Funds play a really important role in most investors' portfolios. Many of us may not have the time or the inclination to research our own investment ideas and would rather entrust a professional to pick stocks (and other investments for us).The strength of broad market indices, particularly global and US ones, has made it difficult for actively managed funds to outperform over the last decade and

International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) 716pMarket cap: £263.2 millionWarren Buffett tells investors to be greedy when others are fearful and take advantage of depressed prices. That in a nutshell is the investment proposition for International Biotechnology Trust (IBT), which sits on an 11% discount to NAV (net asset value).The discount is not quite as extreme as it was when we highlighted the t

Paul's very first taste of investing came when his employer, aerospace and defence company Rolls Royce (RR.), introduced an employee share scheme which gave him what seemed to be a low-risk way of getting exposure to its shares.It seemed low risk, explains Paul, because the scheme allowed employees to save a monthly or four weekly amount for five years and at the end of the period the savings and

It's said there are only two certainties in life ? death and taxes ? and as it stands the world is steadily getting older, with not enough births or young people coming through to offset the increasing ranks of the middle-aged and old-aged.Moreover, according to the United Nations' latest World Populations Prospects study which came out earlier this year, the global population is likely to peak th

Investor excitement surrounding weight-loss drugs has arguably been as great if not greater than that seen for everything AI (artificial intelligence) in the last two years.Market leaders Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B:CPH) and Eli Lilly (LLY:NYSE), makers of Wegovy and Zepbound respectively, have seen their share prices soar as investors seemingly extrapolate their initial success years into the future.Ben

Companies tend to list on the stock market when conditions look ripe for a healthy reception from investors so as to get a deal away at the best price.After a fallow period for IPOs (initial public offerings) in 2022/23, activity appears to be gathering pace buoyed by the FTSE 100 and FTSE All-Share notching up new all-time highs in recent weeks.In an unusual turn of events, London could benefit f

After last week?s market spasm over hints from Fed officials that rates may need to rise rather than fall due to the resilience of the US economy, this week the focus moved on to earnings with around one third of S&P 500 companies posting first-quarter updates.So far most firms have beaten estimates, leading to slim gains for the indices, but an increasing number have tempered their guidance for t

Digital coupons business jumps 17% post New York IPOJoins Reddit and Astera Labs as major new listings this yearAt $103.25 day one close, Ibotta market cap over $3 billionThere?s been plenty of talk about an IPO (initial public offering) market revival this year, and Ibotta?s (IBTA:NYSE) blistering New York debut will only bolster that narrative.On its first day as a public company, shares in the

At the centre of the current boom in generative AI (artificial intelligence) is chip maker Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).It designs some of the fastest computer chips in the world which are needed to run data hungry LLMs (large language models) capable of understanding natural language.Readers may be familiar with Nvidia's historical link to the gaming industry, but less familiar with the US giant's connec

The biotechnology sector should be a major beneficiary of an ageing world population and strained government health budgets as companies develop new drugs to treat chronic diseases.After underperforming the major indices since the end of the pandemic, the NBI (Nasdaq Biotechnology Index) offers great relative value and the prospect of superior earnings growth.The sector trades at a 18% PE (price t

International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) 650pGain to date: 4.8%We said to buy shares in International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) on 1 June 2022 at 620.1p as there was an opportunity to buy cheaply into a sector that had been heavily sold off.Biotech can be a high-risk place to invest and so using an investment trust or fund is often a better way to get exposure as the risks are spread across a portf

Since inception in October 2019 RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) has delivered 65.3% growth in NAV (net asset value), smashing the performance of the Russell 2000 Biotech index which is down 0.7% as well as the NBI (Nasdaq Biotech Index) which is up 20.6% over the same period.Despite the superior performance to the benchmark and peers, the shares trade at an unwarranted 23% discount to NAV, represe

With so much macroeconomic uncertainty, the recent mergers and acquisitions spree has lost momentum apart from one sector.Big pharmaceutical firms are awash with cash, yet patent cliffs (expiration of patent protection) present challenges which can be partially fixed by buying smaller biotech firms with products almost ready to go to market.International Biotechnology Trust's (IBT) Ailsa Craig and

- Activist Carl Icahn takes 1.4% Illumina stake - Shares jump 17% after falling 57% over two years- Pfizer acquires Seagen for $43 billionUS gene sequencing giant Illumina (ILMN:NASDAQ) saw its shares jump 17% overnight after activist investor Carl Icahn revealed a 1.4% stake and launched a proxy fight to gain board seats.According to the Wall Street Journal Icahn said: 'We are convinced that at l

- Investment manager wants to terminate contract- Current fund managers to stay on for smooth transition- Likely to be strong interest from other fund managersBiotechnology specialist International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) said investment adviser SV Health Investors had given notice to terminate the management of the trust from 9 February 2024 or earlier if agreed by the parties.SV Health Investo

The brutal sell-off in biotechnology stocks has presented an opportunity for well-positioned specialist managers to exploit rare bargains in a sector which has historically outperformed the market.We believe the International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) is a great way to get low risk exposure to this exciting space.The trust trades at a slight discount to net asset value (NAV) and unusually in the s

While it may be slightly out of favour with investors at present, healthcare is a good addition to any portfolio. It tends to be relatively insensitive to what's happening in the wider economy and demographic drivers, particularly in the West, are likely to underpin demand in the years to come as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.Investment Trust Polar Capital Global Healthcare (PCGH) trades at

When Kate Bingham, managing partner of SV Health Managers LLP was appointed chair of the UK Vaccine Task Force by the Government, it made life awkward for the team managing the International Biotechnology Trust (IBT).That's because Bingham oversees the unquoted part of the portfolio, representing around 11.2% of the trust's assets and to ensure there were no conflicts of interest, the managers pre

Revenue reserves are often touted as a major advantage of owning investment trusts over traditional funds (also called open-ended funds). However, there can be some misunderstanding over how this feature works, which we will now explain.Investment trusts (also called closed-ended funds) are allowed put aside up to 15% of their income to support dividend payments during harder times, which is calle

International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) 793pGain to Date: 73.5%Original entry point: Buy at 457p, 19 March 2020Napoleon supposedly preferred lucky generals to good ones, and while our timing to buy International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) was lucky, coming as it did a few days before equity markets bottomed, it also demonstrated the sense in buying quality assets managed by an experienced team at a