“Jy gaan jou vrek vergader” : You’ll kill yourself with meetings!

Warren Buffett
(Alex Wong)

Readers might be forgiven for thinking (and especially those waiting upon return phone calls) that the boss, Mick Goss, does little besides attend conferences. Tuesday he departed for the Echo Travel International Conference in Franschhoek in the Cape, (where he had the daunting task of having to occupy the shoes of his deeply-lamented pal, David Rattray, arguably the best orator and story-teller of all time.) Some 80 of the world’s top travel operators were there to hear the tales of Hartford House, Fugitives’ Drift and the marvellous Land of Legends, and then it was back on the plane for Zimbali, just north of Durban.

This spectacular coastal resort is the gathering ground on this weekend every year, of 75-odd of the Nation’s top businessmen, politicians and occasional government officials at the Moneyweb Ibandla, where the doors are closed (Chatham House rules, please) and some of the year’s most serious talking takes place. In an environment where the notion of “what goes on tour, stays on tour” is strictly adhered to, and in an atmosphere conducive to open discussion, the land’s most powerful and influential trade ideas on the country’s expectations.

While the conference only begins today, last evening luminaries of the ilk of Mark Lamberti (Makro, Massmart etc), Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, Laurie Dippenaar (Rand Merchant Bank and Momentum), Paul Harris (First Rand), Andrew Feinstein (the “arms deal” whistle-blower), Eskom chairman and ex-Minister for the Environment, Valli Moosa, and Telkom chair, Shirley Arnold, had already “trickled” in.

This is going to be one helluva show, and if you can believe it, the convenor, Moneyweb’s Alec Hogg, just returned from Davos and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway A.G.M., will be taking up residence at our own Hartford House on Sunday evening as his own Ibandla shuts down, for the opening of the annual Summerhill Group conference, taking place this time on home soil from Monday.

Alec Hogg’s address on Monday will obviously reflect on the state of the nation, but knowing him, it’ll be more about the big picture and the opportunities of this glorious land than anything else. And then we’ll get the chance to hear from our own home-grown talents who’ve elevated the Summerhill, Hartford and Vuma conference to one of our collective highlights of the year.

By Wednesday’s conclusion, Mick Goss will have been conferencing solidly at three different venues, several thousands of miles apart for 8 consecutive days. Let’s hope the heading to this column has no application – though there may be those that might wish it!

Remember, it was Lady Astor that once fortuitously told Winston Churchill “If you were my husband, I’d give you poison. “ To which he replied “Madame, if you were my wife, I’d take it!”

Keeneland Powers On

Keeneland September Yearling SaleThe Keeneland September Yearling Sale (the world’s biggest racehorse auction) continues to show remarkable strength after eight days, which is just past the midpoint of the 15 day sale. The best indicator of the overall health of any sale is undoubtedly the median (figure that half the horses in the sale exceeded in price) and this has risen a very respectable 11.1% to $100,000 after 1983 yearlings have been sold.

The gross and average are both down slightly but this difference can be entirely explained by the lack of a mere handful of yearlings priced between $3million and up on the opening two days. Even so the median for the first two days barely moved from last year indicating the depth and strength of the market. Gross is just over $340 million ($365plus last year, down 6.9%) while the average is $171,488, down 5% from $180,460 last year.

Please note the statistics below are for the FIRST SEVEN DAYS ONLY

Keeneland first seven days in $US
year	no sold	gr.	avg.	med.
2001	1610	234,127,500	145,421	62,000
2002	1710	188,801,100	110,410	60,000
2003	1690	247,770,500	146,610	75,000
2004	1712	285,729,700	166,898	90,000
2005	1775	339,659,000	191,357	95,000
2006	1729	349,955,500	202,403	100,000
2007	1697	324,091,200	190,979	120,000

Considering the recent jitters on Wall Street caused by the subprime crisis, Keeneland September cannot be viewed as anything other than a resounding success. Worldwide bloodstock markets do tend to strongly follow trends in the stock market, and the bigger than expected cut in rates just announced by the US Federal Reserve should help to shore up confidence on Wall Street.

Laurie DippenaarThe new confidence in financial markets following this move by the Fed in the USA, spilled over to the JSE yesterday (which was up by 3% plus,) and the Rand showed renewed strength to be selling at R7,14 to the Dollar this morning. First National Bank’s Chairman, Laurie Dippenaar (a Summerhill customer since the gate’s first opened) announced arguably the best set of results in the Bank’s recent history, the surest reflection of the rude health of the local economy.

Extract by Andrew Reichard Daily Stallion Bulletin 20th September 2007

Who Attends These Ibandla's?

No sooner were our notes on this weekend’s gathering of the Moneyweb “Ibandla” posted, than we were getting enquiries from the incurably curious as to who attends, and how you get to be invited.

Well, we don’t know the answer to the latter, but judging by those that were there, it seems you’d need to be the head of one of the nation’s biggest corporations at the very least, or a major domo in government (aside from our man in Khakis and veldskoens!) and to betray the names of those there would be to break the first rule of the Chatham House convention.

Alec Hogg (Photo Gregor Rohrig)With their permission though, we can mention just a few from the racing world: George Papadakis, head of the investigative team in the Fidentia disaster and a 3^rd generation racehorse owner; Paul Harris, CEO, among many other things, of FNB and who’s connection to Wolf Whistle, winner of Africa’s richest horserace made his attendance with wife Mitzi, affordable; Alec Hogg himself, who’s love of horses is greater than money, and rivals that of even his latest “honey”; Laurie Dippenaar, co-founder of Rand Merchant Bank, Momentum Life, Discovery and FNB (as we know it) and who, together with his mates G.T. Ferreira, Johann Rupert and Pat Goss, have been Summerhill “victims” since the day the gates first opened; and lastly, but by no stretch least, Jannie Mouton, Chairman of PSG and many others, who just got to spend the most expensive weekend of his life when he told Markus Jooste he wanted to own a July winner!!