magazine archive


magazine archive

Editor's View

Currys batting off bid interest is something to be welcomed

Thursday 14 Mar 2024

This column signed off last week by bemoaning telecoms testing specialist Spirent Communication’s (SPT ) surrender to a £1 billion from US rival Viavi. As we observed, the 61% premium was not anywhere near as generous as it looked when you consider the takeout price of 172.5p was 100p less than the...

When cutting the dividend can be the right thing to do

Thursday 07 Mar 2024

There was interesting market reaction to the recent decision (5 March) by builders merchant Travis Perkins (TPK) to slash its dividend by a whopping 58%. At first the stock was down a little but it quickly rebounded and actually began trading higher as the day progressed. Now it’s important to add...

Why it matters that Nvidia is one of a small number of stocks which dominate the market

Thursday 29 Feb 2024

At 10pm UK time last Wednesday (21 February) traders around the world would have been watching their monitors waiting for the latest quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) to drop. A lot was riding on them as even a mildly disappointing showing from the AI chip star could well have triggered a...

Reviving the big buyback debate

Thursday 22 Feb 2024

Buybacks are heavily in fashion with UK companies right now. The latest names to declare sizeable share buybacks include Barclays (BARC) and InterContinental Hotels (IHG), which between them plan to repurchase more than £1.5 billion worth of stock this year. Notably, Shell (SHEL), which cut its...

Proposed listing rule changes are rightly drawing fire from overseas investors

Thursday 15 Feb 2024

Just before Christmas we wrote about the FTSE 100’s 40th birthday which was coming up at the start of 2024. It felt too much of an open goal not to talk in terms of a mid-life crisis and life beginning at 40. The fear we expressed then and one which has been reinforced now is the London market,...

How the WPP tortoise beat the S4 Capital hare

Thursday 08 Feb 2024

When Martin Sorrell completed his acrimonious exit in 2018 from the business he had built up over decades he had a point to prove. His S4 Capital (SFOR) vehicle was supposed to leave his former charge in the shade by adopting a similar buy-and-build model to that employed at WPP (WPP). The latter...

Is inflation already below target in the US?

Thursday 01 Feb 2024

Ever since the inflation genie was let out of the bottle in 2021, the market has been obsessed with how quickly it can be brought back under control and back within central bank targets. On at least one measure, US inflation may already be within the 2% limit targeted by the Federal Reserve. The...

Why there could be a little too much optimism around right now

Thursday 25 Jan 2024

Canadian American economist John Kenneth Galbraith once observed that ‘the only function of economic forecasting was to make astrology look respectable’. His words came to mind when great credence was given to the EY ITEM Club lifting growth forecasts for the UK recently. There is hardly an...

Bitcoin excitement builds again but it is not a credible store of value

Thursday 18 Jan 2024

Bitcoin is having another moment in the sun on the back of the decision by the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to greenlight exchange-traded funds which track the cryptocurrency. There is no doubting the significance of this move. It will make it easier and potentially cheaper for...

Middle East drama is obscuring oil market realities

Thursday 11 Jan 2024

The recent action in oil prices could be painting a false picture. Several key markers look negative for demand yet, for now, tensions in the Middle East and the perceived threat to supplies from the region are preventing a big sell-off in crude. When the war in Gaza first started there were...

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