Market Statistics Archives

Year End Portfolio Review of 2022 – Roger Lawson

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. As I have published in previous years, here is a review of my own stock market portfolio performance in the calendar year 2022. I’ll repeat what I said last year to warn readers that I write this for the education of those new to investing because I have no doubt that some experienced investors will have done a lot better than me, while some may ...

Post Date: January 4, 2023 Read more

Review of the Year – But It Could Have Been Worse

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Not many stock market investors will have come out ahead this year. At the time of writing, the FTSE-250 is down 17.5% over the past year, the FTSE-AIM index is down 30% and the FTSE-100 scraped in a small rise of 1.8%. The last one was driven by rises in commodity prices which benefited oil/gas companies and big miners which dominate the index. With war in ...

Post Date: December 30, 2022 Read more

Dividend Yield vs Market Capitalisation

This article expresses the opinions and analysis of its author and does not necessarily reflect those of ShareSoc. The author accepts no liability for any errors in his analysis - readers should verify the analysis for themselves. There has recently been some discussion within ShareSoc and SIGnet about the construction of the SIGnet Investors' Index (SII). A point of debate was whether the SII was biased relative to more conventional and total return indexes because its small- and micro-cap weighting did not ...

Post Date: September 25, 2021 Read more

Continued strong fundraising activity on AIM

Allenby Capital, whose CEO Nick Naylor spoke at ShareSoc's Investing Masterclass on Remuneration, have just issued their quarterly update which shows the way the AIM market continues to help companies requiring capital. AIM is playing an important role in these difficult Covid times, writes ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight. Key points in the report: AIM continued its strong fundraising performance in Q3 2020. By the end of September, the total funds raised year to date of £4,085m had already surpassed the £3,997m raised ...

Post Date: October 31, 2020 Read more

Allenby Capital – AIM Market Update – Q4 2019

Allenby have posted a useful note on the state of Aim with lots of data, click here to Download note Key points: December bounce but 2019 remained a down...

Post Date: January 29, 2020 Read more

PE Will Eat Itself

How private equity has devoured public markets and is now devouring itself One of the key causes of the Woodford implosion was the number of illiquid, unquoted holdings in...

Post Date: November 20, 2019 Read more

FCA Views of the Financial Landscape

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published a document entitled “Sector Views” giving their annual analysis of the UK financial landscape and how the financial system is working – see https://tinyurl.com/yc492lkt. For retail investors there is a chapter on “Retail Investments” which is particularly worth reading. But we also learn that the “FCA continues to plan for a range of scenarios regarding Brexit” which is good to hear. I somehow doubt it will be settled tomorrow (15th January) in Parliament – I ...

Post Date: January 14, 2019 Read more

ETFs and Index Trackers – More Dangerous Than You Think

Lots of financial pundits have encouraged investors to be “passive” investors rather than try to pick stocks, or invest in funds that do that latter (“active” funds). Even the FCA has recently criticised active funds for being more expensive and the additional management fees end up impacting negatively on overall returns over time. So persuasive writers such as John Bogle have convinced many to take the “no brainer” route of buying Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or other index tracking funds. But there ...

Post Date: August 14, 2017 Read more

Asset Management Market Study

I commented previously on the FCA's Asset Management Market Study, which suggested there was weak competition in this market. Needless to say, most asset managers do not seem to agree. ShareSoc has now submitted a response to the questions raised in that document which you can read here: Asset-Management-Market-Study-Response-2017-02-21. In summary, we agree with the general conclusions and support regulatory intervention where necessary. We also note that although the study does not address the issue directly of financial education, it is our view ...

Post Date: February 22, 2017 Read more

Group description:	Group focused on active investing, primarily in small / medium cap UK equities.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on Saturdays at 10am.

Group description:	We hold monthly in-person meetings with possible exceptions in August and December. Discussions are generally on the topic of investment strategy and potential companies of interest. Each member is expected to make an investment-related presentation approximately once a year.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We meet in a private room at a pub around 7 miles SW of Oxford. We usually each order a dish from the pub menu that is served during the meeting.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are in-person, monthly on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 7pm. Typical meetings last 2 to 2.5 hours.

Group description:	Our group is a broad church that contains investors of varying age and experience. We discuss stocks and investment trusts that we have bought, sold or are interested in and the reasons behind our decisions, and try to make sense of the ever changing investment environment. Our members backgrounds are diverse and include corporate banking, engineering, teaching and the leisure industry. Discussions are robust and challenging but tend to be to be informal, and do not generally involve agendas, presentations or detailed preparation.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Our meetings are held on Zoom, although we are all based around London so try to meet centrally for lunch from time to time.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet every 2 months, generally midweek at 10.30am.

Group description:	Meeting once a month, our group covers a variety of investment styles. We also have an active WhatsApp group and we welcome new members.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Physical meetings at a venue in Preston, Hitchin, SG4.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on a Saturday at 10am (usually the last Saturday of the month).

Group description:	Experienced investors who have been members many years and newer members wanting to learn about investing. Members discuss portfolio content and reasons why they have certain assets and investments. Buys and sells discussed along with interesting shares being considered along with current issues in the market of local or international influence.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Physical face to face meetings held in a central pub in Easton in Gordano.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Usually monthly to 6 weekly, mid week 12 noon to 2pm with lunch.

Group description:	A long-established group, however, we welcome new applications. Our meetings start at 10:15am with coffee and scones when members comment on their investment activities since the previous month. Generally, each member reports on a specific Company/IT/Fund e.t.c. This brings us to about 12:30pm when the meeting ends, and we have lunch.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In-person at a Golf Club in Belfast.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The group usually meets on the second Wednesday of the month, all year round, except in July and August when we have no meetings. Meetings commence at 10:15am and last 2-3 hours (including lunch).