Is it really so easy to separate growth and value investment styles? Growth in particular is a challenging concept this year. Investors should think harder about what it means. Genuine cash generative growth is valuable, but rare. Investors need to know how to spot it and what they should pay for it. Often, analysts need […]
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Will the UK Election result unnerve investors?
June 9, 2017 
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– Falls of 2 to 3% likely in UK domestic sectors like property, media, retail and challenger banks – FTSE 100 sectors with international earnings – pharma, oils, mining, exporters – should gain on the weaker Pound – Domestically-oriented sectors such as housebuilding and building products can benefit in coming months – A barely workable […]
Continue reading Crisis 10 years on – what’s changed
June 5, 2017 0 Comments
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the opening rounds of the great financial crisis. Though years in the making, it was finally in June 2007, that two Bear Stearns hedge funds created to invest in sub-prime mortgages, collapsed. This triggered an attempt by many banks, such as RBS, to shore up their own capital […]
Continue reading What does disruption mean for investing?
June 1, 2017 0 Comments
Can a disciplined investment process deal with rapid change? Rigorous analysis of historic numbers seems at odds with disruption and a radically different future. Economic revolution seems to question the very concept of consistent growth. The process of investing may now need to adapt to involve informed guesswork on innovation and adoption of technology. Investors […]
Continue reading The Problems with MiFID
April 4, 2017 0 Comments
Years in planning and one year late, the European Union’s wide-ranging new MiFID II regulation is still going to catch-out much of the industry. Although European, it will impact global asset managers, and may herald change across the industry. No-one yet quite knows how it will work in practice. The aim – to fully and […]
Continue reading Investors must recognise disruption risks
April 3, 2017 0 Comments
Not all recent UK company results have made pleasant reading for shareholders. Some highly regarded retailers – such as Next and Kingfisher – have disappointed, and not just because of the recognised headwinds of Brexit and currency. Something bigger seems to be happening. Across the whole of Europe, the retail sector has lagged the main […]
Continue reading Change in the World Order
November 9, 2016 0 Comments
Trump is an immediate negative for markets around the world, as seen already in Asia. Immediate winners are gold, Treasuries and the Yen; but losers include the US Dollar, Mexican Peso, oil, climate change and equities. Since 1948, the Dow has typically fallen under a Republican. But if Trump’s presidency echoes Reagan’s leadership, markets may […]
Continue reading New bubbles from misguided monetary policy
September 22, 2016 1 Comment
Have any lessons been learned following the Great Financial Crisis? Around the world, it looks like new bubbles are growing. Certainly, the crisis showed that central banks and politicians can move decisively on the threat of economic collapse. But the sequel has been years of bad policy; propping up banks, bad loans and unsustainable growth. […]
Continue reading 8 years on, has Lehman cut global bank risks?
September 15, 2016 0 Comments
The Great Financial Crisis still casts a shadow in the industry, eight years on. The fear remains that it might not be the main event, but simply advance warning of something bigger. After two decades of accumulated bank leverage and a few years of irresponsible lending, the remedy has mainly been sticking plasters. Regulation has […]
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Behavioural Edge 
Fund liquidity – the key issues
How should investors view fund liquidity? After an unexpected high-profile fund gating, this risk is now front-of-mind for advisers and clients. More regulation lies ahead, but debate is needed. There is a danger that the wrong lessons will be drawn from recent events. Stockmarket liquidity ebbs and flows, with wider sentiment often exaggerating investor pressure […]
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