Meet the fund managers: Biotech investing under the microscope September 23, 2024 In this weekly series, investment reporter Elliot Gulliver-Needham sits down with a fund manager for a Q&A. This week, we’re hearing from Ailsa Craig, co-portfolio manager of International Biotechnology Trust. How does your fund stand out from others in the same market? While many companies in the biotechnology sector are proven, cash-generating businesses, those at [...]
Post-Brexit regulation caused ‘three lost years’ of infrastructure investing September 19, 2024 The outdated post-Brexit regulation around investment trust cost disclosure set the UK back by three years on infrastructure, asset manager Abrdn has revealed. Cost disclosure rules, which required investment trusts to ‘double dip’ their fee reporting, have finally been lifted by the government and the Financial Conduct Authority today, leaving the trust industry overjoyed. “What’s [...]
Investment trusts celebrate move to reform cost disclosure rules September 19, 2024 The UK has finally exempted investment trusts from complying with cost disclosure requirements that industry experts say could unlock billions in investment. In a statement today, the government and Financial Conduct Authority said regulators would temporarily withdraw the requirements, which campaigners have argued force trusts to ‘double count’ their fees. While this is also the [...]
Why launch an AIM VCT now? First in 17 years debuts September 19, 2024 The first venture capital trust focused on the AIM market in 17 years has been launched by Puma, despite fears over the strength of London’s junior market. AIM stocks have not performed well in recent years, with its index falling 40 per cent over the last three years, compared to a 21 rise in the [...]
What’s causing the decline in UK investment fund launches? September 19, 2024 The number of actively managed funds launched in the UK is dropping, fast. While the number of passive funds, which track indexes, has been fairly consistent recently, the number of active ones has almost halved in the last five years, from 146 in 2018 to just 79 last year. What’s worse, only 32 have been [...]
London’s AIM is dying. Here’s how to fix it. September 18, 2024 London's AIM is in a rough spot, but there are a raft of changes that could be made to save the junior market.
Scrapping inheritance tax break on AIM stocks risks ‘irrecoverable damage’, City warns September 18, 2024 London's AIM is under threat of "irrecoverable damage" if Labour scraps the inheritance tax relief on the junior market's stocks, City analysts have warned.
CFA: Chartered financial analyst chief steps down after nearly two decades September 17, 2024 The chief executive of the organisation representing chartered financial analysts, CFA UK, is set to step down from his role after nearly two decades in the position. Will Goodhart, who took over CFA’s leadership in 2006, said today that he will be stepping down in early 2025, and the group’s board has begun searching for [...]
Four investment trusts closed last week. How many more will go? September 16, 2024 Last week, four separate investment trusts handed in their notice, announcing they would be shuttering. Aquila European Renewables, Ecofin US Renewables, Gulf Investment Fund and Keystone Positive Change, all said they would be liquidating, as the number of trusts on the London Stock Exchange continued to dwindle. The number of investment trusts has fallen to [...]
Barclays: Scrap stamp duty to drive UK capital markets boom September 16, 2024 Barclays has backed a review of stamp duty on share purchases in a bid to “revive” the UK’s flagging stock market. In a report on Monday, the bank argued that a variety of changes were needed to make London “internationally attractive”, as well as encouraging unlisted companies to float on the UK’s main market. The [...]
