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No Free Lunch
The No Free Lunch column is written by Alistair Blair, who is a past winner of the Business Writer of the Year award, who has also worked in investment banking and fund management.
Recent articles
The darker side of share buy-backs
NO FREE LUNCH: Buying back shares is either a sensible way of deploying surplus capital, or a cheap trick to boost earnings momentum, and a sign that a company has run out of ideas
16 July 2008
So richly rewarded
NO FREE LUNCH: HBOS is busy selling new shares at a fraction of the price it bought back old ones. And guess what? The guys that preside over this mess are awarding themselves huge bonuses!
02 July 2008
Where are the bankers' bodies?
NO FREE LUNCH: The likes of HBOS, RBS and Barclays spent billions buying back shares, only to issue new ones at a fraction of the price. How have their bosses managed to stay in their jobs?
25 June 2008
Irrational exuberance
NO FREE LUNCH: Most people's expectations of stock market returns are far too optimistic - and that's before fund managers take their obscene cut. Luckily, there is another way
18 June 2008
Attention Lord Turner
NO FREE LUNCH: Adair Turner is odds-on to be the new chairman of the FSA. If he is, here's an item that should go straight to the top of his in-tray
28 May 2008
Disenfranchisement
NO FREE LUNCH: Our weekly columnist investigates the nonsense that passes for corporate democracy
21 May 2008
Your opinion
How safe is my money (2)
READER QUESTIONS: If money is held in an offshore account, does it have the same protection as it would onshore?
- 13 May 2008
- Written by:
- IC reader questions
Bargain Shares
Simon Thompson picks six stocks with good prospects, huge asset backing, and bombed-out share prices!
Find out which they are, and track their share price performance, here
How safe is my money (1)
READER QUESTIONS: Are Isas covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme?