Last week saw a changing of the guard at fund group M&G (MNG) with Tom Dobell, a 28-year veteran of the firm, stepping down from the M&G Recovery Fund (3128921) which he had managed since 2000. As per its name the fund invests in ‘value’ stocks in the hope that they will recover. It had a good August 2020 thanks to gains in some of its healthcare stocks, but has lagged the FTSE ...

A whopping 150 funds have dropped into Bestinvest’s bi-annual Spot the Dog list of the worst performing funds. This is up 65% from the last report in February and the largest number on record going back more than 20 years. The aggregate money managed by this cohort is a staggering £54.4 billion and includes 18 ‘Great Danes’ each holding over £1 billion of assets from household name fund ...

UK stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting at the end of July struck a cautious note on the pace of the US recovery and US weekly jobless claims came in above expectations, reinforcing the market's negative mood. At the close the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was down 98 points or 1.5% to 6,013, led lower by financial stocks such as ...

UK stocks fell sharply on Thursday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's last policy meeting at the end of July struck a cautious tone on the pace of the US recovery and concerns mounted of a resurgence of the Covid virus in several European countries. At midday the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was down 68 points or 1.1% to 6,044, led lower by financial stocks such as wealth managers ...

UK stocks surged on Wednesday despite data showing the economy shrank by 20% in the second quarter, the worst performance on record and the biggest contraction of any major country so far. At the close the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 126 points or more than 2% to 6,280 led by utilities, financial and consumer stocks. RISERS Car and home insurer Admiral (ADM) was the top FTSE ...

UK stocks traded higher in Wednesday’s morning session despite data showing the economy shrank by 20% in the second quarter, the worst performance on record and the biggest contraction of any major country so far. By midday the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 66 points or 1.1% at 6,220 led by financial and consumer stocks. RISERS Car and home insurer Admiral (ADM) was the biggest FTSE ...

UK stocks pushed higher at the open on Wednesday, despite the sobering news UK gross domestic product (GDP) fell by a record 20.4% in the three months to June, confirmation the UK has lurched into its deepest-ever recession, as the bulls focused on a better than anticipated economic bounce-back in June. At 8.30, the FTSE 100 was up 36.7 points, or 0.6%, at 6,191.04. Admiral (ADM) added ...

UK stocks were weakeer on Friday with the FTSE 100 index closing near its lows for the day, down 88 points or 1.4% to 6,124. Weighing on the benchmark were travel and leisure stocks and large insurers such as Legal & General (LGEN), M&G (MNG) and Prudential (PRU). Continuing geopolitical tensions between the US and China offset the positive news that UK retail sales bounced back ...

Investors woke on Monday to the surprise news that the chief executives of two of the UK’s biggest financial firms, insurer Aviva (AV.) and Lloyds Bank (LLOY), were stepping down. In the case of Aviva, Maurice Tulloch, who was only appointed just over a year ago, is stepping down with immediate effect due to family health reasons. His replacement, Amanda Blanc, is currently an independent ...

According to the latest Dividend Dashboard from AJ Bell (AJB), the FTSE 100’s forecast dividend pay-out has fallen from £91 billion back in January to £62 billion this month, while earnings cover for dividends is still worryingly thin. That reduction would represent a 17% fall in the pay-out in 2020 compared to the previous year after an 11% drop in 2019, leaving the total at its lowest ...

With many firms cancelling or delaying the payment of dividends, income investors welcomed today's confirmation from M&G (MNG) of the payment of both its ordinary and special dividends totaling 15.77 pence per share. The stock was marked up 8% to 138p. Chief executive John Foley said, 'our financial strength means we can also do the right thing by our shareholders, and make good on our ...

London’s FTSE 100 opened stronger on Wednesday, up 53 points at 6,120.72 early on as optimism that economies were recovering from the COVID-19 crisis offset concerns about rising political tensions in Hong Kong that have soured US-Sino relations. Wealth manager St James’s Place (STJ) improved 4.7% to 917.8p on news it had boosted funds under management during April, with management also ...

At the time of writing more than a quarter of the FTSE 100 index has elected to defer, cancel or cut their final dividends for 2019 or interim dividends for their next fiscal year. Perhaps the biggest blow to income seekers has come from the banking sector, where the Prudential Regulatory Authority made it clear that neither dividend payments nor buybacks from Barclays (BARC), HSBC ...

Offices, airlines and financial companies that make money from the stock market would appear to be among the hardest hit from the coronavirus outbreak. After all, with more people working remotely and large sections of the economy shutdown for the foreseeable future, office space is hardly the most in-demand thing right now. While the airline industry as a whole faces a very uncertain future ...

Financial analysts often come in for criticism for ‘herding’ together when compiling their earnings forecasts, but when companies themselves have no idea where earnings are going to be a year from now it may be time to cut them some slack. What we know from multiple previous business cycles is that corporate margins tend to mean-revert over time. When margins are high – and they have been ...

The FTSE 100 index is offering a prospective dividend yield of 5.6% according to data from Stockopedia, but the slew of cancelled payments throws into doubt even those regarded as rock-solid. THE DAMAGE IN PERSPECTIVE Incredibly, the total amount of cancellations,  which is currently worth £1.6bn and counting, equates to the entire dividend growth that was expected for the whole of 2020 ...

Asset manager M&G (MNG) posted maiden annual results after being spun-off from the Prudential in October 2019, with adjusted operating profit coming in at £1.2bn. This was in-line with analyst estimates but the shares enjoyed their share of the wider coronavirus bounce, rallying 3% to 178p. Strong investment returns lifted assets under management (AUM) by 9.7% to £352bn, offset by net ...

London’s FTSE 100 jumped 2% to 6,110 points on Tuesday following on from gains across Asia on speculation of coordinated stimulus from global central banks and governments. Brent crude gained 5% to $36 a barrel paring back yesterday’s brutal falls while the pound was steady against the US dollar trading at $1.31. In corporate news, events and publishing company Informa (INF) gained ...

Global insurer Prudential (PRU) is in the crosshairs as activist investor Dan Loeb took a near-5% stake in the company and urged the FTSE 100 constituent to separate its US and Asian operations. Loeb runs Third Point, manager of investment trust Third Point Offshore (TPOU) which we recently featured as a Great Idea in Shares.  He believes a break-up of Prudential, which last ...

Seasoned investor Richard Penny (pictured below) says the UK is cheap, particularly further down the market capitalisation scale. The fund manager also believes that financial sector firms have become ‘somewhat de-risked’ following the Conservative Party’s thumping general election victory. The well-followed manager of TM CRUX UK Special Situations (BG5Q5X2) is also palpably excited about ...