magazine archive
magazine archive
Feature
Smaller asset managers are looking attractive
Thursday 15 Jun 2017Several of the market’s smaller asset managers have been having a great year on the stock market, putting the spotlight on the companies that run funds rather than individual funds themselves. Investing in asset managers has definite risks, as investor sentiment can change quickly and the barrage...
Buying portfolio insurance
Thursday 08 Jun 2017A large institutional buyer recently spent $120m on portfolio insurance to protect his clients against a market crash. The money has been used to purchase out-of-the-money call options on the VIX with the investment representing about 8.5% of the open interest in these contracts. The VIX or Chicago...
Where in the world are the highest dividend yields?
Thursday 01 Jun 2017Fed up with the low dividends offered by the UK’s largest companies? Why not look further afield as some overseas markets offer dividend yields of above 5%, as we now reveal. Figures produced for Shares show there are several countries around the world offering far superior yields than the UK’s...
Funds to profit from frontier markets
Thursday 04 May 2017Experts say now could be a good time to look at frontier markets if you have an appetite for higher risk investments. The easiest way to get exposure is via investment trusts or funds. Higher risks can equate to higher returns, but there is also a greater chance of losing your money. Therefore...
Becoming an active shareholder
Thursday 27 Apr 2017Imagine yourself sipping a latte and chatting to the CEO of Taylor Wimpey ( TW. ) , Barclays ( BARC ) or HSBC ( HSBA ) . What would you say? Becoming a shareholder of a company gives ordinary people the opportunity to take large corporates to task on issues ranging from executive pay to the...
Our picks are beating the market
Thursday 20 Apr 2017Shares’ ‘Top Ten for 2017’ portfolio has made a positive start to 2017. Our average gain of 11.1% is comfortably ahead of the FTSE All-Share’s 6.2% haul. Our star turn is Ideagen ( IDEA:AIM ) , the compliance-based information management software supplier which has surged 40.1% higher to 90p. The...
More inspiration for your ISA
Thursday 30 Mar 2017With a new tax year just around the corner you might be wondering which investments to place in your ISA. The annual allowance is increasing to £20,000 on 6 April, giving you greater scope to put your hard-earned cash to work in a tax-efficient manner. In last week’s issue of Shares we gave some...
Private equity: James de Bunsen on its bad rap and broad opportunities
Thursday 30 Mar 2017Allocating that marginal pound of savings is unquestionably hard following an eight year rally in equities (let alone a 30-year bull market in bonds). It requires a firm view that the forces that have sustained that rally will remain in place for some time, or that new, beneficial, forces will...
How do train operators turn a profit?
Thursday 23 Mar 2017Every day millions of us struggle with the constant grind of commuting, facing delays ranging from signal problems to more anarchic excuses like swans running loose on the tracks. While experiencing these hold-ups, do you ever stop to think about how transport companies turn a profit? In this...
How to find the right shares if you want to reinvest dividends
Thursday 16 Mar 2017Would you like some help in spotting individual companies that could be interesting candidates for a dividend reinvestment strategy? This article discusses a way to find stocks that are highly cash generative and so have the potential to pay more and more dividends each year. We also run through...