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 [...]
Pensions watchdog gives go-ahead to superfund deals June 18, 2020 The UK’s pension watchdog has given the green light to the launch of superfunds, leading to billions of pounds of retirement funds to be pooled together. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has set out an interim framework for supervising the pension consolidation vehicles called superfunds. Sky News first reported the development yesterday afternoon, before TPR confirmed. [...]
Commission-free stock trading marks a new era for retail traders September 16, 2020 Modern technology has made retail trading accessible to all – literally at the tip of our fingertips – but it wasn’t always this easy. It’s fair to say that the technology underpinning online retail trading has come a long way since the days of pagers and dial-up modems (look it up, kids…). As we enter [...]
PwC back with a vengeance at top of audit client rankings March 3, 2019 Accountancy giant PwC has become the leading auditor of listed UK clients for the first time since 2013, retaking its FTSE 100 client crown in the process. PwC, Britain’s biggest professional services firm by revenues, leapfrogged fourth-placed KPMG to take pole position. The smaller firm lost 12 clients between November last year and February, while [...]
The case for investing in financials January 7, 2021 Entire tomes have been devoted to investing in the financial services sector – hardly surprising when you consider its size, and therefore its significance to the world’s capital markets. To say the financial sector is large doesn’t do it justice. Of the total market capitalisation of the S&P 500, the world’s largest stock market index, [...]
Competition watchdog to investigate Non-Standard Finance’s £1.3bn Provident takeover bid February 26, 2019 The UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Non-Standard Finance’s (NSF) £1.3bn takeover bid for rival subprime lender Provident. A war of words between the lenders has escalated in recent days after NSF made a surprise offer for its larger rival on Friday. Read more: Provident defends annual results delay as takeover row escalates [...]
We don’t need to break up big tech to make a better internet – we just need more competition March 19, 2019 Last week saw the release of the government-commissioned Furman Review into digital competition. The commission, chaired by former Obama administration chief economic adviser Jason Furman, found that Google, Amazon, and Facebook don’t face enough competition. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the recent attention on tech giants’ business models by governments across the world. [...]
The UK’s competition policy must be fit for a world of tech giants and hidden cartels March 11, 2019 Competition is the oxygen of the capitalist system. From Adam Smith on, there have been warnings of the threats to economic health if competition is restricted by would-be monopolists or cartels. In the UK, the system is policed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It rarely hits the headlines except for occasional controversial cases like [...]
Aldi sales soar as Sainsbury’s slips behind rivals in supermarket shopping league March 5, 2019 Aldi and Lidl have boosted sales again, it emerged today, as the biggest supermarkets continued to shed market share to the discounters. Aldi’s sales grew by 10 per cent in the three months to the end of February compared to the same period the year before, according to figures released today by Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer insights [...]
CMA launches investigation into suspected financial services cartel November 16, 2018 The UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into a possible financial services cartel, it announced today. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its probe into the alleged anti-competitive activity was launched under Chapter One of the Competition Act 1998, which addresses price fixing and attempts to control markets. The statement gave little detail [...]