Stocks By Mom

With all the drama of COVID lockdowns, China’s production backlogs, supply chain constraints, July civil unrest, a crippled Durban port, NUMSA strikes and loadshedding; Hudaco thrived! Hudaco’s 2021 gross profit margin was 37% (pre-Covid 2019 gross profit margin was 36%) yet the cost of shipping a container increased ten-fold the pre- Covid cost. Their suppliers increased prices of their products due to supply chain constraints, high commodity prices and product shortages. Hudaco’s whole supply chain faced inflationary pressure, which would have ultimately squeezed their margins if it was not for their astute management of their entire value chain to keep them “a step ahead” and  improve margins. Hudaco leveraged off their strengths and relationships which centered around their inventory management. One of their main strategies was to increase their stock levels, they did this by increasing their stock early in the year by one month of sales, this prevented stock outs and they had ...

In Greek mythology, Orion was a hunter; a very fitting name for the junior miner, Orion Minerals, as they explore South Africa and Australia in search of new mineral deposits.  Armed with new mining and drilling technology, Orion discovered one of the world’s top volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) base metal deposits, a copper belt in the arid Northern Cape, that has the potential to deliver 226kt of copper and 680kt of zinc from an old AngloVaal mine where gold was mined three decades ago. This is the Prieska Copper – Zinc project which consists of an underground and open pit mine.  The initial plan was to start mining the underground mine and only start mining the open pit mine in 13 years’ time.  Currently, copper prices are extremely strong, almost $10,000 per ton, due to this Orion decided to re-assess their initial plans and rather accelerate the feasibility study of the open pit mine and have an investment decision by mid-2022. If Orion decides to go ahead to star...