John Bennett: “A truer active, more idiosyncratic portfolio” May 17, 2019 | Sponsored John Bennett, Fund Manager of Henderson European Focus Trust, explains the thinking behind his new, more concentrated portfolio. John Bennett, Fund Manager of Henderson European Focus Trust, explains why the board has reduced the minimum number of holdings the Trust can invest in from 50 to 45; and why investors should not be spooked by [...]
Even ITV’s big dividend can’t win over investors May 17, 2019 | City Talk After falling again sharply on these first-quarter results, interactive investor's head of markets explains why ITV is finding life so hard. Strategically, the song remains the same at ITV (LSE:ITV) as it continues to respond to changing viewer habits, while also lessening its reliance on traditional advertising. Indeed, there are signs of progress on both [...]
It’s time to challenge Corbyn’s grotesque stereotype of business May 17, 2019 This week, business leader and rich list regular Julian Richer announced that he was handing over 60 per cent of shares in his company to the firm’s 522 employees. You’d be forgiven if you missed this news. Despite Richer Sounds’ 53 stores across the country and annual turnover of £157.5m, the founder is hardly a [...]
Why is the mortgage market strangely resistant to technological change? May 16, 2019 Technology is so pervasive that it is easy to forget just how fundamentally it has impacted our lives. In fact, it is hard to think of an area of life that hasn’t been made more accessible, faster or cheaper. Personal finance is no exception. Price comparison websites, mobile banking, and other innovations have all transformed the [...]
Barclays, Ruby Wax and mental health: How the banking giant is tackling stress in the City May 16, 2019 Square Mile careers are stereotypically fuelled by mantras such as "work-hard, play-hard", achieving "inbox zero", "surviving the rat race". All are excuses for raising your tolerance to stress. As a result the career pathways of the City are often littered with burned-out workers. Read more: Wellbeing should be top of the business agenda Unsurprising, stress [...]
Morrisons fails to convince despite Ocado deal May 16, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. It talks the talk, and a 6 per cent dividend yield is attractive, but can this £50 billion grocer walk the walk? Morrisons (LSE:MRW) offered more evidence of its "ever-improving shape" after a robust trading update and intriguing deal to re-write its online partnership with Ocado. While the supermarket's shares [...]
Face off: iProov’s facial verification system can keep your online identity safe and protect your bank account May 16, 2019 Cyber security can feel like an intractable problem. Every day there seem to be new stories about hacking, scams, and financial fraud that target our reliance on digital tools and use them against us. Just this week, we had news of a spyware attack on Whatsapp. And while cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, our [...]
Some companies are offering unlimited paid holiday, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be May 16, 2019 Unlimited paid holiday might sound too good to be true, but some British businesses are now using this perk as a way to attract employees. As a general rule, the more trust that is placed in someone, the better they behave, while a happy employee is a more productive employee – one who is far more [...]
Gender agenda: Time for the finance world to up its game May 16, 2019 Next month will be one year since the Treasury Committee published its report on Women in Finance. But has anything happened over this period to provide a ripple of hope for change? To set the scene, back in 2015 the government appointed Jayne-Anne Gadhia to lead a review on women in financial services. In response [...]
DEBATE: As Julian Richer hands over company shares, are staff-owned firms better for the economy? May 16, 2019 As Julian Richer hands over company shares, are staff-owned firms are better for the economy? Scott Corfe, chief economist at the Social Market Foundation, says YES. Companies with significant employee ownership schemes tend to have higher productivity – which is exactly what the UK needs right now. Poor productivity performance is a key reason why, [...]
