Indian power supplier OPG Power Ventures (OPG:AIM) has come a cropper as volatile coal prices continue to wreak havoc. The AIM-listed £111m company saw its share price slammed 28% lower after management admitted that expectations for the year to 31 March 2018 will be 'impacted by coal prices being significantly higher than consensus expectations.''The gross margin for the current year is now...

The FTSE 100 is 36.23 points higher this morning at 7,373.66 taking its cue from strength in US and Asian markets overnight as concerns over North Korea died down.Troubled tool hire outfit HSS Hire (HSS) slumps 18.9% to 45p as it warns a recovery in sales will be 'materially slower' than expected and reports an increase in its first half pre-tax loss from £7.8m to £30.1m.Soft furnishings...

City analysts are increasingly reassured that Indian power supplier OPG Power Ventures (OPG:AIM) is back on track. But investors seem less willing to give the benefit of the doubt, possibly creating a valuation anomaly and buying opportunity.The £150m AIM company issued a brief year-end update on 31 May covering the 12 months to 31 March 2017. 'During the year we stuck to our strategic...

Asian powerhouse India's macroeconomic health is the strongest it has been in a decade. The nation could be both a fantastic top down and bottom up investment story. Growth is accelerating driven by demographics and urbanisation, while corporate quality is high with many world class management teams treating minority shareholders properly. Furthermore, inflation is falling and the government...

The AIM market has come out of the blocks in 2017 like Usain Bolt, leaving the mainstream stock market indices trailing in its wake. This article contains some of our best AIM stock ideas and explains why the market has been racing ahead.The FTSE AIM All-Share index has rallied 7.9% year to date to close at 910.38 on 1 March 2017, the highest the junior index has been since 2011. That compares...

A series of unfortunate events in the Tamil Nadu area of India will cap output at the Chennai-based power projects of OPG Power Ventures (OPG:AIM).This implies a £5m to £6m shortfall in revenue for the year to 31 March 2017 and is acting as a deadweight on the share price, which has fallen more than 8% to 57p.But Shares remains convinced that these are no more than short-term setbacks and...

Donald Trump's surprise victory in the hotly contested US presidential election has sent shockwaves through many industries including the energy sector.Fears have been sparked that clean, green fuels - such as solar, wind, hydro, fuel cells - are for the chop, with the threat that the current administration's commitment to policies on climate change facing reverse.Not necessarily so. There are...

Lower than expected full year results on 1 August 2016, operational challenges in December 2015 associated with heavy rain and fears over making a potentially high-risk investment have weighed on shares in OPG Power Ventures (OPG:AIM). We believe the stock now looks very interesting at 56.61p as the potential rewards more than compensate for the risks, in our view.The Indian coal-to-power...

Brexit odds riseWith the UK referendum on EU membership just weeks away the IG (IG.) binary market on its outcome is swinging back towards a 'leave' vote. The EU Referendum Barometer is showing a 77% chance the UK will vote 'remain' against a recent peak of 81% and the trading platform says 90% of of all money traded between 26 and 31 May favoured leave. (TS)Early payoutINDIA-BASED electricity...

Amid all the fuss about the pace of China's economy and general assumption that all emerging markets are off limits to investors, there is one country which looks too good to ignore; and that's India.There are significant political, corporate and cultural changes underway that could result in handsome returns for investors in the long term. We believe actively-managed funds are the best way to...

The UK is on the cusp of a transformation in its energy sector. Energy secretary Amber Rudd says the country's remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted from 2023 onwards.Putting forward the plans (19 Nov) Rudd says gas-fired plants - which are seen as less polluting than coal - will take their place. The viability of this plan is being questioned and...

The pick-up in corporate takeover activity in the UK and abroad is a positive lead indicator for recovery funds, according to M&G fund manager Tom Dobell. He says mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often the point at which recovery funds sell holdings as previously-broken firms in their portfolios become fixed and subsequently get taken over.Recovery funds can also get valuation uplift when...

A passion for smaller companies oozes from Georgina Brittain. The seasoned fund manager has been running the JPMorgan Smaller Companies Investment Trust (JMI) since 1998 yet her enthusiasm for the job is plain to see.It comes out in the 100 miles per hour way she talks about the topic, the clear strategic focus on company financials, and the excitement in her voice when discussing some of the...

We have spotted an investment trust that could be the antidote to investor sickness towards utility stocks like SSE (SSE) and Centrica (CNA). With a historic dividend of circa 6.8%, excluding additional payments from running down a reserve pot of cash, and outperformance of the FTSE All-World Utilities sector over the past three years, Premier Energy & Water Trust (PEW) has significant appeal...

Fans of utilities, stocks famed for their high dividends, defensive qualities and excellent long-term track record, include legendary investor Warren Buffett and British star manager Neil Woodford. Yet Labour leader Ed Miliband's proposals to freeze energy prices, should he become prime minister, has created some skittishness towards the quoted utility sector, impacting sentiment towards...

Latham (James) (LTHM:AIM) 577.5pSheet and hardwood supplier Latham has been consistently profitable for the past 10 years, more than doubling operating profit in the same period. The Hemel Hempstead-based company is expected to grow earnings per share 19% to 39.5p this year.Leaf Clean Energy (LEAF:AIM) 34pRenewable energy investor Leaf Clean is a closed-end fund in run-off. At a meeting in...

The term 'alpha' refers to the gain generated by a fund manager's portfolio over and above that predicted by the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), or in simpler terms its returns relative to a benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis. As it approaches its tenth birthday under the expert guidance of Richard Penny, L&G UK Alpha (GB00B28PT700) continues to deliver what it is supposed to. After seven...

Resources veteran Peter Levine, chairman of President Energy (PPC:AIM), says the oil explorer is 'all about Paraguay' this year. Speaking at the first of two back-to-back Mining & Resources Quarterly (MRQ) evenings (12-13 Mar), he promised the Leeds audience 'surprises' when the firm began its three-well campaign in the South American country this May.One audience member made reference to the...

Given Aim's orientation toward growth stocks and firms which are still in a relatively early stage of their development, it is unlikely to be fertile ground for value-driven investors or outright contrarians who prefer to try and hoover up downtrodden, unloved stocks at knock-down prices. The FTSE Aim 100 is no different from the FTSE Aim All-Share in this respect and while more than...

Despite the events in Ukraine prompting volatility, the FTSE 100 remains near its 1999 all-time closing peak of 6,930 and the FTSE 250 is also within striking distance of its all-time high.But the cynics and sceptics point out how the FTSE Aim All-Share, the broadest benchmark for the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) junior platform, still languishes miles below the 1,267 summit it reached in May...