Anyone else feeling really despondent about the market? I certainly am getting there. A few weeks ago, when I was feeling relatively chipper, I attended the AGM of construction materials specialist Mazor. CEO Ronnie Mazor was disarmingly downbeat around prospects for the broader building and construction sector — even resorting to some colourful language to hammer home the point. Noting a penchant for buying back shares, I thought Mazor might be trying to talk down his share price. But watching several construction companies slide into business rescue, and others — including former heavyweight Aveng — looking as brittle as a stale rusk, I think (in retrospect) Mazor’s dire assessment was spot on. Even the share price of perennially profitable building supplies specialist Afrimat — with its track record of value-adding acquisitions — has come off markedly in the past few weeks. With "well-priced" opportunities to further consolidate the broader building supplies sector, you would thi...

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