City of London

Longest (dividend growth), largest (market cap), lowest (charges)...

Staying active

Today, passively managed funds are the dominant owners of US equities, having surpassed actively managed strategies. There are clear attractions to passive investing, such as low cost, diversification, easy access and availability. Additionally, the investment approach is clearly defined. Passive investing is inherently a ‘core’ style of investing because, by using an index-tracking fund, investors gain near perfect exposure to the benchmark by which all other styles are measured. Index-trackin

City of London

Strong relative performance, and improving revenues suggest CTY is bouncing back

Dividends in the time of corona

“A cow for her milk, a hen for her eggs, and a stock, by heck, for her dividends.” This ditty was written by John Burr Williams, a foundational thinker in the theory of investment valuation and one of the foremost influences on another investor also known for his pithy investing wisdom, Warren Buffett. In markets, attention is often grabbed by glamourous and exciting opportunities for investors looking for the next big thing, so it is all too easy to forget that there is a large, more sober coho

Don’t fear the reaper

With market direction hard to call, we consider the case for taking a long- term view in the investment trust sector...

Don't fear the reaper

Investors are increasingly unsure about what to do with their money, at least according to those we speak to. The reflationary rally seems to be over, and since the summer the market has gyrated between value and growth, pandemic optimism and pessimism, clean energy and fossil fuels, et cetera, et cetera… While the general consensus is now that inflation will remain high for a considerable period of time, it is unclear yet whether this is a bullish or bearish scenario. Unfortunately, an investm

City of London - Overview

City of London Investment Trust (CTY) has recently published its annual results, providing further detail on the financial year to 30 June 2021. As we discuss in the Dividend section, the results show that in the past financial year, revenues have improved significantly and Job seems optimistic on the prospects of continued recovery in the current financial year. CTY’s reliable income is a key attraction for investors, which is reflected in its premium rating and steady issuance of shares over

City of London - Overview

City of London’s (CTY) objective is to provide long-term growth in income and capital. The trust has the longest track record of providing annual dividend increases in the investment trust sector. The board has stated that it intends to continue to pay a progressive dividend, which if achieved in the current financial year will represent 55 consecutive years of growth. Job Curtis, CTY’s manager for 30 years, is a fundamental stock picker who prefers defensive companies which can deliver demonst

City of London - Overview

City of London’s (CTY) objective is to provide long-term growth in income and capital. CTY has the longest track record of providing annual dividend increases in the investment trust sector, which now has 54 consecutive years of growth since 1966. The COVID-19 crisis and market sell-off has left CTY underperforming the market over the short term. However stock selection remained positive in the financial year to 30/06/2020 – as it has been for eight out of the past ten financial years. Being gea

Hold fast

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how, that election had us all talking about sterling (well, some of us). Instead now we are hard put not to talk about mass dividend cuts, with Link Group estimating dividend cuts of 47% or more in the UK equity market. Way back in those distant epochs of early December 2019, we appeared to be approaching a greater degree of certainty about the shape of the future in the UK: an election was in the offing which promised to help resolve the outlook for o

The importance of buying earners*

March is traditionally considered ‘ISA season’, when UK investors focus on their annual ISA allowance and are encouraged to ‘use it or lose it’. As we highlighted in our article last year, investment trusts within ISAs are an excellent way to benefit from the power of compounding over the long term, without worrying about the tax consequences of whether you are receiving capital gains or dividend income. Our analysis last year showed that the top ten compounding trusts – since Personal Equity P

City of London Investment Trust - Overview

City of London’s (CTY) objective is to provide long-term growth in income and capital. Bearing in mind the fact that this trust has the longest track record of providing annual dividend increases in the investment trust sector – 53 consecutive years – it is also true that a rising level of dividend income is a very important part of what CTY aims to provide for shareholders. In the context of this very long track record having been developed by the company, it is reassuring for investors that t

Dangerous ground:the perils of timing the market

Anyone who takes a strong interest in financial markets sometimes feels the pull of market timing. It is seductive to imagine yourself a canny trader, buying or selling positions just before the market shifts, trading investments daily and beating the herd with superior analysis and instincts. We can add to the existing research suggesting this is a bad idea, and that taking a long-term view of your investments is the way to go. We looked at investment trusts that have outperformed over the past

Income for the long haul

As the end of the financial year approaches, we enter ‘ISA season’. In the first of several articles on generating income for an ISA investment, we look at the advantages of investing in equity income trusts. We explain why investment trusts can be useful for long-term, income-hungry investors, and the myriad benefits that the closed ended structure offers. We also identify trusts that best exploit the tools that investment trusts have to offer to achieve their income objectives, and illustrate

City of London Investment Trust - Overview

City of London (CTY) ’s objective is to provide long-term growth in income and capital. The broader objective includes a reference to the “importance of dividend income to shareholders”, which cuts to the heart of CTY’s mission: an unrivalled 52-year record of increasing dividends paid to shareholders in consecutive years. Within the UK mandate, there is a degree of flexibility to invest outside UK equities. Job Curtis has had sole charge of CTY since 1991, and over the ensuing 28 or so years,

Stable 4Q22

LIBERUM: Trident Royalties* - Record quarterly receipts

LIBERUM: Trident Royalties* - General Motors invests in Thacker Pass

QuotedData’s Real Estate Monthly Roundup – January 2023

Performance - 2022 ended with another difficult month for property companies as the sector continues to get to grips with the impact of higher interest rates. There were several funds that performed well during December, however, with secondary shopping centre landlord Capital & Regional top of the pile. For a second month on the trot Home REIT saw its share price tank after it came under attack from a short seller in November. Valuation moves - It was a mixed bag for valuations, with six-month

Strong H1 update and contract wins

Made Tech has announced a very strong update: H1 sales +76% y/y and alongside this, also several wins/expansions worth £27m. As a result, Made Tech has now delivered 48%/FY23e sales and as well, has a very strong backlog: £48m (+53% y/y) so is very well positioned to drive continued growth, both this year and next. Margins meanwhile leave room for improvement, as having generated £0.5m EBITDA in H1, this leaves work to do, but with contractors now materially lower (at c.10% vs. c.20% in the PY)

FY22 TU – Strong Upgrades on Better Performance

Argentex has issued a trading update for the 9M22 period this morning, with revenue and earnings performance ahead of expectations. FY22 revenues are up 54% yoy to £50.4m (+7.5% vs. SCM estimates) and operating margins are ahead of management expectations. This was driven by growth in the number of corporate clients as well as good progress across its growth strategy, with robust trading across all products and geographies. Another strong update from Argentex, as the Group continues to deliver o

Morning Note – 31 January 2023

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 17 Jan 23

17 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object

Thacker Pass Update

The lithium industry, perhaps the hottest sub-sector of mining right now, was set even more abuzz by the announcement yesterday that Lithium Americas Corp has secured a $650m financing package from General Motors for the development and construction of the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. There has been some talk for a while on when an automaker was going to make a serious investment in a battery metal mine. This is the largest ever and it is suitable that it is in Thacker Pass which is the largest

FLASH: FY22 pre-close indicates profit beat

Q4 Activities Update

Trident Royalties Plc (AIM: TRR) has, this morning, provided an update on its activities undertaken during the quarter ended 31 December 2022. In terms of royalty receipts it has been the best quarter since inception. QoQ revenues increased 46% to US$3.5m (9x YoY). Each royalty either met or exceeded our forecasts with Koolyanobbing 52% ahead. The gold offtake portfolio was slightly above our forecast.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 23 Jan 23

23 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object

This Week's AIM Highlights 3rd February 2023

Further investment in Zopa given impressive growth

Augmentum Fintech has announced that it has invested another £4m in digital bank, Zopa, as part of a £75m funding round alongside existing investors. The additional capital will be used to fund Zopas further growth by supporting capital requirements of its expanding balance sheet as well as provide flexibility for potential M&A activity. The bank continues to grow strongly (with >100% yoy revenue growth). Zopa marks one of AUGMs top investments and the additional provided growth capital is a pos

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 26 Jan 23

26 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object