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A CHRISTMAS PRESENT

If a parent, grandparent or guardian had invested a one-off £1,000 in the average investment company for a child 18 years ago, it would now be worth an impressive £7,740 (a 674% return), or annualised return of 12.0%. This performance data, for the average investment company, is the % share price total return for the weighted average investment company (excluding VCTs). Ten-year performance is from 27/11/2011 to 26/11/2021. Eighteen-year performance is from 27/11/2003 to 26/11/2021. Source: AIC/Morningstar. These are the key points ...

Electric Vehicles, Pod Point IPO and Bulb Rescue Cost

If the Government has its way, we’ll all be driving electric cars (EVs) soon. One of the concerns of drivers though is they might run out of battery power so the provision of chargers is of key importance in driving acceptance of electric cars. There is clearly a big potential market for chargers, not just in homes but also in public places, at office car parks, supermarkets and other venues. One of the providers of chargers is Pod Point Group (PODP) who ...

Bulb Collapse, Telecom Plus Results and FCA Globo Action

Yesterday energy supplier Bulb collapsed and was put into Special Administration. Bulb has 1.7 million customers and is the largest of 20 alternative energy suppliers to go bust recently. Most of their customers have been taken on by other suppliers but apparently nobody was willing to take on Bulb’s so effectively the company has been nationalised. These companies have all been hit by the rapid rise in gas prices while the price cap imposed by Ofgem meant they could not raise their ...

The Death of Coal Mining and the Nuclear Alternative

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Boris Johnson has said that the Glasgow climate deal is a "game-changing agreement" which sounds "the death knell for coal power". Let us hope so. My father worked down a pit in Nottinghamshire in his early life and was all for replacing coal power stations by nuclear power. Coal mining is not just a great creator of pollution but is also positively dangerous for the ...

Alliance Trust Resets Dividend

An announcement this morning from Alliance Trust (ATST) says that the board has concluded that an increased dividend “will benefit existing shareholders and enhance the attractiveness of the Company’s shares”. They expect the overall annual dividend to increase by 32.5% over the 2020 dividend. The proposed increase will be well covered by distributable reserves and income it is suggested although no doubt some of the extra dividend cost will come from capital. ATST had a reported yield of 1.43% last year according ...