The decade's top shares

Johannesburg - It is possible to make money with shares – and big money.

But the shares that show phenomenal growth will surprise many investors.

Data from research group McGregor BFA show that the best-performing share over the past 10 years has been small stock African Media Entertainment [JSE:AME].

Had you invested R1 000 in AME on July 3 in 2000, it would today be worth R566 667.

The next best performer was Absolute Holdings [JSE:ABO], a mining investment company which over the 10 years would have ballooned a R1 000 investment to R500 000 today.

McGregor BFA’s data are calculated by taking a fictitious investment of R1 000 on July 3 in 2000.

Any income that the company concerned has distributed to shareholders – such as dividends, special dividends and the unbundling of interest in other companies – is taken to have been reinvested in the share. All broker fees are excluded.

Total yields have been calculated on closing prices on June 30 this year.

The data show that small- and medium-sized shares have done particularly well, compared with some of the veterans.

Big performers include Rainbow Chicken [JSE:RBW], Group Five [JSE:GBF], Netcare [JSE:NTC], Murray & Roberts Holdings [JSE:MUR], City Lodge Hotels [JSE:CLH] and Trencor [JSE:TRE], with yields ranging from R17 120 to R10 003.

Investors in the four big banking shares would have lost out, because the best-performing financial share over this period was that of Sasfin Holdings [JSE:SFN], a niche group that focuses on trade finance, with limited exposure to asset management and stockbroking.

An investment of R1 000 in Sasfin in 2000 would have grown to R7 420 today.

The best performer among the large banks was Absa Group [JSE:ASA] (R4 727), followed by Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] (R3 864) and FirstRand [JSE:FSR] (R2 580).

Nedbank Group [JSE:NED] would have been the share to avoid, because over the 10 years you would have received a smaller return than your original R1 000 – namely R843.

Sanlam [JSE:SLM] is clearly the performer among the life insurers, yielding R2 854.

Metropolitan Holdings [JSE:MET] would have delivered R1 815 and Liberty Holdings [JSE:LBH] and Old Mutual [JSE:OML] would have produced negative returns.

- Sake24.com

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