a 4x increase in the next 2 years to move from the AltX to the main board.

Historically, most of these AltX company’s have done extremely well, but it has to be taken in the context of the overall market also performing phenomenally well.

I appreciate the earnings of many JSE company’s have increased considerably over the last few years, but I still feel that the market has gone up to fast. It’s always at these times that the exponential gains can be made, but I’ll always remember an old adage that “when everyone is buying, that is when the smart investor is selling“.

I came away from the presentation thinking that a number of the AltX company’s deserved a closer look as they were IMPRESSIVE (not only the speakers, but the future prospects of the company’s), but I’ve got that gut feeling telling me that something is just not quite right.

The property market has gone to the stratosphere, the stock market is ascending in leaps and bounds, and although I’m tempted with the fantastic prospects I heard earlier tonight, I might listen to my inner voice…appreciate what is happening with the mortgage market in the States at the moment…

And instead of buying what seems to be some amazing opportunities, EXIT the market.

(and just to emphasise, it is the overall economy i’m worried about - not the company’s I saw present tonight - although with reflection, they have amazing prospects, but most of them have gone up exponentially as well - DATAPRO is sitting on ONE POINT FIVE BILLION MARKET CAP!!)

It’s a really difficult decision as the opportunity cost of selling is watching your sold shares hitting new high’s day by day, while you earn a few percentage points a year on the cashout in a money market account.

It’s at times like these, that I appreciate how easy HINDSIGHT is (the market was so high, of course you should have sold OR the economy was in a growth phase so of course you should have bought)

PS: Dave, I came over to say howzit to you, but I left my pole vault at home, and that would have been the only way to get over the investors waiting to speak to you.