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2 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Despite a lack of bids, the first outing for our ‘takeover screen’ shows it can pay to think like an acquirerPublished on April 7, 2025After the shock of the past week, the state of M&A activity isn’t likely to be front of mind for UK investors. Loss mitigation is now the watchword. And while markets hinge on the whims of a dealmaker, little about US President Donald Trump’s second term has created the conditions for corporate takeovers.
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3 weeks ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
The Screen for All Seasons has beaten its benchmark for the sixth year in a rowPublished on March 31, 2025What kind of stocks do you invest in? These days, a common answer to this question is simply ‘all of them’. For little cost, you can buy an exchange traded fund to own a broadly diversified equity market. Job done. Well, sort of. If you own a FTSE 100 passive fund, you own a piece of every company in the index.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Although the blue-chip index has rallied in recent months, top-performing shares rose even more Published on March 24, 2025Here are a few fun facts about the FTSE 100. Since the start of the century, the index has fallen more than 20 per cent three times and seen a further three drops of at least a tenth. Cumulatively, it took just over 13-and-a-half years to recover after these sell-offs, meaning prices have rarely been a source of comfort.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
We can’t all be billionaires, but we can learn from how they manage their moneyPublished on March 20, 2025A few years ago, while at a gallery viewing hosted by a prominent City law firm, I spoke to a partner who specialised in what’s known as private client work. If you’re unfamiliar with the practice area, don’t worry; you may not be its target customer.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Goodbye, then, Hornby (HRN). After trading continuously since late 1986, shares in the model railway group are headed for cancellation next month, after management concluded the regulatory burdens, distractions, cost, and rubbish liquidity of its Aim listing weren’t worth it. Die-hard Hornbyists may be able to keep an indirect interest by exchanging shares for a slice of Castelnau (CGL), a specialist fund controlled by Phoenix Asset Management.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Our US Cash Magic screen’s aversion to tech companies stands it in good stead for the yearPublished on March 18, 2025Three years ago, the S&P 500 was falling. After a blistering run, turbocharged by investor enthusiasm for technology stocks, the real world was starting to bite. Is it all happening again? Despite a calmer few days at the time of writing, 2025 has already witnessed several bouts of heightened volatility, and some sharp sell-offs. Some think it amounts to profit-taking.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
More than 120 companies went public that year, in what became a rough one for investors. Has that buried some great leads? Published on March 6, 2025“Whilst 2020 was a year of resilience, 2021 was a year of opportunity,” asserted the LSE in its 2021 annual wrap. More than 120 companies had just listed in the UK, the most since 2014. Some £16.8bn-worth of capital had been raised via IPOs, the most since 2007. We know what came next.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Stock screen: Against a tough benchmark, the Footsie’s dogs had their day in 2024Published on March 3, 2025Woof! In the third full year of our semi-experimental Dogs of The FTSE 100 screen, we have our first win. Despite a rousing 18 per cent total return from the index itself, any investor who on 11 March 2024 opted for a 20-stock spread of the highest-yielding blue-chips would have outperformed by nearly four percentage points.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
Recent evidence suggests high-yielding FTSE names offer good prospects for capital preservation, tooPublished on February 26, 2025There are a few good reasons why investors tend to see a double-digit dividend yield as a red flag. The first relates to the general market view of a stock. It’s rare for a listed company to be both sufficiently profitable to pay out a tenth of its market value each year, and for that market value to be either equal to or lower than net assets.
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1 month ago | 
investorschronicle.co.uk | Alex Newman
This week, we return to one of our oldest stock-picking methods, the High Yield Low Risk screen. That ‘high yield’ bit is somewhat subjective. Today, investors can get a ‘risk-free’ yield of about 4.2 per cent on two-year gilts. Crank up the risks a little, and various passive high yield global bond funds get you closer to 5.8 per cent. However, unless you hold fixed income for the long-haul, short-term price swings and inflation can quickly knock (or erase) those income benefits.
