magazine archive
magazine archive
Editor's View
It’s not just Metro Bank – nearly all challenger banks have been poor investments
Thursday 12 Oct 2023Financial services group Metro Bank ( MTRO ) has survived another crisis after agreeing a £925 million rescue package yet question marks remain about its future. Metro Bank was the highest profile of the challenger banks which emerged in the wake of the financial crisis promising to shake up high...
How investors might be disadvantaged as paper share certificates are phased out
Thursday 05 Oct 2023Many of us hold shares through a nominee account with an investment platform but a good portion of UK investors continue to have their shareholding directly recorded with the relevant company. As part of efforts to get rid of paper share certificates, plans are afoot which could effectively remove...
How a shift in the interest rate narrative is good for UK stocks
Thursday 28 Sep 2023UK fund managers say we have got a once in a generation opportunity to buy great companies cheaply. This is all very well, but when is the UK stock market going to deliver a decent performance? We need a catalyst to trigger more buyers to bid up the shares. One such catalyst is the Bank of England...
Is the end in sight for Hipgnosis Songs Fund after years of misery for investors?
Thursday 21 Sep 2023Investing in Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG) was meant to have been a no-brainer. Sadly, that has been far from the truth. The investment trust owns the rights to certain popular songs. It gets paid every time these songs are featured in a film, TV show or advert; played on the radio or in a public...
Want to turbocharge your returns over the long term? Here’s a handy tip
Thursday 14 Sep 2023There is a misconception that dividends only matter to people who rely on their investments to generate a steady income in cash. What is underappreciated is how dividends play a role in building wealth over a long time. They are as important to someone in their 30s or 40s looking to save in their...
Watch out for US consumer stocks as news flow is starting to deteriorate
Thursday 07 Sep 2023The apparent resilience of the US economy has led market commentators to believe the Federal Reserve has little reason to stop raising interest rates to combat inflation. This tide might be turning, judging by the news flow from US companies. Big name businesses are saying that life is getting...
Can this former FTSE 350 superstar stock regain its mojo?
Thursday 31 Aug 2023Running the data on the best performing FTSE 350 stocks in the 10 years to September 2021, Liontrust Asset Management ( LIO ) sits in second place with a 3,180% return. It becomes the sixth worst performing stock when you delve into the index’s performance for the past two years. Are we at another...
How AI could lead to a big transformation in the hotels industry and other sectors
Thursday 24 Aug 2023In all the market sound and fury around AI (artificial intelligence) in 2023 there seems to have been relatively little attention given to exactly what impact a rapid adoption of this technology might have. The focus has largely been on the investment going into an AI arms race between the big...
Watch out: Chinese real estate worries are stalking the market once again
Thursday 17 Aug 2023How worried should you be about Chinese property developer Country Garden suspending trading in some bonds and potentially defaulting on payments? To many investors the fortunes of a single real estate firm on the other side of the world might not seem that material. However, Country Garden’s woes...
Small caps are really unloved but there are three big reasons this antipathy is misplaced
Thursday 10 Aug 2023Everyone hates small and mid-cap stocks right now. Their performance has badly lagged those of their larger counterparts in recent months. Seen as more vulnerable to the vagaries of the economy and without the scale and financial strength to withstand higher borrowing costs, investors have been...