What does value investing have in common with Forrest Gump? August 26, 2020 Gump is rewarded for his determination and resilience in the face of vicious storms in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump”. We believe returns could be bountiful for the genuinely long-term and patient value investor too. When I look at a chart like this, I think one of two things. Either it’s different this time for [...]
Competition watchdog to probe Carlsberg-Marston’s tie-up August 19, 2020 The competition watchdog today said it has opened a probe into a proposed £780m tie-up between beer giants Carlsberg and Marston’s. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was considering whether the deal would create a relevant merger situation and damage competition. In May the two companies announced plans to combine their brewing businesses [...]
ESG defies naysayers as ‘sustainable’ investments become mainstream August 18, 2020 Crises tend to accelerate trends. The upheavals of 2020 – from the global pandemic to the movement for racial justice and the ongoing threat of climate change – have undoubtedly helped propel environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing into the mainstream. ESG-related topics have never been so central to the investment conversation. Retail funds incorporating [...]
Ranked: Monzo and Starling top list of best UK banks August 17, 2020 Digital fintechs Monzo and Starling are better than traditional banks at providing the best service to personal banking customers, according to a recent survey. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) conducted a survey of around 1,000 customers of each of the 19 largest personal current account providers in Britain to rank the best and worst [...]
Dignity shares rocket after funeral cost controls dropped because of pandemic August 13, 2020 Shares in funeral company Dignity surged nearly 40 per cent today after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would not introduce price controls because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dignity shares jumped 38 per cent to 540p. The company said it was considering the CMA’s report in detail. An investigation into the sector, focusing [...]
More than 3m older people can’t downsize due to lack of suitable housing August 13, 2020 More than 3m people in the UK over the age of 65 want to downsize to a smaller home but can’t due to a lack of suitable housing and a competitive market. Ahead of the Autumn Budget, a report by Homes for Later Living called for ministers to set a goal of building 30,000 retirement [...]
CMA gives Amazon’s Deliveroo investment the all-clear August 4, 2020 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially cleared Amazon’s 16 per cent stake in food delivery startup Deliveroo, after a lengthy investigation process. The watchdog awarded the deal initial clearance in April on the basis that Deliveroo could go out of business without the Amazon investment, but later changed its methodology to just focus [...]
Zuckerberg defends Facebook: ‘Companies aren’t bad just because they’re big’ July 29, 2020 Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is set to tell Congress that “companies aren’t bad just because they are big,” as the world’s biggest social media company today faces a historic investigation into its size and power. Zuckerberg is expected to tell the US Congress that Facebook became successful “the American way, by starting out with nothing [...]
Video: Is Big Tech under threat? July 28, 2020 In this short video Sean Markowicz explains why the market dominance of big tech firms might prove to be a threat to their own future performance. While many businesses are struggling under the global lockdown, the largest technology companies are thriving. Firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook have all seen increased demand [...]
Why the UK should rethink its restrictive rules on dual-class shares July 27, 2020 The ability to have a dual-class voting structure can be an important consideration for high-growth, innovative companies (especially those in the technology sector) when deciding on an IPO venue. These structures are not possible for a premium listing in London, whereas they are available on other major stock exchanges, meaning that the UK risks missing [...]