Which VCTS and EIS I would buy today February 26, 2020 Tax pressure in Britain is at a 50-year high. Higher earners are feeling the squeeze as many traditional avenues of investing tax-efficiently have been blocked – from pension restrictions to the cuts to buy-to-let tax relief. What tax-efficient options are left? Two increasingly popular options for experienced investors are Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and the [...]
The EIS-y hall of fame: Four companies that wouldn’t have existed without the Enterprise Investment Scheme February 26, 2020 While EIS and SEIS offer meaningful tax advantages to investors, it’s important to remember that their main function is to help kickstart new businesses and ventures. As the independent trade body for the EIS and SEIS industry, our core aim at the EIS Association is to help small and medium-sized enterprises obtain the funding that [...]
EIS investing: A leap into the unknown February 26, 2020 For the uninitiated, investing can often feel like an alphabet soup of different acronyms. But knowing what they all mean can open up a whole new world of options for how to put your money to work. As investors prepare for a number of government changes to how they can invest in startups, City A.M. [...]
The chancellor could use the Budget to help both startups and investors February 26, 2020 Ahead of any Budget, there is always great speculation on what may be announced. This year, the focus thus far has been on when a Budget would happen and who will deliver it. But with the new chancellor Rishi Sunak confirming that it will go ahead on 11 March, all attention has turned to the [...]
East African states strive for single capital market as Mauritius diversifies February 25, 2020 CFA Institute has examined Africa’s 10 largest capital markets in a major report compiled by Heidi Raubenheimer, CFA, our senior director for journal publications. Here we highlight key developments across East Africa and also take a look at island nation Mauritius. East Africa: Kenya leads way as tech platform links markets The East African Community (EAC) [...]
Barclays forgot about the humans in HR February 21, 2020 Barely a day goes by without a think tank, employers’ group or minister talking about the need to improve the productivity or British business, and while this generally conjures up images of factory floors it’s reassuring to know that investment banks are also searching for elusive gains. How else to explain the decision by Barclays [...]
Follow the yellow brick road: the investment case for gold February 19, 2020 Investing can often feel like a rollercoaster, with the value of stock investments rising and falling sharply based on breaking news and geopolitical events. Certainly, the last few months may have felt bumpy. From the build-up to the UK General Election in December, to the tit-for-tat missile volleys between the US and Iran, to the outbreak [...]
GBP/EUR Update – Cabinet Reshuffle February 14, 2020 Reports over the weekend of tensions rising between the UK and the EU over trade negotiations meant that the pound got off to a shaky start this week. Despite this, sterling did make some gains later in the day, reflecting investors’ optimism that a suitable deal will be reached, despite reports that the EU may [...]
Sajid Javid opts to go down with the ship February 14, 2020 Just under three months ago, Boris Johnson promised a room full of business leaders that Sajid Javid was guaranteed to remain in office as chancellor. He praised Javid and gave a “categorical” commitment to the CBI conference that he will remain in post. Yesterday, Javid was told that if he wanted to keep his job [...]
Does the January effect really exist? February 12, 2020 January 2020 was either a good month or a bad month for investing. While 10 of the 23 countries in the MSCI World index of global developed markets generated a positive return, more than half lost money. Returns varied between +6.1% (Portugal) and -5.0% (Austria). Past Performance is not a guide to future performance and [...]