Economic Commentary

I trust this finds you exceptionally well now as we are firmly into the last quarter of the year.

I trust this finds you exceptionally well now as we are firmly into the last quarter of the year. I would not have believed it possible that we would be here already, some seventy shopping days from Christmas (which sounds like a long time but in this new time/ space/ reality continuum it is actually about two weeks away). I will also bet the farm that this time next year, in a state of bemusement, I will be commenting that after the shortest year in recorded history we are once again two months away from the Christmas shut-down. Please ensure that your year-end planning is in place for cash-flow commitments and ensuring that you are ready to pick up the baton in the New Year and continue. (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well now that Spring has sprung – somewhat belated and somewhat wetter over the last few weeks – but the jasmine, ranunculus and oak leaves (in their iridescent shade of green) have popped and the landscape is waking up to the Spring festival after its winter hibernation.

I trust this finds you exceptionally well now that Spring has sprung – somewhat belated and somewhat wetter over the last few weeks – but the jasmine, ranunculus and oak leaves (in their iridescent shade of green) have popped and the landscape is waking up to the Spring festival after its winter hibernation. (more…)

Please note that I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century

Please note that I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century (no typo – I hope to be dragged into the 21st century in another month or three’s time) and we are going to be changing our communication and invoicing methods over the balance of the year. Strangely enough, given the doom/ gloom/ cautionary/ admonitory position that we at QFS are advocating about world affairs, I have had a large number of requests for more communications (particularly from folk who are in Australia/ America/ UK etc). To that end, we are going to be splitting the invoicing function from the monthly newsletter function and over the next few months, invoices will be sent separately from the newsletter. Newsletters will be sent to all clients to use/ lose/ abuse and invoices will be sent on a more ad-hoc basis as opposed to the huge monthly process that it currently is. (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well. The halfway mark for the year has been passed. The winter solstice is but a memory, days are (slowly) becoming longer again and before we all know it we’ll be taking the rest of the year off.

There are a number of rather pithy extracts which I feel summarise current events and their impacts most succinctly. To that end, I shall defer to these authors whilst pointing out once again that that South African(s) collectively seem to be doing everything possible to shoot themselves in both feet whilst cutting their noses off to spite their faces and scoring (yet another) own goals. The (wildcat) strike action (again, sigh) refers, the sanitation protests (with the Youtube video – it beggars belief), the consumptive (as opposed to infrastructural) overspending by the government departments, the revenue under-collection due to the tough trading conditions (company tax collections down 45% on budget for April and May – Business Times 9 July 2013 – that is a big number), (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well as we approach the half-way mark through the year.

I trust this finds you exceptionally well as we approach the half-way mark through the year. The first snows have dusted the mountains in the Western Cape (if you were in Sutherland, it was more than a dusting and you enjoyed your longer than planned for stay) and we are swift approaching the solstice (after which the year turns and the days start getting longer). If anything, this month has flown by faster than last month which flew by faster than the prior month… (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well as winter approaches apace.

I trust this finds you exceptionally well as winter approaches apace. The months seem to be flying by faster and faster it is literally week, week-end x 4 and then “ching”, into a new month. Repeat cycle. Before we know it, spring will be springing and then it is Christmas. Whew. Somebody slow this bus down. (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well with the first quarter of the year behind us and the traditionally wet and cold Easter week-end well past. (I don’t know why we get excited about the Easter week-end, it is foul weather year in and year out and, religious connotations notwithstanding, it really signals the change of seasons). Having said that, before we get upset about Easter weather in South Africa, given that it is now April in the United Kingdom, they have a had a real treat. When I lived in London from 1996 to 2003, I recall three days in the entire seven years that snow settled on the ground in London.  Given that (at time of writing on 6 April) London has had snow for four days of the six in April (and for many more in February and March), I think we can be a little more grateful for our weather than we have been.

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I trust this finds you exceptionally well and that the start of this year is a corker, albeit with memories of Christmas and holidays now a distant utopia in the haze. We’re already two months down and time seems to be picking up speed ever faster. (more…)

I trust this finds you exceptionally well and that this year has started in an even better manner your wildest dreams could have hoped for. We’re already one month down and I trust that your memories of the golden Christmas break will endure till the next one. It is fiscal year-end this month, budget speech and tax year-end, the business of business will continue apace as we are out of the starting blocks and straining against the halters, eager to be underway. It promises to be an interesting year. Last year, at the time of Marikana disaster and the wage increases which (more…)

Goodness me – time to wrap up the tinsel and plough bravely on into the new year. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and some quality time off with your nearest and dearest. 2013 has dawned and it seems but three short weeks ago that we were welcoming 2012 in. Time, it is now official, is flying.

Further to the aforementioned, it is also that time of the year when people make predictions about the year ahead, in terms of exchange rates, interest rates, economic status etc and the only certainty that does exist is that at least half of those highly educated and speculative informed “guessers” are wrong. I will deal with these in my next missive, however, as inspiration for the year ahead, please find following what I found to be an inspiration, given the doom and gloom that seems to prevail the world over:  (more…)