magazine archive


magazine archive

Mr Market

Why you should pay attention to the opening of China’s bond market

Thursday 02 May 2019

From this month, for the first time in history, one of the most followed global bond indices – the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index – will contain Chinese government and high quality renminbi bonds. Investors might shrug their shoulders and say ‘so what?’ But we believe this news is very...

Back in black: why banks are investable once more

Thursday 24 May 2018

Ten years ago, many of the world’s banks were essentially bust. The global financial crisis was in full swing, and banks were facing their comeuppance for employing huge amounts of leverage to boost returns. This practice worked for a while but such precarious methods never end well. The crisis...

Where to find Britain’s most promising growth companies

Thursday 29 Mar 2018

Here’s a fact you may not have heard before. Of the 5.6m companies in the UK, 22,470 – less than 1% – create 22% of economic growth. That’s one of the findings from the Octopus High Growth Small Business Report published this week. Here’s another: this same group of companies creates one-in-five...

Are the rules for UK listed company takeovers about to get tougher?

Thursday 05 Oct 2017

The Takeover Panel has, in a paper issued on 19 September, made proposals requiring buyers of publicly listed UK companies to report back on certain matters one year after completing their acquisition. The Panel wants to see if acquirers have kept their word about plans announced at the time of an...

When investments lead to boardroom battles

Thursday 21 Sep 2017

Can a company use its powers as a shareholder to appoint directors to the board of a rival business and potentially influence how it is run? We’ve just seen Ecotricity try to appoint two non-executive directors to the board of rival energy supplier Good Energy ( GOOD:AIM ) . Retailer Sports Direct...

How to spot the best opportunities with unlisted companies

Thursday 13 Jul 2017

Unlisted companies are the driving force behind the UK economy and are currently achieving unprecedented levels of survival and success. The opportunity for investors with a sharp eye to achieve tax-efficient, risk related returns that aren’t subject to the short-term sentiment driving the main...

How shareholders remove company directors

Thursday 08 Jun 2017

Shareholder activism continues to be a strategy pursued by investors seeking to realise value by influencing or changing company behaviour. Hedge fund Elliott Advisors in May commenced legal action in the Dutch courts to force chemicals group Akzo Nobel to convene a general meeting of shareholders...

Why cash shells have turned their back on AIM

Thursday 01 Jun 2017

You may have noticed that small investment companies are increasingly shunning the AIM market in favour of having a standard listing on London’s Main Market. Historically cash shells and SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) would have always joined AIM which supposedly has looser...

Are UK banks set to join the equity party?

Thursday 13 Apr 2017

UK banking stocks have been out of favour with investors for much of the past decade and the recent period is no exception. Last year brought a fresh wave of challenges for the sector which sold off sharply in the aftermath of Brexit on concerns that the UK economy would experience a severe...

Caveat emptor for market traders

Thursday 17 Nov 2016

We are in a moment in time where the macro view is important when crafting trading strategies. Britain is a prime example. The UK stock market took a while to regain its poise after the Brexit vote but it eventually started to move back up. The currency market, which sold sterling hard on the...