New Woodford Income Focus managers Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) have given a glimpse of what the revamped portfolio will look like, with only two of the top 10 holdings left over from the Woodford days. Renamed the ASI Income Focus, the new fund will reopen tomorrow under the management of ASI fund managers Charles Luke and Thomas Moore. Investors are able to place trades from midday ...

If you have ever wondered about what purpose stock market indices serve, how they work or just wanted to know how they relate to investing, we have the answers. Over the coming weeks we will cover all the main global indices, starting with the most recognised UK market benchmarks. We will discuss what moves them and how you can gain exposure to their performance. FTSE 100 INDEX You ...

There is a saying that a good start in January means the year as a whole is likely to see positive returns. Looking at the history of the FTSE 100 since its inception in 1984, seven of the index’s 10 best years came when it got off to a flyer in January and seven of its 10 worst showings came after a drop in the first month of the year. Investors could be forgiven for fearing the worst ...

Fallen star fund manager Neil Woodford’s one-time flagship fund Woodford Equity Income is now returning its depleted capital to investors. The first payment of cash to investors is expected to be on or around 30 January, representing about 70% of the fund’s current value. If you feel royally let down by Woodford and want a better fund generating income, help is at hand. Rather than ...

UK stocks were lower at the open in line with global markets on rising geopolitical concerns following a US air strike which killed a top Iranian general. The FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was down 0.4% to 7,575 while the FTSE 250 index of mid-cap stocks was down 0.3% at 22030. Almost every sector was in the red except the energy sector. Oil prices surged after the US attack with Brent ...

UK blue chip shares have tumbled this morning as investors end the year on a cautious note. It mirrors last night’s moves on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 closed 0.6% down and the Nasdaq Composite 0.7% down. Not helping London’s leading basket of stocks, which is exporter-heavy, is a strengthening of the pound against the dollar to $1.3132. At around 8.50am, the benchmark FTSE ...

More than a fifth (22) of FTSE 100 companies have either changed their chief executive this year or announced plans to do so next year. So what’s causing this turmoil at the top? ‘The FTSE 100 has not really gone anywhere for two years excluding dividends so individual CEOs have been under more pressure from investors,’ says Patrick Thomas, an investment director at Canaccord Genuity ...

The new boss of Edinburgh Investment Trust (EDIN) has given an insight into how the trust will differ when he takes over its management in the first quarter of next year. Majedie Asset Management chief investment officer James de Uphaugh told Shares that while he will retain some stocks, around three-quarters of the holdings are set to change. It comes after high-profile Invesco fund manager ...

As the environmental, social and governance (ESG) juggernaut has rolled on, forcing institutional investors to put more and more money into companies with the best socially-responsible credentials, old-fashioned ‘sin’ sectors such as alcohol, tobacco and gaming have fallen out of favour. Yet given their relative resilience when the global economy slows, which it is likely to do at some ...

Tobacco producer British American Tobacco (BATS) delivered a mixed second-half trading update, on the one hand forecasting group revenue towards the top end of guidance while on the other hand forecasting new product sales at the bottom end of its target range. The shares, which opened lower, clawed their way back to positive territory up 2% to £30.52 by mid-morning. In common with its ...

Miners led the market higher on Wednesday as investors eyed a US-China trade announcement ahead of the long Thanksgiving weekend. The FTSE 100 traded 0.13% higher at 7,412 while the more domestically focused FTSE 250 was 0.2% lower at 20,824 points. Tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BATS) released its second half pre-close trading update and guided for currency adjusted revenues growth in ...

UK share dealing gets off to a slow start on a typically quiet Friday morning session with investor attention elsewhere. At the start of share trading the benchmark FTSE 100 is down roughly 25 points at 7,382.04, led by miners Evraz (EVR) and Anglo American (AAL), both off by around 3% at 373.7p and £20.495 respectively. British American Tobacco (BATS) tops the FTSE 100 leader board on ...

Shares in Imperial Brands (IMB) drifted up 1% to £17.55 after the tobacco-maker reported a 3.9% rise in annual sales and warned analysts not to expect much in the way of growth this year. Chief executive Alison Cooper described the full year results as ‘below our expectations due to tough trading in Next Generation Products (NGP)’. Imperial’s primary next-generation offering is vaping ...

Are you ready to take on the £5,000 challenge? It’s an annoying admin task that most feel like isn’t worth the hassle of dealing with, but cutting the cost of your monthly bills can lead to a tidy pot saved – and an even bigger pot if you invest these savings prudently in the markets. The Government has been focusing on the so-called ‘loyalty penalty’ this year, whereby loyal ...

UK stocks erased their early gains to trade higher mid-morning with the FTSE 100 index up 0.3% to 7,233. Leading the market were defensive stocks including British American Tobacco (BATS) up 1.5%% to £27.07, Imperial Brands (IMB) up 1.1% to £18.70 and Centrica (CNA) up 1.3% to 74p. A positive third quarter trading update from copper producer Antofagasta (ANTO) sent its shares up 1% to ...

The defensive attractions of the tobacco sector, traditionally owned for its earnings resilience and rising dividends, appear to be wafting away amid increasing political and regulatory concerns over vaping. The promise of tighter rules on the vaping sector is bad news for the tobacco giants which have bet big on vaping and other smokeless alternatives replacing shrinking cigarette profit ...

You can use exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to access many different types of shares, grouped according to whatever criteria you like. For example, you can use screening tools to narrow down the ETF universe to those funds which only invest in quality stocks. But what are quality stocks and why would you want to hold them? Broadly, quality companies are those which use their capital to generate ...

Amid all the Brexit drama and the high profile bid action around London Stock Exchange (LSEG) it would be easy to miss some of the other significant recent announcements. Supermarket Morrisons (MRW) impressed the market, managing a near 5% gain above the 200p mark, as it unveiled a big bump in its first half dividend and announced an extension to its wholesale supply partnership with online ...

The UK’s largest listed cigarettes manufacturer British American Tobacco (BATS) saw its share price rally 1.5% to £30.87 after unveiling plans to simply the business and boost growth in its portfolio of new categories, such as vapour, tobacco heating products and oral tobacco. The streamlining programme will also see around 2,300 workers laid-off in a move that will cut more than a fifth of ...

Last year was a vintage one for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with deals totalling more than $4trn, the highest figure since 2007 and the onset of the global financial crisis. This year is shaping up to also be a historic period for takeovers and we believe UK-listed companies are prime targets for foreign companies. In 2018 mega deals worth $10bn or more grabbed the headlines. According ...