magazine archive
magazine archive
Big News
Why is the dollar struggling?
Thursday 15 Mar 2018The dollar is performing in a strange manner as it is failing to conform to tradition and appreciate in value when the yields of US government debt are rising. The increased return on offer, particularly relative to that available from the debt of other governments, would usually attract foreign...
Big fall in London house prices
Thursday 15 Mar 2018Property prices in parts of London are down as much as 15% in the past 12 months and overall are down 2.6% according to data from estate agent Your Move. This represents the steepest rate of annual decline since August 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis. As such it could be bad news for real...
Aviva under fire for plan to cancel high-yielding shares
Thursday 15 Mar 2018Insurance firm Aviva ( AV. ) has attracted sharp criticism for a proposal to cancel preference shares worth £450m, news that also led to a big sell-off in preference shares from other issuers. Aviva is planning to cancel its three outstanding issues of shares at par value despite the fact their...
AJ Bell customers given priority access to company’s IPO share offer
Thursday 15 Mar 2018Investment platform AJ Bell is considering a stock market flotation either in late 2018 or early 2019. Retail investors will be allowed to take part in the IPO (initial public offering) offer as long as they are AJ Bell customers. This exclusivity is very different to how most retail share offers...
An increasing number of investment trust dividend heroes
Thursday 15 Mar 2018Twenty one investment trusts have now increased their dividends every year for the past 20 years or more, according to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). City of London Investment Trust ( CTY ) , Bankers Investment Trust ( BNKR ) and Alliance Trust ( ATST ) have increased their...
Just Eat’s big strategic change will weigh on earnings growth in 2018
Thursday 08 Mar 2018A £50m investment by food ordering expert Just Eat ( JE. ) will restrict earnings growth in 2018. The company says underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2018 will be between £165m and £185m, which is ‘materially below’ analyst expectation of £226m. That...
Miton to launch US small cap fund
Thursday 08 Mar 2018Asset manager Miton is poised to launch a new fund targeting smaller companies across the Atlantic. The new vehicle will be managed by Nick Ford and Hugh Grieves who look after the top performing Miton US Opportunities (GB00B6Z0P562) fund. The plan is to invest in 70 to 100 companies with market...
Beaufort Securities collapse affects 14,000 clients
Thursday 08 Mar 2018The collapse of stockbroker Beaufort Securities has resulted in a significant fall-out for UK small caps and affected 14,000 clients. Several smaller firms are left with a pressing need to secure new brokers in order to avoid their shares being suspended from trading on AIM. Accountancy firm PWC...
Tesco-Booker deal gets final sign-off
Thursday 08 Mar 2018The £4bn takeover of wholesaler Booker by supermarket Tesco ( TSCO ) is complete. The deal, first announced in May 2017, received court approval on 2 March having already received the backing of both sets of and been signed off by competition authorities. The new merged entity has a market value...
Ex-Melrose experts float new buy, fix and sell firm Stirling
Thursday 08 Mar 2018Former divisional managers of industrial buyout firm Melrose ( MRO ) are heading up a new cash shell which hopes to buy underperforming industrial firms worth up to £750m, fix them and sell them. Stirling Industries’ ( STRL:AIM ) business model is very similar to Melrose, although it is tiny in...