Centrica at 268p, after the interim figures. The management with these results has demonstrated that it has stopped the rot in terms of cash flow, which now covers dividend costs by a multiple of times, compared with position shown a year earlier. The company says that it plans to restore shareholder value and now seems…
The Credit Crunch of 2008, and its aftermath, changed the way we think and spend. From the time that the banks messed up, ordinary people’s wages in the UK barely rose for six years, while prices of staples like food and energy soared. The luxury sector continued to thrive because the modern rich (amongst whom,…
Summer seems to be ‘a coming in’ to judge from the first half results for the current year; not so much proving that crime and misdeeds pay, but rather that they can be paid for with further provisioning while still producing a rise in profits. I turn to my previous note on Barclays (BARC), sent…
The first-half results were not enough to push these shares higher. They look dear and vulnerable to any further disappointing results. I have not for some time had a look at that great and successful Anglo-Dutch, corporate creation, Unilever, of which Unilever Plc is one doorway into its equity. Decent broking chaps, as I recollect…
With the dramatic Glencoe massacre of Chinese equities as a background and after its 44% fall in share price, I am having a look at Glencore as a stock for buying. Share prices don’t usually go down for ever – though it sometimes feels like it – and in the case of Glencore there is a handsome…
Note to readers: Henceforth, Jim’s musings will be published in real-time on the Master Investor website as well as every month in the magazine. Sweltering in my Spanish hideaway, I have followed the Greek saga with interest – but not surprise. As expected, a Eurofudge emerged at the last minute, with a sort of elaborate…
RSA shares look good value on the basis of recovery or as an alternative fate, playing its own part in the consolidation of the mature UK insurance industry. I believe that RSA Group shares at this point – share price 449p last seen – merit a place in a store of value portfolio. It’s my…
Sprue Aegis is a great British company which I have covered for many years, ever since it was listed on the old PLUS markets. The shares have been somewhat of a private investor favourite in recent times, having risen by more than 800% over the past five years. Over that time revenues have more than…
Like Oedipus before it, PayPal has (sort of) slayed its father eBay and taken the e-commerce seller’s place on the S&P 100 after the online payment system provider spun-off from the company that bought it for $1.5 billion back in 2002. So how will the nascent stock fare untethered from its (former) parent? Well, early…
How will you spend your holidays, this summer? We all need them and we are prepared to pay good money for them. But the holiday sector has offered mixed rewards for investors of late. A few weeks ago I took a look at look at Thomas Cook Group PLC (TCG). It is a great business,…
