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Thomas Edison wanted to own American film. Instead, through essentially operating a cartel, he drove it 5,000 kilometres west and gave the world Hollywood. Dominique Olivier tells the wild story that few people know about the inventor of the light bulb.

The Finance Ghost welcomes Altron CEO Werner Kapp fresh off a standout capital markets day that left a strong impression: this is a business whose growth story isn’t tightly tethered to South Africa’s traditional economic constraints. From FinTech and HealthTech to telematics and IT security, Altron operates a portfolio of platform businesses that quietly underpin everyday life, even if most consumers don’t realise it!  In this conversation, Werner unpacks how these platforms drive resilient, annuity-style revenues, while also leaning into powerful structural tailwinds like digitisation, mobile adoption and the evolution of the payments ecosystem.

Alexforbes posts single-digit growth. Master Drilling has declared a dividend based on recent trading conditions. MC Mining is raising debt from two shareholders. Novus has a small earnings decline. Trematon found a buyer for Generation Education.

MTN sets out Ambition 30 at its Capital Markets Day. SPAR is fighting for dear life, with the latest numbers showing just how tough it is. Fortress Real Estate is ticking over nicely. Afrimat is disposing of some quarries and concrete plants.

With the August / September earnings season behind us, it's helpful to look at share price moves over the past 30 days on the JSE to see how sentiment has shifted. The PGMs have driven the Top40 higher, while insurance has taken a breather.

At the halfway mark in 2025, we've lived through some huge geopolitical shifts. The world's gaze has shifted beyond just the US market. Many investors choose to stick with what they know in times like these. This means homegrown favourites on the JSE. But which stocks have been the big winners thus far this year, and what do they have in common?