Text size Getty Images The U.K. election could give Boris Johnson the ammunition he needs to secure a Brexit deal, sending a basket of undervalued domestic stocks soaring. British politics remains unpredictable, as the last election and the 2016 European Union referendum demonstrate, but the opinion polls point towards a …
Read More »Labour is obsessed with nationalisation – the problem is most of us are already shareholders
From the moment Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell took the reigns of the Labour Party in 2015 and jerked it leftwards, nationalisation has been touted as an ointment for all the nation’s ills. Energy bills high? Nationalise the suppliers. Trains delayed again? Scrap the franchise model. 70p too dear for …
Read More »it is a painful lesson for us, but we must bite the bullet and sell Royal Mail
Questor Income Portfolio: the company admits that it could make a loss next year and everything now depends on the success of its belated – and risky – restructuring Questor’s decision in December 2016 to tip Royal Mail has not proved to be our finest hour. To start with all went well: …
Read More »Private investors have fallen for Labour’s promises – and made a costly mistake
Political promises should be taken with a pinch of salt. Investors can make expensive mistakes if they change their plans around a pie-in-the-sky manifesto pledge. Take, for example, Labour’s promise to privatise a handful of companies. Many DIY investors took these seriously and sold out, avoiding the risk of any government meddling. On …
Read More »Why this is the one election investors can’t ignore
Does the result of a general election affect stock markets? This is a question asked by many investors, yet the answer has almost as many nuances. As the country heads to the polls for the third time in four years, savers will be pondering the outlook for their portfolios. The …
Read More »Jeremy Corbyn could be at No 10 in six weeks’ time. This is Questor’s response
Questor Income Portfolio: the prospect of a hard-Left government rightly instils fear in investors. But what is a suitable course of action? Does a possible Corbyn government represent an existential threat to our portfolio? In theory, any business based or listed in Britain is at some risk from a hard-Left government. …
Read More »Risk of dividend cuts highest for a decade – these funds are most in danger
The risk of investors’ incomes shrinking has reached new highs, as the affordability of shareholder payouts has fallen to its lowest level for a decade. One in five global companies could cut dividends, research suggests, as payouts have grown far in excess of profits every year since the financial crisis. …
Read More »the latest sell-off hits our Income Portfolio’s value; fortunately dividends are much less volatile
Questor Income Portfolio: several of our holdings have fallen during this week’s bout of pessimism but we have no reason to fear for our income The stock market took a severe tumble on Wednesday and some of our stocks bore the brunt: Lloyds Banking Group and Legal & General both lost 3.3pc …
Read More »capital gains on our Income Portfolio fail to shine as Brexit fears take their toll
Questor Income Portfolio: we have a heavy domestic bias, which is doing us no favours when it comes to share prices, although our income is holding up nicely As it is the first Friday of the month we publish today our performance table for the Income Portfolio. It tells a …
Read More »after the shock of Royal Mail’s dividend cut, a rather more reassuring update
Questor Income Portfolio: ‘Nothing has changed’ was the company’s message to shareholders this week. But there was a surprise lurking in Premier Oil’s statement It was a blow for this column when in May Royal Mail announced that it would cut its dividend for the 2019-20 financial year. It was …
Read More »