Black-influenced companies are increasingly moving into the list of top performers on the JSE. That should be gratifying to those who have fought hard to promote the view that empowerment is a business imperative, and not an unwarranted intervention that compromises competitiveness.

Names like Kagiso Media, which is featured in the top 10 of 2006 Top Companies as measured by internal rate of return, and financial services group Brimstone and Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), which claimed positions 16 and 26 respectively - are becoming powerful forces. Their performance is testimony to the fact that black-managed companies can stand the vagaries of the market.

Kagiso Media, whose portfolio is dominated by broadcasting operations, is in good shape to ride the consumer spending boom. Ranked fourth in the 2006 Top Companies survey, Kagiso boasts five-year compounded growth of 18,1% in earnings per share, 29,5% pretax profit and 21,4% return on assets.

Kagiso's empowerment credentials are impeccable. The group is one of only 10 companies on the JSE considered by BEE consulting group Empowerdex to have more than 50% direct black shareholding.

The strength of Brimstone became clear when the group, as part of a broad consortium, clinched the R7,2bn Old Mutual BEE deal. The group has been rewarded handsomely by the market, with its share price appreciating from 160c in July 2005 to touch a high of 750c in April this year.

Referring to the advancement of Brimstone's market capitalisation towards the R1bn mark, group chairman Jakes Gerwel says in the latest annual report: "It is an accomplishment to be proud of and it . . . reduces our susceptibility to fickle trading sentiment and the mood swings of investors."

HCI is emerging as a serious entertainment and gambling player. Recorded at R24 in September last year, HCI shares have appreciated to reach a high of R45 in April this year.

Though not within the list of highly ranked top performers, Sekunjalo and The Don Group belong to the category of listed BEE companies which have stood the test of time. Sekunjalo was named the most empowered company on the JSE in the 2006 FM Top Empowerment Companies annual survey. The Don came second in the same survey.

Under the leadership of Iqbal Survè, Sekunjalo miraculously emerged from the debacle that was LeisureNet, which went under by about R200m. The market was unforgiving to Sekunjalo, sinking its share price from a high of 230c in 1999 to 10c in 2000. A rationalisation programme pulled the group out of the red and the share price recovered to above R1 recently.

At the Don Group, Thabiso Tlelai bought into a hotel company that looked destined for the doldrums and turned it around. For a while it seemed Tlelai would live to regret entering the Don: the share collapsed from 500c in 1996 to 2c in 2002. Again a rationalisation programme largely defined by cleaning up the balance sheet brought the group back into profitability. The Don's share price hit 30c in March this year. Those with good memories might not be able to help it, but others need to be reminded to look at the BEE excitement on the JSE with caution. Is BEE finally taking off, or are we reliving the experiences of the first empowerment wave which crashed with the market in 1998?