16 Mar Leveling the Playing Field

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February 2026 Insights

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Leveling the Playing Field

As offshore investment specialists, we’re often asked how a South Africa-based team can compete with global managers. The answer is simple: the information gap that once separated regions has largely disappeared.Two decades ago, covering a company like Apple from South Africa meant relying on delayed third-party research, navigating different accounting standards, and dialing into late-night conference calls to hear Steve Jobs announce the latest iPod results. Miss the call, and you waited at least a day for the transcript.

Today, the landscape is entirely different. Earnings calls are streamed live, financial data is standardised across platforms, and investor presentations, expert transcripts, and industry insights are instantly available. You can watch Tim Cook on a 4K livestream, follow a live AI-generated transcript, or even use AI to scan his tone for subtle cues. With this level of access, the edge has shifted from obtaining information to interpreting it more effectively. More than ever, consistent discipline and a proven investment process are what drive performance.

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The scale of the global opportunity set highlights why process matters. As of January 2026, the JSE contained fewer than 300 companies, compared to over 50,000 listed globally. How do you even begin to analyse such a universe? At High Street, this is achieved through the HighWay System – a structured framework that evaluates the global investment universe consistently and comparatively, leveraging Bloomberg financial data and consensus analyst forecasts. The system systematically narrows the universe to a focused group of high-potential businesses for deeper research, which is where our analysts’ expertise comes into play through qualitative analysis.

For South African managers, advances in regulation, reporting, and technology have in many ways levelled the playing field with global peers. Today, success is driven not by geography, but by insight, discipline, and judgement – enabling us to offer competitive offshore and Rand-hedge solutions. While past performance is never a guarantee of future returns, the fact that all three of our funds have outperformed their benchmarks since inception illustrates the robustness of our investment process, its consistent application, and the adherence to fund mandates.

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Unless otherwise stated, all performance and statistical figures provided in this article have been pulled from Bloomberg by the High Street Asset Management Research Team on 25 February 2026 and all the images provided in this article have been sourced from FreePik and have been used in line with their Acceptable Use Policy. The contents of our newsletters are frequently sourced from or verified through our various product providers and other third parties. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the newsletter, it should not be construed as financial advice as defined in the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Links are provided to third-party websites for convenience only. High Street Asset Management (Pty) Ltd cannot accept responsibility and does not endorse any information contained on a third-party site. For our full disclaimer, please see: https://hsam.co.za/legal/.

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© High Street Asset Management (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved | FSP No. 45210 | Legal Disclaimers

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