FEATURES:
Matthew Allan and the IC companies team find the Aim companies with 'ten-bagger' innovations.
It's important for investors to understand inflation. But which of the UK's measures should they use and what's happening to the way the indices are calculated? Philip Ryland investigates.
SEVEN DAYS:
■ All you need to know about investing in the past seven days: what's rising, what's falling and what's making the headlines.
CHARTS OF THE WEEK:
■ Our selection of the most interesting charts published this week.
NEWS:
■ Premier Oil drills for bonds.
■ London's prime property cycle.
■ Schroder Reit rides regional recovery.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK:
■ The trouble with networks: Network effects are crucial for the fate of the economy. But they are difficult to change, warns Chris Dillow.
■ Next week's economics: Thanks in part to the weakness of the eurozone, the UK is seeing unbalanced growth.
COMMENT:
Our columnists offer in-depth analysis and investment ideas:
■ The Editor: Mutually assured destruction - Questions must surely be asked as to how the crisis at the Co-op Bank was allowed to happen.
■ Simon Thompson has written the following articles this week:
- LMS worth capitalising on: Our companies editor expects some decent valuation uplifts and further capital returns from one of the investment companies on his watchlist.
- A bolt-on share purchase: Our companies editor sees scope for more upside from one of his Bargain shares picks this year.
- Awaiting pay dirt: It's not often you get the chance to buy shares in a company trading on less than half analysts' fair value estimates, but that's what is on offer here.
- Blue-sky territory: Strong profit growth, cost savings and potentially significant revenues from distribution agreements make these shares attractive.
- Bargain shares update: Even factoring in the geopolitical risk, and applying a hefty discount to the earnings and cash flow forecasts, the shares still rate an attractive investment.
- Unloved and undervalued: It's unusual to be able to buy shares in a company at a substantial discount to the price paid by a large fund, but that's exactly what is on offer here.
Read more articles by Simon Thompson on his comment page.
■ Trader: Not over - The bull market should keep going for now.
The Trader, Dominic Picarda, publishes his outlook for ten major equity, currency and commodity markets on a regular basis. You can view his articles on his comment page, or sign up to The Trader's market outlook emails.
■ Mr Bearbull: Cast-iron sell - Here's a great company but, on a scarily accurate metric, its share price is well ahead of events.
■ Chris Dillow: QE versus growth - Equities usually gain more from strong economic growth than they lose from tighter monetary policy - so a pick-up in the US economy would be a good thing even if it leads to an end to QE. Also see:
- The post-valuation age: Stock market valuations have ceased to predict returns.
Read more articles by Chris Dillow on his comment page.
YOUR MONEY:
Financial planning, tax and investment wisdom:
■ Portfolio: Too many 'lottery' stocks.
■ Financial planning: Save under 30s from pensions misery.
SHARE TIPS OF THE WEEK:
■ This retail landlord has ambitious growth targets in a recovering market and the attractive dividend is expected to show robust growth over the next few years. Yet the shares trade at an eye-catching discount to book value.
■ Problems at one of its operations and a mixed trading update caused shares in this insurer to fall sharply. Even so, they're still expensively rated compared with rivals and look vulnerable.
■ There's been a dramatic transformation at this business outsourcer, but there's still more to come and the shares look cheap.
■ It's true these shares have been on a roll, but you're not too late to jump aboard: further earnings upgrades mean there's still time to grab a slice of the action.
FUND TIP OF THE WEEK:
■ Buy into this trust and you'll be getting strong management and exposure to undervalued European shares.
SHARE TIP UPDATES:
■ EADS
■ Petrofac
BROKERS' TIPS:
STRATEGY:
■ Strategy: Flying high with CAPE.
FUNDS:
■ Fund news: French steps down from M&G Global Basics.
■ Top 100 funds: Newton Global Higher Income remains defensive.
■ The big theme: How to mix active and passive funds.
■ Feature: Opportunities in specialist investment trusts.
■ Interview: Tom Walsh talks about technology that is set to shake-up the way we do things.
SHARES:
■ Stock screen: Three solid, high-yielding small caps.
■ Sector focus: Tech sector shifts into overdrive.
■ Dividend of the week: Taking a careful look at earlier picks.
■ The lowdown on the latest company results:
■ 3i Group
■ Aveva
■ Burberry
■ Carclo
■ Diploma
■ EasyJet
■ Halma
■ Mitie
■ Norcros
■ Record
■ Renold
■ Sepura
■ UK Mail
■ Vectura
■ Vedanta
■ Volex
■ Directors' dealings: Notable transactions at APR Energy and Kofax.
■ Week ahead: A summary of key company announcements expected in the coming week.
TAKEOVERS:
■ Download this week's takeover tables as a PDF.
