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Unfavourable exchange rates leave many Japan fund investors lagging Japanese stock rally
Thursday 22 Jun 2023Japanese stocks got their latest seal of approval from Warren Buffett as the legendary investor added to his holdings in Japan’s five largest trading houses. Akin to conglomerates, these ‘sōgō shōsha’ trade in a wide range of products and materials. Buffett has been rewarded for his faith in Japan’...
What El Niño means for commodity markets and how to play strong crop prices
Thursday 15 Jun 2023The El Niño weather effect promises to have an inflationary impact as it shakes a global food production apparatus still recovering from the shock associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than 12 months ago. The weather phenomenon could, depending on its severity, have a significant impact...
Gym Group faces macroeconomic headwinds and consumer behaviour shift
Thursday 15 Jun 2023Shares in low-cost no-contract gym operator Gym Group ( GYM:AIM ) remain close to March 2020 lows due to a slower than expected recovery in memberships post-Covid and high utility costs. Like-for-like sales and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remain below pre-...
UK banks’ profit margins under threat as pressure grows to boost rates on savings accounts
Thursday 15 Jun 2023The banking sector is under pressure to be more generous with interest rates on savings accounts, which is negative for their profit margins. In February, an influential parliamentary committee opened an inquiry into why the interest rates paid on easy-access savings accounts by the ‘big four’ UK...
Biotech companies in demand as pharmaceutical companies spend billions on takeovers
Thursday 15 Jun 2023With so much macroeconomic uncertainty, the recent mergers and acquisitions spree has lost momentum apart from one sector. Big pharmaceutical firms are awash with cash, yet patent cliffs (expiration of patent protection) present challenges which can be partially fixed by buying smaller biotech...
Worrying signs for discounter Dollar General as it cuts its forecasts
Thursday 08 Jun 2023US consumers have been pretty robustly spending this year despite higher interest rates, yet they don’t seem to be shopping at discounters, which seems odd. Dollar General (DG:NYSE) , whose core customer base is lower-income, cut its outlook on 1 June after admitting the economy was ‘more...
The utilities supplier enjoying significant share price gains
Thursday 08 Jun 2023Shares in gas, electricity and water supplier Yu Group ( YU.:AIM ) have soared off the back of its latest profit upgrade (31 May). The shares gained more than a third in the wake of the announcement to 676p, extending gains over the last six months to nearly 70%. The company, which endured a big...
Investors look for soft landing again after debt ceiling deal and jobs report
Thursday 08 Jun 2023Off the back of a breakthrough on the US debt ceiling, there was further evidence of a robust US labour market as May non-farm payrolls came in much stronger than expected. The economy added 339,000 jobs compared with a 195,000 forecast by economists (2 June). The prior two months figures were also...
A quarter of the FTSE 100 and 30% of the FTSE 250 offer dividend yields of 5% or more
Thursday 08 Jun 2023While the rates of interest available on cash savings accounts have increased significantly of late, research carried out by Shares shows a quarter of the FTSE 100 and 30% of the FTSE 250 offer dividend yields of more than 5%. You can get a 5% rate from cash on deposit but it typically involves...
WE Soda plans first big float in London of 2023 with retail investor offer
Thursday 08 Jun 2023The London stock market is set to be bolstered by its first new company listing of scale in some time if WE Soda gets its proposed IPO (initial public offering) away. Interestingly, the company plans to offer retail investors an opportunity to get in on the ground floor through the PrimaryBid...