magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
Pace picking up for acquisition-fuelled fundraisings
Thursday 08 Oct 2020Equity fundraisings are taking a different shape with the reasons behind asking shareholders for cash shifting more towards long-term strategic thinking, with the select few still seeking to shore up their balance sheet now coming across as desperate. In March to May, the principle reason for...
Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to Diageo
Thursday 01 Oct 2020Much focus is given by investors to companies which either have the fastest earnings growth, best performing shares, highest quality characteristics or cheapest valuation. In doing so, they often forget to look at the middle ground which can still contain decent businesses that might be growing at...
Why you shouldn’t give up on the UK despite miserable performance
Thursday 24 Sep 2020The recent and long-term performance of UK stocks is disappointing. Just look at how the FTSE 100 has performed against other global indices year-to-date and again since the Brexit vote. It suggests that ever since the result of the 2016 EU referendum, political risk has deterred investors from...
The price conundrum for stock market winners
Thursday 17 Sep 2020Every now and again you come across a stock which keeps churning out good news, fuelling a share price rally. Backing winners is an obvious strategy for investors; after all, surely there is merit in putting your money into a business that is going places rather than one that is stuck in the mud?...
Companies with value propositions could shine
Thursday 10 Sep 2020After a strong rebound in UK retail sales over the summer as lockdown measures were relaxed, one might conclude that value-led propositions are going to be the strongest part of the sector in the coming months. Retail sales volumes increased by 3.6% between June and July. This was driven in large...
IPOs are back as companies eye a window of opportunity
Thursday 03 Sep 2020A surge in companies coming to the stock market would suggest there is a considerable improvement in investor confidence since the brutal sell-off in equities earlier this year. It also helps that investors have been happy to back companies during the pandemic. It makes sense for other companies to...
FTSE primed to play catch-up after lagging US stocks
Thursday 27 Aug 2020Investors in UK stocks have been looking jealously (or frustratingly) at the performance of the US markets and wondering why the FTSE 100 has stubbornly refused to rebound as fast. Year to date, the S&P 500 is up nearly 5% and the Nasdaq is up 25% whereas the FTSE 100 is down nearly 19%, all on...
Hurray! Dividends are back on the menu again
Thursday 20 Aug 2020More than £2.2 billion of dividends will now be paid by London-listed companies which previously halted payments during the pandemic. The figure relates to dividends declared since the start of July and includes six companies in the FTSE 100. This sends a very strong message to the market that...
Could volatility return before the summer is out?
Thursday 13 Aug 2020It is always tricky for investors to work out what’s coming next in the markets but it feels unusually difficult at the moment. Several intertwined and competing factors are in play, including the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact, tensions between China and the developed world and the...
Limits on taking money out of property funds might be no bad thing
Thursday 06 Aug 2020Thanks to the introduction of technology, a competitive landscape for products and platforms and the general faster pace of 21st century life we have all got used to the idea of being to buy and sell our investments whenever we want. The idea of giving six months’ notice to exit an open-ended...