Strauss & co - Review 2024

14 CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT 2024 15 CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT 2024 with a younger driven and energised team of leaders. Having rehearsed the main elements of Strauss & Co’s year in 2024, I will now discuss our year in greater detail. Context is everything to our numbers I have in past reports spoken about the social and economic headwinds that make trade challenging in South Africa. Those conditions persist. South Africa remains in the grip of stagflation. In 2024, real GDP growth is expected to come in around 1.1%. The interest rate remains stubbornly high; it only came down 50 basis points throughout the entire year. Fuel prices remain volatile. What happens in South Africa is important to the wellbeing of Strauss & Co: South African buyers account for four out of every five lots purchased at auction. This fact is encouraging, as it speaks to the depth of our collector pool, but it also ties our fate as a company to the vagaries of a single market that is experiencing prolonged stresses. Balance is key. Strauss & Co is an African auction house with significant scope to grow inter- nationally. I will return to this point later in this report. The trading year started briskly, with a number of strong results achieved in our February and March auctions. Market sentiment noticeably softened in the lead up to South Africa’s general elec- tion in May. The formation of a coalition government in the wake of the elections, coupled with unbroken electricity supply in the second half of the year, provided cause for optimism. The year has ended with a stock market rally following elections in the United States. Strong results in our November live auction sug- gest optimism for 2025 is not unreasonable. The art market, which brings in the lion’s share of Strauss & Co’s earnings, has reflected these volatilities. This year has gen- erally been a seesaw ride for dealers and auction houses across various markets. Strong sales at auction and fairs internationally in 2024 were consistently matched by news of gallery closures and bankruptcies. A 2024 report by the University of Glasgow found that the median income for visual artists in the United Kingdom had declined 40% since 2010. The findings may be indicative beyond the UK. Collectors drive markets, and as a grouping they remain bull- ish about the future. The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024 reported that high-net worth collectors were optimistic about the global art market’s performance into 2025. Spend is stabilising. It is important to be sanguine, though. It remains a buyer’s market, especially in South Africa, with deals to be had across various categories of collectables. Yes, we are seeing signs of sales returning to pre-Covid levels, but there is still relatively weak demand for a number of established artists, for example. For us as an auction house, the case for diversifying our offering of goods and services is clear. Growing earnings despite volatilities In 2024, Strauss & Co earned R387 977 087 from 6 745 sold at 65 auctions – or R376 071 360 for 6 465 lots sold excluding the 10 charity auctions we hosted. The volume of sales alone is note- worthy. In 2009, we presented four sales. In 2019, the number had grown to 16 sales. By 2021 it was 31. Strauss & Co’s digital journey, a transformational project initiated in 2013, played a key part in enabling this growth. In 2024, the bulk of items sold at Strauss & Co – 77.8% of lots sold – occurred through our 40 timed-online auctions. These auto- mated sales brought in a total of R83.8m from 5 258 lots sold. Keith Alexander  Rockship Sold R2 058 750 / $115 295 12 november , modern and contemporary art Log your Wishlists and Interests on our web platform 1. Register your Wishlist with us Create a unique Wishlist on our website. This function allows you to track artists, makers, designers, producers and item categories. You will receive email notifications linked to your Wishlist whenever relevant 2. Sign up for Art Club Art Club is a monthly social and educational initiative in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London. In 2025 we will launch further events at our new branches in the Garden Route, KwaZulu-Natal and the Winelands. Sign up and connect.