magazine archive
magazine archive
First-time Investor
Our ultimate guide to get you started with investing
Thursday 11 Mar 2021We have reached the conclusion of our series aimed at first-time investors. Here you will find links to all the articles which cover the process of picking stocks, funds and investment trusts as well as reading balance sheets, finding information to support your investment decisions and a lot more...
The bumper returns Gym Group could generate
Thursday 04 Mar 2021After more than 12 months and nearly 50 separate entries our education series aimed at giving new investors a comprehensive introduction to the markets is nearing its conclusion. We have gradually increased the complexity as we have moved through the series and this week we complete the analysis of...
Analysing Gym Group's investment credentials
Thursday 25 Feb 2021We are approaching the culmination of our long-running First Time Investor series. While we have used practical examples throughout to help illustrate our guide to investing and the markets, in these final parts we go a step further and apply everything we’ve discussed to the analysis of an...
More tricks and tips for analysing company financial statements
Thursday 18 Feb 2021The best way to test the theory around the analysis of company accounts is to put that theory into practice using a real-world example. In the second part of our in-depth examination of food producer Cranswick ( CWK ) we look at the strength of its finances and how effectively it turns revenue into...
Uncovering the secrets of company analysis
Thursday 11 Feb 2021As our First Time Investor series draws to a close we put into practice everything we have learned so far and apply the principles and techniques to a FTSE 250 company. We have selected a business at random for illustration purposes only. However, readers may be curious about how to go about...
Measuring financial risk and cash conversion cycles
Thursday 04 Feb 2021In the second part of our look at key aspects of a balance sheet we move beyond the basics to focus on some of the red flags pertaining to weakness in a company’s finances. Net debt to EBITDA To help provide some grounding, we take a closer look at the net debt to EBITDA ratio to explain what it is...
Understanding what really represents a ‘strong’ balance sheet
Thursday 28 Jan 2021Following on from our two-part look at the income statement we now focus on the balance sheet, again in two parts. Many companies state they have a ‘strong’ balance sheet, almost hoping that shareholders will take it as read and move on. In this article we will explore the factors that actually...
More secrets of the income statement revealed
Thursday 21 Jan 2021This week we continue the analysis of an income statement using retailer Next ( NXT ) to illustrate the key items. Last week we looked at items like revenue alongside gross and operating profit. Below the operating line we find the financial income and expense line and taxes. Next had £1.1 billion...
Secrets of the income statement revealed
Thursday 14 Jan 2021To really understand a company you need to go back to the fundamentals of its performance. This is the first in a series of articles on company financial statements where we delve into the numbers and highlight what is important and how to get the most out of the accounts. First, we look at the...
Getting you started: Ways to make money from investing
Wednesday 23 Dec 2020Our first-time investor series is nearing its conclusion. Having covered the basics of how to start investing through funds and then moving on to individual stocks, we will round off the series in 2021 with an in-depth look at how to analyse a company’s accounts. Below is a reminder to readers of...