Private equity funds set to target Aim-listed firms May 4, 2020 Private equity funds are expected to target Aim-listed companies once lockdown has eased and dealmaking is resumed. The number of private equity-backed deals for Aim companies trebled in the past 12 months. PE funds bought and took 12 companies private in 2019/20, compared to just four deals in the previous year ended 31 March. Aim [...]
Investment firms deploying new tech are the most trusted among investors May 4, 2020 Investment firms that are deploying new technology are the most trusted by both institutional and retail investors, according to new research. Nearly two-thirds of institutional investors and nearly half of retail investors with an adviser trust their investment firm because of an increased use of technology. There is growing interest in the use of artificial [...]
Why does investing in UK SMEs matter? May 1, 2020 | City Talk The UK has seen an explosion of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the past 10 years, bringing with it a love for supporting brave entrepreneurs, innovative start-ups and high street boutiques. The UK currently boasts more than six million SMEs – businesses with fewer than 250 employees – which employ close to 16 million [...]
First-hand account: my observations on China’s return to work May 1, 2020 | City Talk Emerging markets analyst Shuyu Gao provides a personal account of virus containment measures on her return to China, and reviews the recovery in activity. Amid the global spread of Covid-19, with lockdowns necessitating working from home more broadly, I decided to return to China and work from my family home in Nanjing. At the time, [...]
St James’s Place trims dividend as first-quarter AUM falls April 30, 2020 St James’s Place has withheld a third of its planned dividend after assets under management fell amid the sustained market volatility. The wealth manager said it was “not immune to how the unprecedented level of uncertainty may impact the operating environment”. Read more: St James’s Place posts five per cent profit fall as inflows slow [...]
A new economic era beckons after this crisis April 29, 2020 | City Talk Current events likely mark a turning point in economic policy and the end of a 40-year spell of free market capitalism. Nobody can know how long the Covid-19 crisis will last, but I think that regardless of this it will mark a profound long-term change in economic policy. It is likely a turning point in [...]
Economies in free fall as hopes fade for a V-shaped recovery April 28, 2020 | City Talk Amongst the arguments about a lack of protective clothing for health workers and whether governments were too slow to react to the spread of Covid-19, the latest figures show that the pandemic is gradually coming under control. The rate of growth in new infections and fatalities around the world is slowing and the curves are [...]
Five ways to retain your wealth management clients in 2020 April 28, 2020 | City Talk The global wealth management industry is being buffeted by demographic changes among investors, as well as technological advancements such as the arrival of robo-advisers. Recent research commissioned by Bank of America on millennials’ spending priorities in the USA – with millennials defined as those aged 24 to 41 – found that about 25% of those who [...]
Investors believe coronavirus lockdown will return with a rocky road to recovery April 24, 2020 The majority of investors believe the coronavirus lockdown will return, implying a precarious road to economic recovery. A Peel Hunt survey of investors and corporate managers reveals uncertainty over timing and severity of the lockdown, but the strong view is that it will likely return. Last week the foreign secretary Dominic Raab extended the UK’s [...]
What’s happening to dividends and what next? 11 questions answered April 23, 2020 | City Talk Nick Kirrage, co-head of the Value team, and Sean Markowicz, part of the Research and Analytics team, chatted with us about the future of dividends and buybacks. With so many investors reliant on dividends to boost their income or support their retirement we wanted know what’s happening now, whether investors should be concerned and what [...]