It?s been a busy month in small-cap land with good news, bad news and downright weird news for investors to digest.First the good news, as the persistent undervaluation of UK companies ? and small caps in particular ? draws increasing numbers of corporate buyers.Financial services software provider Gresham Technologies (GHT) agreed a 163p per share cash offer from funds managed or advised by STG P

Weak first-half sales priced inProfit seen ?significantly? higher New finance director appointedShares in ASOS (ASC) rallied 10% to 366.2p in early dealings after the online fast-fashion retailer maintained its full-year 2024 guidance and flagged progress in shifting its mountain of excess stock as chief executive Jose Calamonte?s turnaround plan gains traction.Nevertheless, the retailer?s transit

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Abby Glennie and Amanda Yeaman, managers of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth TrustThe long-awaited turnaround in smaller companies is unlikely to happen just because shares are lowly-valuedHowever, an improving economic and interest rate backdrop could spark renewed interest in the sectorM&A activity is also providing support for the smaller companies sectorInvest

London?s FTSE 100, the outperformer on Friday as investors fretted over a possible escalation in the Middle East, was the laggard on Monday in the wake of Iran?s strikes on Israel over the weekend, as the blue-chip index?s oil majors tracked crude prices lower.Large-cap benchmarks in Frankfurt and Paris, which fell on Friday, were on the up on Monday. Stocks in New York tumbled at the end of last

This year, Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) shares have fallen nearly 9%. If that doesn?t sound like a big deal, consider that for the world?s second most valuable company it means the loss of something like $230 billion. That?s the equivalent of an entire PepsiCo (PEP:NASDAQ), or Shell (SHEL) ? the UK?s current largest company ? plus a British American Tobacco (BATS) thrown in.On a one-year view, the stock ha

The cruise industry is enjoying an unprecedented boom with around 35.7 million passengers expected to book a trip this year, up from 31.5 million in 2023 and 6% more than the number of passengers who set sail in 2019 according to the CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association).Going on a cruise holiday is slowly become a more popular alternative then jumping on a plane or a high-speed train to E

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.As developed markets see higher interest rates feeding through into the real economy, activity is likely to slow. But there are stronger prospects for investment growth in many emerging markets,

The prospect of a new British ISA has put the spotlight on the UK market. Some investors will not feel comfortable picking individual shares and an alternative is to look at actively managed funds and investment trusts. Here are some tips on putting together a UK-focused portfolio. WHICH FUNDS AND TRUSTS WILL QUALIFY FOR INCLUSION IN THE BRITISH ISA? The rules for which investments can qualify for

The shrinking UK stock market is a worry for fund managers and has wider implications for the UK as a listing venue as well as the UK?s economic growth, say analysts at Peel Hunt.This article explores the so-called de-equitisation of the UK stock market, or plainly put the substitution of debt for equity via share buybacks and cash acquisitions.More than 45 companies exited the UK market in 2023 d

Mercadolibre (MELI:NASDAQ) $1,528.95Market cap: $77.5 billionReaders that have come across MercadoLibre (MELI:NASDAQ) before will likely be familiar with the badge some pin on it ? the ?Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ) of Latin America?. And just like its US peer, the Uruguay-based business has spent the past couple of decades emerging as one of the region?s ecommerce leaders.It may have started out as a mark

Shares slump to all-time lowTakeover offer from founder Dunkerton unlikelyDiscounted rights issue on the cardsShares in beleaguered fashion chain Superdry (SDRY) slumped more than 50% to an all-time low of 14p today as investors finally got the chance to price in the barrage of bad news released after the market close on Thursday 28 March.Takeover hopes were dashed as the troubled jackets-to-hoodi

In a world of thousands of stocks, certain people just want to focus on ones that are doing well. If these stocks are part of a group with a snappy acronym or label, they must surely matter, right? That is the widespread view among the investment community.Investors love a narrative and what better way to hook people in than with a label that says, ?look at me?. The Magnificent Seven is the latest

In the middle of a bull market in stocks, gilts are back on the menu for investors. They might not offer the eye-popping returns experienced by Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) shareholders, but nonetheless individual gilts were some of the most popular investments made over the last year on the AJ Bell platform, both by financial advisers and DIY investors.Clearly rising interest rates have precipitated gilt

H1 revenue down 18%Free cash flow improvedCEO sees a ?faster and more agile? ASOSSales at struggling online fast fashion retailer ASOS (ASC) remain in freefall, having plunged by 18% in the first half to 3 March 2024 amid intense competition and the ongoing squeeze on fashionistas? purchasing power and as ASOS focused on reducing stock levels to boost profitability.So why did shares in the fallen

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Rhys DaviesFund Manager, InvescoMy job as manager of Invesco Bond Income Plus Ltd (BIPS) is to supply income to enable the investment trust?s board to pay dividends to shareholders.The income comes from a portfolio of bonds. If we think of the portfolio as the income engine, then higher coupons¹ and higher yields over the past two years have allowed us to refue

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Stephen AnnessHead of Global Equities, Invesco The Magnificent Seven ? the group of supercharged stocks named after the classic Western movie ? that delivered such outstanding returns in 2023 generated so much attention you would think it impossible to have beaten the index without owning them all. The fact that some of us did should be hugely reassuring to investor

Shareholder vote imminentMerger the preferred outcomeWind-down problematicThe board of industrial property investment trust Abrdn Property Income (API) has reiterated its support for an all-share merger with rival Custodian Property Income REIT (CREI) as opposed to a managed wind-down.Shareholders in Custodian have already voted through the merger with 98% in favour. CALL TO ACTIONAPI share

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE Blockchain technology is a global theme, potentially poised to benefit as governments and industries seek to improve the accuracy, transparency, and security of financial transactions. Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are closely linked, but the theme is much bigger than just digital assets.What is Blockchain Technology and How do Blockchains Work?A blockchain is

At a huge indoor concert venue in Silicon Valley on 18 March Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) founder and chief executive Jensen Huang took the stage to a score composed entirely by AI (artificial intelligence) to introduce his company?s latest creation. Assembled at the developer conference were researchers and experts from just about every field which uses Nvidia?s chips to process large data sets, from cli

This column is being written just before the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on 20 March and the working premise is that chair Jay Powell and his colleagues at the US Federal Reserve will leave the headline interest rate unchanged at 5.50%. If that does not turn out to the case then readers can immediately turn over the page, not least to spare the writer?s blushes.That caveat as