The defensive lean to London's FTSE 100 index served it well on Tuesday, as tensions mounted in the Middle East amid reports that Iran is planning an imminent missile attack on Israel.The FTSE 100 index ended up 39.70 points, 0.5%, at 8,276.65. The FTSE 250 closed 112.46 lower, 0.5%, at 20,940.73, and the AIM All-Share shed 3.63 points, 0.5%, at 736.80.The Cboe UK 100 ended 0.5% higher at 828.74 o

Rewind to 2020, five years on from the landmark Paris Agreement to combat climate change, and aside from the pandemic the big stories in markets were the ?climate emergency? and the ?energy transition?.Although the Glasgow COP26 conference had to be postponed until 2021 due to Covid, there was no shortage of high-profile events from Manchester?s virtual four-day Green Summit to the WEF (World Econ

Stocks in London opened on the back foot on Monday, as investors kept a watchful eye on developments in the Middle East.The FTSE 100 index opened down 24.47 points, 0.3%, at 7,377.67. The FTSE 250 was down 37.88 points, 0.2%, at 16,994.85, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.22 points, 0.3%, at 680.71.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 736.34, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.4% at 14,719.69, and the Cboe Sm

According to data from the AIC, the average investment trust discount to net asset value has widened from 12.2% at the end of 2022 to 14.5% as of 8 September 2023, while sector averages have generally widened. The exception is private equity, which narrowed from 25.1% to 4.5%, skewed by 3i's (III) dramatic swing from discount to premium.While this presents an opportunity to buy into parts of the m

It has been a tough few weeks for investors in Ecofin US Renewables (RNEW), with its share price taking a hit from unwelcome news.A tornado damaged one of its wind farms which accounts for more than a third of its net asset value. Mice eating through cables at one of its solar farms caused further interruptions, and the dividend has been cut in half temporarily.The problems in this space are not l

UK investment trusts are trading at the widest discount seen since the 2007/8 financial crisis, according to recent research from Numis and Winterflood. Against a backdrop of weak investor sentiment, the sector weighted average discount widened from 2.3% at the start of 2022 to 16.4% by the end of March 2023.For example, the Global sector is currently trading on a 9.27% discount to NAV versus a fi

Defence and security specialist QinetiQ (QQ.) said first-quarter orders and cash generation to 30 June continued to be strong, but declined to provide guidance due to ongoing uncertainties. The shares rallied 1.6% to 304p.STEADYING THE SHIPProactive management action on costs has increased the resilience of the business, allowing it to maintain a strong balance sheet and position it for continued

Fantasy miniature wargames manufacturer Games Workshop (GAW) reported a stronger than expected recovery since re-opening operations, giving the shares a 10% boost to £78, trading within a whisker of the all-time high.BIG UPGRADES TO COMEToday's announcement is quite extraordinary given current limited manufacturing capacity and that around 43% of retail stores are still closed around the globe.Th

The second and third quarters of this year have seen some chunky fundraisings by infrastructure and renewable energy funds.In June, Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) raised €375m, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income (SEQI) raised £216m and Aquila European Renewables Income (AERI) raised £154m.In September, Sequoia raised a further £139m, IPP (INPP) raised £234m in two separate funding rounds and

After a terrible week for the UK's leading basket of stocks, the FTSE 100 managed to recover some ground this morning taking heart from a positive close to stock markets in the US.It has been a rough couple of days for UK markets as investors fret over where the world is heading economically.A major manufacturing slowdown in the US, coupled with similar situations across developed European countri

Defence contractor Babcock International (BAB) just can't seem to catch a break. Despite reporting full year results which were in line with its most recent latest guidance the share price has tanked today, falling more than 10% to 450p, close to a 10-year low.That fact underlying revenues for the year to 31 March 2019 fell 3.8% to £6.16bn and operating profits, also on an underlying basis, are v

Dividends take centre stage in early trade on Tuesday as banking giant HSBC (HSBA) and mining group BHP Billiton (BHP) maintain payouts to investors, while hotels operator Intercontinental Hotels (IHG) ups its own shareholder hand out by 10%.HSBC continues to demonstrate what a profitable core business it has as it increasingly concentrates on Asia, posting a near 16% rise in pre-tax profit for 20

All eyes are on Royal Mail (RMG) ahead of the FTSE 100 re-shuffle next Tuesday. With the shares trading down another 2% to 317p on Friday, its current market capitalisation of just over £3.2bn.That puts it in 119th spot in terms of valuation on the UK stock market, well below the 110th place cut-off, meaning it will automatically be ejected from the blue-chip index.This sums up a negative trading

Aerospace and defence company Cobham (COB) financial and share price recovery last year might now appear to have been short lived. The company's share price is down 9.9% to 118.55p after a plethora of bad news on Thursday 26 July.In what prima facie appears to be a profit warning, the company has said that US aerospace giant Boeing is withholding payment on two of its major contracts.Boeing's 'as

It has been a bumper year for takeovers and we're not even at the halfway point in the calendar year. By April more than $2 trillion worth of company mergers and acquisitions had already been announced across the world.Research by Dealogic reveals there were 125 deals worth more than $1 billion in the first three months of 2017 alone, while cross-border acquisitions - where a company buys another

The AIM market has come out of the blocks in 2017 like Usain Bolt, leaving the mainstream stock market indices trailing in its wake. This article contains some of our best AIM stock ideas and explains why the market has been racing ahead.The FTSE AIM All-Share index has rallied 7.9% year to date to close at 910.38 on 1 March 2017, the highest the junior index has been since 2011. That compares to

Profit warnings take centre stage as three Main Market stocks disappoint investors with bad news about trading.Pearson (PSON) says life is even worse than previously expected in the North American higher education market. Its dividend will be cut, although the FTSE 100 media group says it may issue a special dividend if it can sell its 47% stake in Penguin Random House. The market is shocked and t

Harvester-to-O'Neill's owner Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) has enjoyed 4.7% like-for-like sales growth over the Christmas period, much to the surprise of many investors and analysts. The business has been struggling for years but solid trading in the four week period to 7 January could prompt the market to reassess negative views of the stock. Investors certainly like today's news as the shares rise 2

Lavendon (LVD), Europe's leading provider of mechanical aerial platforms, is in demand as a bidding war for the company between rivals Loxam and Thermote & Vanhalst (TVH) hots up.Lavendon's share price has gained 75% above levels the stock traded at before TVH announced its first 205p a share bid in November, which was rejected even though TVH said it had the support of enough Lavendon shareholder

Takeovers are back on the agenda for the UK stock market. We aren't surprised, given favourable conditions for M&A (mergers and acquisitions) have been in place for some time.The cost of borrowing is low; sterling devaluation makes British companies a more attractive proposition to overseas buyers; and volatile conditions in certain sectors have left some decent businesses in a vulnerable position