Home / First Avenue In the media

First Avenue In the media

From time to time, First Avenue and Northstar prepare additional ad-hoc content or is in the media. Consistently, on a quarterly basis, we write a market report where we provide insights on our current investment thinking, particular stock theses and introductions to our team. We hope this content helps you appreciate how we seek to continually get closer to the truth.

2026/07/30 - Insights

Q2 2026 Portfolio Management Report

Q2 2026 | Portfolio Management Report The Q2 2026 Portfolio Management Report opens with a line worth sitting with: you pick stocks to make money, but you construct a portfolio to manage client emotions. It's a fitting frame for the quarter. Our SA equity composite outperformed the JSE Capped SWIX/ALSI by 1.05% for the quarter and 1.06% year to date, extending a track record that has held up over three, four and five years too. Some of the quarter's biggest contributors were names the market doubted when we first bought them. Tiger Brands is one example, a "fallen angel" that's now considered a safe bet by everyone else. We've also included a closer look at ABSA Group, where the market cheered Kenny Fihla's appointment as CEO without asking the harder question: what does it actually take to fix a bank's cost to income ratio, and how long does that kind of turnaround really take. The answer might surprise you. On the global side, our Quality Growth strategy staged a strong recovery against the MSCI World Index this quarter, while the Global Top 100 fund continues its run as one of the top ranked global equity offerings in the country. Full detail, charts and holdings are all in the attached report. We'd encourage you to give it a read.
2026/07/20 - Moneyweb

OUTsurance, Shoprite, and the art of flying high in global markets

In expounding on Akamatsu’s ‘flying geese’ theory, First Avenue Investment Management’s Hlelo Giyose highlights domestic champions who solidify their home base and then take their businesses overseas.
2026/04/30 - Insights

Q1 2026 Portfolio Management Report

Q1 2026 | Portfolio Management Report The insight fund allocators are missing This quarter's report addresses a blind spot that pervades the industry. Precious metals continued to dominate investment outcomes in Q1 2026, as they did throughout 2025, and active portfolio returns cycled sharply around the benchmark depending on sector positioning. Against that backdrop, our portfolios delivered consistency rather than the feast-or-famine outcomes prevalent in the market. But rather than simply tabulating returns and their causes, we use this report to examine something more consequential: the asymmetry between errors of commission and errors of omission. Most fund allocators and portfolio managers underestimate, by orders of magnitude, how severely the latter damages long-term investment outcomes. In this report, we cover three dimensions of omission that define portfolio outcomes over the long term: Compounding as an error of omission. Why value-style investors consistently underperform by avoiding quality compounding businesses, and what the mechanics of See's Candy reveal about the pay-off of finding needles in a haystack. Timing the market as an error of omission. Why being out of the market on its best days is far more destructive than sitting through its worst, and why the best days to invest consistently occur during bear markets. Lack of diversification as an error of omission. How diversification across idiosyncratic, macroeconomic, and sector factors protects against the structural deficiencies of the JSE, and why overreliance on any one factor imposes insurmountable opportunity costs. We also provide updates on our two global equity strategies. The Quality Growth Fund, with its high-conviction, high-tracking-error approach, continues to demonstrate resilience relative to other global equity offerings in the local market, and we outline why we believe relative underperformance has bottomed out. The Global Top 100 Quality Companies Fund, our low-tracking-error core proposition, has outperformed the MSCI ACWI by a cumulative 25% since inception. Finally, we revisit two live case studies in the dynamic interplay between Quality and Valuation: The Trade Desk and Asics. One illustrates how growth can slow while Quality remains intact; the other demonstrates how correctly calibrated Quality can render a high purchase multiple cheap in hindsight.
2026/03/02 - The Money Show

Investor strategies for market choke points

Stephen Grootes speaks to Hlelo Giyose, Chief Investment Officer and Principle at First Avenue Investment Management and Ntsika Ntsokolo, Equity Analyst at Sasfin Wealth, about how investors can navigate emerging market choke points and maintain resilient, well-balanced portfolios.
2026/02/16 - Moneyweb

Why risk management is critical to producing competitive returns through the cycle

Hlelo Giyose on how to manage investments in a world of choke points and shocks.
2026/01/26 - Insights

Q4 2025 Portfolio Management Report

This quarter’s report reflects a defining period for the portfolio. 2025 presented a market “choke point” marked by narrow leadership, elevated uncertainty and pronounced style headwinds. Our quality-biased approach, supported by a rigorous risk management framework, allowed the portfolio to navigate this environment with resilience and competitive long-term outcomes. In this report, we cover our performance and portfolio construction, including how we manage compounding businesses, marginal opportunities and global systematic risk to protect capital while sustaining long-term wealth creation. We also revisit Clicks Group as a case study in enduring quality, illustrating how businesses with strong moats compound value over time. Finally, we provide an update on our global equity strategies (the high-conviction Quality Growth Fund and the core Global Top 100 Quality Companies Fund) and outline how each is positioned as market breadth begins to broaden beyond a narrow set of winners.
2025/10/28 - Insights

Q3 2025 Portfolio Management Report

This quarter's report delves into the philosophy that "avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance," a principle that has guided our strategy and contributed to the portfolio's continued outperformance. Inside, you will find a detailed analysis of: • Our Performance & Strategy: How our focus on excellent stock selection and risk management has navigated a market dominated by a narrow set of winners, particularly in precious metals. • A Case Study in Quality: An in-depth look at Clicks Group, illustrating how a business that consistently compounds value by building strategic "moats" can deliver exceptional long-term returns. We believe this case study powerfully demonstrates the type of high-quality companies we seek for your portfolio. • Global Equity Update: A review of our two distinct global strategies—the aggressive Quality-Growth Fund and the core Global Top 100 Quality Companies Fund—and how they are positioned for the current economic environment.
2025/08/14 - Our Thinking

Why Clicks is an unsung superstar: First Avenue’s Hlelo Giyose

As for his most deeply held investment beliefs, honed over a 40-year period, Giyose says that human beings in general “are naturally horrible” at matching time with temperament “and what it takes to produce good outcomes”.
2025/07/21 - The Money Show

Investment School – Trump, Apple and SA trade: a common thread?

Tune in to this insightful episode of The Money Show with Stephen Grootes—it connects some truly compelling dots: - Trump’s negotiating tactics and their ripple effects on global trade. - Apple’s geopolitical risks, especially regarding its China strategies. - South Africa’s trade posture, set against the backdrop of G20 conversations hosted here in Durban.
2025/07/15 - Insights

Q2 2025 Portfolio Management Report

What do Donald Trump’s negotiating tactics, Apple’s geopolitical risks, and South Africa’s trade posture have in common? A lot more than you think. In our Q2 2025 Portfolio Management Report, we unpack how Trump’s “Lollapalooza Effect” challenges conventional policy logic, how Apple’s entanglement with China has far-reaching investment implications, and why South Africa’s internal trade barriers may be costing it more than tariffs ever could. We also detail how our portfolios have weathered geopolitical shocks, delivered consistent alpha, and remained true to our investment DNA. From risk attribution to regulatory insight, this is not just another quarterly update — it’s a sweeping, thought-provoking lens on politics, policy, and portfolio construction.
2025/06/27 - The Money Show

The Money Show: Investment School – Investing’s new reality: Beyond active vs passive

At First Avenue, we believe successful investing demands more than choosing between “active” or “passive.” In this featured conversation on The Money Show, our very own Hlelo Giyose joins Francois Smith of Stonehage Fleming to explore what lies beyond this outdated binary. Hosted by Stephen Grootes, this dynamic discussion looks at how markets have changed—and how investor expectations and strategies must evolve accordingly. From the limitations of index investing to the resurgence of thoughtful, conviction-led asset allocation, the conversation dives into what it takes to navigate today’s complex landscape.
2025/05/14 - The Money Show

The Money Show: The rise of global mega trends – where the smart money is going | Investment School.

The rise of global mega trends - where the smart money is going | Investment School.
2025/05/14 - Power Talk

Power Talk: US and China agree to cut tariffs

US-China Trade: 90-Day Reprieve – What’s Really Going On? The US has announced a 90-day extension of certain tariff exclusions on Chinese goods — a temporary easing in an ongoing trade struggle that goes far deeper than tariffs. Hlelo discusses that while this may offer short-term relief for businesses and markets, the real issue isn’t just trade volumes — it’s how China trades. What’s at the core? Many Chinese industries benefit from state subsidies, allowing them to produce goods at artificially low costs. This state-funded industrial policy puts global competitors at a disadvantage. The US has increasingly pushed back, arguing that these practices: - Distort global markets - Undermine fair competition - Threaten domestic industries and jobs Make no mistake — this isn’t a resolution. It’s a pause in a long-term strategic and ideological competition between two very different economic systems. Listen to Hlelo (Lo) Giyose from First Avenue Investment Management discuss this on PowerTalk with Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi
2025/04/07 - Power Talk

The Money Show – Trump tariffs target South Africa

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is in conversation with Chief Investment officer at Avenue Investments management about tariffs.
2025/01/27 - The Money Show

The Money Show

Beyond Shares: Navigating Alternative Asset Classes for Diversified Investment Portfolios
2024/11/05 - CityWire

First Avenue and Northstar expect to merge within 18 months

Hlelo Giyose and Adrian Clayton believe the cooperation between the firms has been highly successful. ‘In the next 18 months or so, we should collapse our shareholding structure into one,’ First Avenue chief investment officer Hlelo Giyose told Citywire SA. The firms began cooperating on research in 2022 and formally merged their investment teams at the start of 2023.
2024/11/05 - The Money Show

The Money Show

Investment School - Navigating South Africa's Market Volatility: Strategies for Long-Term Growth
2024/11/05 - The Money Show

The Money Show

Investment School - Core portfolio holdings on the JSE (what is a core portfolio holding? how to identify them? when to buy and when to sell).
2024/09/02 - Power Talk

Power Talk

The state of the automotive industry. Lo Giyose shares his views.
2024/09/02 - The Money Show

The Money Show

Absa’s Half-year earnings hit by weak economy. Lo Giyose discusses this in the latest episode of The Money Show.
2024/08/12 - CityWire

We went to the gates of hell for quality

Hlelo Giyose wonders how his business, First Avenue Investment Management, would have turned out if the recent changes to Regulation 28 had already occurred when the firm launched in 2010.
2024/08/12 - CityWire

Does quality work as a style in South Africa?

Asset managers who run specialist quality South African equity funds say these strategies have a place in investors’ portfolios despite current difficulties faced by the quality investment style and the limited local quality universe. First Avenue Investment Management chief investment officer (CIO) Hlelo Giyose told Citywire South Africa that quality equity offered the South African investor access to low-volatility stocks that had greater defensiveness and lower bankruptcy risk than other comparable investments. Giyose manages the First Avenue SCI Focused Quality Equity fund.

First Avenue In the media

Q2 2026 Portfolio Management Report

OUTsurance, Shoprite, and the art of flying high in global markets

Q1 2026 Portfolio Management Report

Investor strategies for market choke points

Why risk management is critical to producing competitive returns through the cycle

Q4 2025 Portfolio Management Report

Q3 2025 Portfolio Management Report

Why Clicks is an unsung superstar: First Avenue’s Hlelo Giyose

Investment School – Trump, Apple and SA trade: a common thread?

Q2 2025 Portfolio Management Report

The Money Show: Investment School – Investing’s new reality: Beyond active vs passive

The Money Show: The rise of global mega trends – where the smart money is going | Investment School.

Power Talk: US and China agree to cut tariffs

The Money Show – Trump tariffs target South Africa

The Money Show

First Avenue and Northstar expect to merge within 18 months

The Money Show

The Money Show

Power Talk

The Money Show

We went to the gates of hell for quality

Does quality work as a style in South Africa?

OTHER PAGES IN THIS SECTION