Hargreaves Lansdown founder slams Neil Woodford for not being ‘truthful’ about frozen fund September 22, 2019 One of the founders of Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has slammed beleaguered asset manager Neil Woodford for apparently not being “truthful” about the performance of his flagship fund in the run up to its suspension. Peter Hargreaves, who founded the financial services firm alongside Stephen Lansdown in 1981, also criticised HL for not having realised that [...]
Why M&S’ relegation from the FTSE 100 doesn’t mean the death of the High Street September 20, 2019 | City Talk Marks and Spencer (M&S) is set to be relegated from the FTSE 100 after the close of business today. This will be the first time that the company has lost its blue chip status. The UK retailer was a founder member of the FTSE 100 and a stalwart of the UK High Street. But its [...]
Some ‘fossil fuel free’ funds have stakes in coal companies, research finds September 19, 2019 Some listed funds marketed as climate-conscious in fact have exposure to fossil fuels, including two explicitly described as “fossil fuel free”, new analysis has found. Think tank Influencemap analysed data from 118 funds marketed with “an explicit climate theme”, with a collective $18bn (£14.4bn) in assets, and found that some had exposure to fossil fuels [...]
Can we avoid an energy crunch? September 18, 2019 | City Talk The energy transition has to happen. Climate change can no longer be ignored and the political will is finally there to confront the substantial challenges. The first stage of this process is the switch from energy produced by coal and gas to energy produced by renewables, such as wind, solar and geothermal. As part of [...]
‘Gen Xers care more about sustainability than millennials’ September 17, 2019 | City Talk People from Generation X – defined as those between 38 and 50 years of age – appear more motivated to invest sustainably than millennials. New research found 61 per cent of “Generation Xers” always consider sustainability factors when selecting an investment product, compared with 59 per cent of millennials, who are 18 to 37 years [...]
Asset Management Exchange announces new $1bn credit fund September 17, 2019 The Asset Management Exchange (AMX) investment platform has announced a new $1bn fund designed to deliver predictable cash flows with lower transaction costs. The Long Term Credit Fund will be run by AXA Investment Managers using a ‘buy and maintain’ credit strategy to build “a well-diversified, benchmark-agnostic, long-dated credit portfolio”, AMX said. Read more: Gresham [...]
Gresham House reports jump in assets under management September 16, 2019 Gresham House has reported an 8.1 per cent increase in assets under management (AUM) for the first half of 2019, which the asset manager said was driven by an increase in organic growth, pushing its income up over 200 per cent. The specialist alternative asset management firm had £2.5bn AUM at the end of June, [...]
Profit slips at City of London Investment Group September 16, 2019 The City of London Investment Group has reported a drop in pre-tax profit, as the group’s efforts to diversify its business against a “volatile market backdrop” hit earnings. The Group reported a profit before tax of £11.4m for the year ending 30 June, a drop of almost 11 per cent compared to the previous year’s [...]
How to invest in Veganism September 16, 2019 | City Talk We have a look at how companies are responding to the rise in veganism and explain how investors and traders can capitalise as people around the world begin to reduce their meat intake and consume more plant-based alternatives. Many food products are naturally friendly to vegans, like vegetables, which means the vegan market is already [...]
M&A activity targeting UK slumps amid no-deal Brexit fears September 12, 2019 Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity targeting the UK has fallen almost 40 per cent on the same period last year, with investors slowing down decision making amid ongoing political turmoil. Corporate M&A also tumbled to £15.1bn in the second quarter of 2019, its lowest value since the EU referendum according to data from Mergermarket. Read [...]