Big Yellow Group (BYG) £11.74Market Cap: £2.28 billionIt may not be a glamorous sector, but self-storage is a remarkably stable and lucrative business with tremendous growth prospects.As the UK market leader, with a portfolio of 109 stores and 6.4 million feet of lettable space, Big Yellow (BYG) is easily the most recognisable brand.The business is driven by 'life events', which can range from s

I am planning on finishing work in a few months' time and want to take my tax-free cash from my pension pot. I understand the rest of my pot will remain invested. However, I have been reading up on this and how to manage the investment.A couple of sources have mentioned 'pound cost ravaging'. What is this and how can I guard against it?DanRachel Vahey, AJ Bell Head of Public Policy, says:Pension s

Q4 sales and earnings top estimatesManagement raise 2025 guidanceDividend hiked by 10%Economic bellwether FedEx (FDX:NYSE) saw its shares jump 15% in after-market trading after the delivery giant guided for 2025 earnings above Wall Street consensus expectations.If the shares hold onto their overnight gains, they are expected to open around the highs of the year at $290, representing a 15% gain, in

London's FTSE 100 capped off a losing week with a slight decline on Friday, though it avoided the heftier falls seen on the continent as French political uncertainty weighed heavily on the CAC 40 in Paris once more.The FTSE 100 index closed down 16.81 points, 0.2%, at 8,146.86. The FTSE 250 ended down 75.59 points, 0.4%, at 20,120.36, and the AIM All-Share lost 4.39 points, 0.6%, at 776.04.For the

Pre-tax profits soared 90% last yearHeavyweight backers include Arm and Sony$21.2 billion market opportunityAffordable computer developer Raspberry Pi (RPI) made a stunning debut on the London Stock Exchange with its IPO (initial public offering) priced at 280p, the top end of the range, and the shares surging 30% higher to 360p in early dealings.UK tech stories are few and far between in London,

SharkNinja (SN:NYSE) $75.16Gain to date: 53.5%We highlighted the attractions of SharkNinja (SN:NYSE) at $49 last December and shares in the cleaning-to-cooking appliances designer have soared 53.5% higher since. Risk-averse readers may be tempted to take profits off the table, but Shares believes this would be a mistake given the massive market share opportunity ahead for the Shark and Ninja brand

Stocks in London fell back on Wednesday, despite a jump in flagship retailer Marks & Spencer, as hot inflation figures dealt a blow to hopes for a June interest rate cut.Over in the US, focus will be on the latest batch of Federal Reserve meeting minutes, as well as earnings from chipmaker Nvidia.The FTSE 100 index traded down 28.02 points, 0.3%, at 8,388.43. The FTSE 250 was down 39.56 points, 0.

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE By Melissa Gallagher, Head of Investment Trusts, BlackRock ?During tough economic conditions, the pie gets smaller. If customers don?t have a compelling reason to buy a product, they won?t.?While the outlook for this year?s ISA season is less grim than it was 12 months ago, there are still headwinds for markets in the year ahead. The UK slipped into recession at the

Customer numbers growingFull-year guidance confirmedShares fall on ad revenue forecastInvestors in property portal Rightmove (RMV) must be getting used to the market taking a glass-half-empty view of the business, with today?s trading update a prime example.Despite positive news on users and advertisers, the shares have been knocked to the bottom of the FTSE 100 performance table with a loss of 32

Stock prices in London were up heading into the afternoon on Monday, beating more cautious trade on mainland Europe, as investors shifted focus onto this week?s Federal Reserve interest rate decision in the US.The FTSE 100 index rose 40.94 points, 0.5%, at 8,180.77. It had climbed to 8,189.14, its best-ever level.?The blue-chip index continues to glow and sustain energy that we haven?t seen in the

Gaming Realms (GMR:AIM) 31.6pMarket cap: £93.4 millionFor the uninitiated, Gaming Realms (GMR:AIM) is a leading business-to-business licensor and distributor of games to the regulated gaming market.The company owns the IP (intellectual property) to the Slingo brand, one of the most popular formats of games played online.As the name suggests the format is a mash-up of slots and bingo. The game in

I would like to leave my favourite charity some money from my pension when I die. My husband will inherit my other assets through my will, and he will have enough money to be comfortable. We don?t have any children.Can I do this? I thought there was a lot of flexibility to leave my pension money to whomever I want.EmmaRachel Vahey, AJ Bell Head of Public Policy, says:Pension freedoms were introduc

European stocks reversed course after Wednesday afternoon?s US inflation, but largely clung on to earlier gains, though it was a bearish start in New York as investors re-assessed the interest rate outlook on the back of the red-hot data.The Federal Reserve?s latest dot-plot suggested three rate cuts could materialise this year. Since the March meeting, however, data has been robust and the odds o

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 new tax year often brings a raft of changes that impact people?s pay, investments and savings ? and this year is no different. Here we list the big changes affecting people?s finances from next month.1. Capital Gains Tax breaks cut again?From April the tax-free allowance for capital gains tax (CGT) will be cut in half, from the current £6,000 down to just £3,000. It means the tax-free amount

London?s FTSE 100 underperformed European peers on Wednesday morning, with wider sentiment taking a hit as investors re-think the Federal Reserve interest rate outlook in the face of robust US data.The FTSE 100 index opened down 37.00 points, 0.5%, at 7,898.09. The FTSE 250 was down 72.68 points, 0.4%, at 19,641.21, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.83 of a point, 0.1%, at 741.57.The Cboe UK 100 wa

Stocks in London headed into the long weekend on the front foot, outperforming their European peers.Markets in London will now shut for two public holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday. They will reopen on Tuesday.The FTSE 100 index closed up 20.64 points, 0.3%, at 7,952.62. The FTSE 250 ended up 74.07 points, 0.4%, at 19,884.73, and the AIM All-Share closed up 1.15 points, or 0.2%, at 743.26.Ov

In a world of thousands of stocks, certain people just want to focus on ones that are doing well. If these stocks are part of a group with a snappy acronym or label, they must surely matter, right? That is the widespread view among the investment community.Investors love a narrative and what better way to hook people in than with a label that says, ?look at me?. The Magnificent Seven is the latest

In the middle of a bull market in stocks, gilts are back on the menu for investors. They might not offer the eye-popping returns experienced by Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) shareholders, but nonetheless individual gilts were some of the most popular investments made over the last year on the AJ Bell platform, both by financial advisers and DIY investors.Clearly rising interest rates have precipitated gilt

Stock prices in London opened higher on Thursday, ahead of a flash UK PMI reading and the next interest rate decision by the Bank of England.Stocks on Wall Street got a boost on Wednesday, after the US Federal Reserve was surprisingly dovish and left its three rate cuts unchanged from the December dot plot.Eyes now turn onto the Bank of England which will announce its own interest rate decision at