Investment group Shore Capital (SGR:AIM) is the best performing UK-listed broker over the last five years as its shares have soared more than ten-fold from 22p to 256p. This is a significantly better share price performance than rivals Numis (NUM:AIM) and Cenkos (CNKS:AIM). Over the same period, shares in Numis have more than doubled from 149p to 360.5p and Cenkos enjoyed a 39.1% rally to ...

The FTSE 100 is firmly in positive territory after gains in Asia and the US overnight and ahead of the US Federal Reserve's latest decision on interest rates tonight. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) slumps 1.5% to 180.9p as Santander pulls out of talks to buy 315 branches. RBS was asked to spin off the branches by the EU following its rescue by taxpayers in 2008. Wine specialist Majestic Wine ...

Stockbroker Cenkos Securities (CNKS:AIM) enjoyed a bounce on news its chief executive and two executive directors bought £172,000 worth of shares in the business over two days in mid-April. Shares in Cenkos gained 11.5% on the back of the director dealings announcements and there could be further to run if investor sentiment towards the institutional stockbroker sector improves. Concern ...

Initial public offerings (IPOs) are one of the biggest draws for people wanting to invest, yet volatility in global stock markets since August stands to threaten the next wave of stock market flotations. Financial institutions are nervous in the current climate, so companies seeking to list on the market may find it hard to raise the necessary money to float at the moment. This situation is ...

The stock market’s smallest and riskiest companies have always held fascination for private investors. On the premise that ‘elephants don’t gallop, but fleas leap,’ to borrow Jim Slater’s often quoted phrase, it’s easier for a tiny company to double its size, and investor’s money, than for a big one. Let’s face it, a blue chip company worth £1 billion will find it much harder to ...

After a lengthy fallow period, characterised by pressure on commission for client trades in existing listings (secondary business) and low numbers of new stock market flotations (primary business), life may finally be looking up for the nation’s hard-pressed stockbrokers. I doubt their plight will elicit too much sympathy, judging by last week’s debate about the latest bonus pool at ...

A profit warning sees emerging-market lender Standard Chartered (STAN) shed 6.25% to £13.42. In a pre-close trading update, the £34.5 billion cap warns fines in the US, write-downs in Korea and currency problems in parts of Asia will keep income flat this year after a decade of continuous growth.   Heading in the opposite direction is accounting software supplier Sage (SGE), which ...

Renewed concerns about the strength of the Eurozone leave investors nervous, reflected in a 30 point decline in the FTSE 100 to 6,667. But there are a few bright spots including Merlin Entertainments (MERL) which makes a good impression on its stockmarket debut. The Alton Towers owner rises 10% on its IPO. We take a closer look at the news here.   International Consolidated ...

Investors raised a glass to Punch Taverns (PUB) today, sending the shares 13% higher to 12p. The leased and tenanted pubs operator made encouraging noises about the long-awaited restructuring of its borrowings as it served up better-than-expected half-year figures.   For the half to 2 March, the £70 million cap reported taxable profits of £26.2 million, down on the prior year's £33.3 ...

New floats can deliver knock-out performances if you pick the right names. You just need to look at how networking specialist WANdisco (WAND:AIM) has fared since its market debut in June last year, with an incredible 319% surge. The £177 million cap is among a select band of eight initial public offerings (IPOs) within the last three years to have soared by 100% or more since they joined the ...

A couple of weeks ago over lunch, a former colleague from my days at UBS investment bank joked he thought his current broking firm was doing rather well as it was 'going bust more slowly than everyone else'. That ghoulish crack is now looking less like gallows humour and more like canny prescience as Westhouse (WHL:AIM) announces its decision to delist from (Aim) and Seymour Pierce reportedly ...

'Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver,’ quipped Hermann Goering. The former head of the Luftwaffe was referring to the performing arts and made no bones of his ignorance. But investors overlook the importance of the vexed issue of culture in a corporate sense at their peril, particularly as so much of this intangible but vital element of a firm’s success comes from the ...

Buy Caza Oil & Gas (CAZA:AIM) ahead of anticipated increases  in output. These should follow  as the group continues to exploit its acreage in the Bone Spring formation, New Mexico. The £25 million cap is set to commence fracture stimulation operations on its horizontal Forehand Ranch well at the beginning of December. Results from a subsequent flow test should provide a catalyst for the ...