The JSE was one of the best-performing global stock exchanges in calendar 2005 and most shares did well. For the 12 months under consideration in Top Companies - April 1 2005 to March 31 2006 - the record was even better. Net foreign inflows for the first three months weren't far short of the 2005 total.

The Alsi rose by a whopping 51,5%. That was a tough benchmark and only 40% of last year's top 20 exceeded it: Grindrod, Aspen, Murray & Roberts, Reunert, PPC, Woolworths, Truworths and Absa.

But Grindrod fell out of the top 20 rankings on a technicality, even though its fundamental earnings and return on equity (RoE) are outstanding. In calculating five-year earnings/share and return on equity, the starting point was 1999. In that year, Grindrod made a loss. If the starting point for any growth figure is negative, the resultant growth figures are set to zero. This has happened before in our rankings, but never in quite such dramatic fashion as with Grindrod. Next year this technical factor will be out of the system from Grindrod's point of view.

Aspen is still up there, as is MTN - they just switched places.

But M&R, whose share price almost doubled last year, fell foul of a base effect in its earnings/share growth - it fell from 119% to 32%. That affected its ranking this year.

Kagiso Media's earnings growth was fairly pedestrian and its RoE was zero on a five-year view. Combined with its sub-par share-price growth, the result was that it didn't make the top 40.

Woolies' RoE over a five-year period more than doubled from 11,3% to 26,6%.

PPC's earnings growth and RoE were consistently high, with an 83% rise in its share price the main factor.

Edcon's five-year earnings growth and RoE declined slightly last year, though they're both still impressive.

Its five-year IRR more than compensated, however, as it rocketed from 34,9% to 82,8%.