In a surprising development for a company which is usually considered fairly staid, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) circulated an internal memo last month letting staff know it was ?saying goodbye? to a number people in its risk management team after an internal review found the function was hampering its transformation plans.The memo from the bank?s chief risk officer, seen by the Financial Times, cl

A classic example of a superb business with staying power, The Coca-Cola Company (KO:NYSE) is blessed with iconic brands spearheaded by Coca-Cola or ?Coke?, the world?s most recognised soft drink synonymous with its red cans.Coca-Cola?s brands resonate with consumers around the world, making the New York-listed group?s products the beverage of choice for billions when at home or on the move.Powerf

Centamin (CEY) 128.3pGain to date: 31.3%We flagged the appeal of Egyptian gold miner Centamin (CEY) a little over two months ago based on two key factors: operational improvements and exposure to strong gold prices.WHAT?S HAPPENED SINCE WE SAID TO BUY?The recent move higher in gold prices has been extremely helpful as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalate and inflationary pressures con

Equities in London were firmly in the red Tuesday afternoon, with market confidence knocked by geopolitical tensions and US interest rate concerns, as a hat-trick of cuts by the Federal Reserve this year looks an increasingly distant prospect.The interest rate picture in the UK was muddied by the latest batch of jobless data. The unemployment rate rose, though pay growth remained sticky, giving th

Latest property M&A dealShares climb to a premiumInvestors expect a rival bidShares in AIM-listed self-storage site operator Lok?n Store Group (LOK:AIM) jumped more than 17% to £11.25 after the firm revealed it had received a cash offer for the whole business from Belgian company Shurgard.The price tops the offer price of £11.10, a premium of roughly 16% to the previous closing price, suggesting

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

European stocks reversed course after Wednesday afternoon?s US inflation, but largely clung on to earlier gains, though it was a bearish start in New York as investors re-assessed the interest rate outlook on the back of the red-hot data.The Federal Reserve?s latest dot-plot suggested three rate cuts could materialise this year. Since the March meeting, however, data has been robust and the odds o

Capital preservation funds are positioned to help investors avoid large losses while growing their wealth too, albeit more slowly than more risk-tolerant funds. In the investment trusts patch, the three main wealth preservers are Ruffer Investment Company (RICA), Capital Gearing Trust (CGT) and Personal Assets Trust (PNL), while RIT Capital Partners (RCP) also has a capital preservation bent.Durin

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

[TABLE EMAILED]While people tend to focus on small caps for growth rather than dividends they can be a genuine option as a source of income. The table shows the top yielding stocks from the AIM 100 index, made up of the 100 largest companies on London's junior exchange, based on information from Sharepad.The yield is based on the share price on 20 March 2024.However, as with any share on the stoc

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

Stocks in London were mixed on Wednesday morning, as inflation came in cooler than anticipated, ahead of interest rate decisions in the US on Wednesday and in the UK on Thursday.The FTSE 100 index opened down 7.59 points, 0.1%, at 7,730.71. The FTSE 250 was up 10.67 points, 0.1%, at 19,443.48, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.44 of a point, 0.1%, at 736.00.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 773.96, th

Stocks in London were in the red at midday on Monday, as investors continued to deal with last week?s sell-off in US tech shares and a ?mixed? jobs report.A favourable inflation reading helped the Shanghai Composite achieve a 0.7% gain to start to the week, despite lingering concern for the Chinese economy. But it was the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo that was badly hit by tech share declines, giving back 2

US activist walks away from bidding?Multiple? efforts to engage with board rebuffedBut JD.com could yet table a bidCurrys? (CURY) shares tumbled 9% to 59p after US investment firm Elliott Advisors abandoned its efforts to buy the electricals retailer, having had two bids spurned and ?multiple attempts? to engage with the board rebuffed.Waterstones-owner Elliott may have withdrawn its bid interest

Stock prices in London opened in the red on Monday, despite a favourable inflation reading from China, as investors nervously await Tuesday?s US data.While a hotter-than-forecast Chinese consumer price index print reassured, stock market investors will be hoping the US data shows inflation is cooling, however.The FTSE 100 index fell 3.85 points, 0.1%, to 7,655.89. The FTSE 250 was down only 9.60 p

Offer pitched at 220p per shareMerger to create UK?s second biggest mortgage and savings groupVirgin Money suspends £150 million buybackVirgin Money UK (VMUK) was the FTSE 250?s big winner on Thursday, shares in the UK?s sixth largest retail bank surging 36% to 215.8p on news it has agreed the key terms of a £2.9 billion takeover by Nationwide Building Society.The mooted deal would create Britai

Warren Buffett?s antipathy toward gold as an investment is well known, thanks in part to a speech the Sage of Omaha gave at Harvard in 1998. Buffett acidly asserted that: ?Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their he

The end of the tax year is coming down the track fast and that means there are only weeks remaining to make full use of your £20,000 annual ISA allowance.Even if you are some way off this maximum limit or haven?t invested through an ISA at all in 2023/24, the rapidly approaching deadline is a good spur to look at the possibility of making money from the financial markets.Two weeks ago we ran an a

Stock prices in London were mostly in the green on Thursday morning following a slew of earnings releases, ahead of a key US inflation reading.The FTSE 100 index opened up 19.31 points, 0.3%, at 7,644.29. The FTSE 250 was up 53.29 points, 0.3%, at 19,066.87, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.68 of a point, 0.1%, at 737.36.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 766.62, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,429.

The annual Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B:NYSE) shareholder letter is eagerly awaited by investors looking for insights and clues into Warren Buffett?s next big move.This year?s missive throws a bucket of cold water on the idea of finding businesses to buy which might be ?transformational? for Berkshire, whose market capitalisation is closing in on $1 trillion.?There remain only a handful of companies