Full year profit up 10%Dividend hiked by 7%Buyback raised to £1.5 billionShares in business information and data analytics company Relx (REL) climbed 2% to a new all-time high of £42 after reporting 10% growth in adjusted full-year operating profit and projecting another strong year in 2025.The shares are up 27% over the last 12 months, comfortably ahead of the 16% gain in the blue-chip FTSE...

With a sense of anticipation Shares scurried along to Finsbury Growth & Income Trust's (FGT) latest AGM (annual general meeting) at London's Guildhall on a wet and windy day (28 January), where shareholders turned up in droves and one or two left the assembled board members squirming in their seats.While the total return-focused trust's long-run record under star manager Nick Train remains...

What a mixed year this has turned out to be for Shares' best ideas for 2024.That our one star turn stock was an annuities and lifetime mortgage specialist, even if it was 'screamingly cheap at its current price', as we originally noted, and the supposedly exciting tech growth picks have been dull-to-dismal, might make you hark back to school days studies of Christopher Hill's The World Turned...

Now that the dust has settled after the UK elections and attention has turned back to markets, we have updated the performance stats on our tips for 2024. Overall, our picks have gained 8.7% year-to-date compared with an 8.3% rise in the FTSE All-Share. That's not to say it has been plain sailing ? our returns range from a gain of almost 60% to a loss of more than 40%, the latter is in a US...

Caledonia Investments (CLDN)Price: £35.18Market cap: £1.92 billionAmid all the talk of the UK market being full of 'hidden gems', we think Caledonia Investments (CLDN) could be one of the best examples of 'hidden value' in the mid-cap FTSE 250 index.The global multi-asset investment company tends not to get much air-time, but Shares caught up with chief executive Mat Masters and finance...

The last couple of years have seen outsized returns for stocks, especially those in the US, but that doesn?t mean now is a bad time to invest. The truth is there is never a bad time to invest as long as you are looking to stay invested for the long term.From its inception in 1984 to 2022, the FTSE 100 index has gained around 5.5% per year in price terms and 7.5% per year in terms of total...

Our portfolio of picks for 2024 is off to a solid start in what proved an uneven first quarter for the stock market as a whole.Our return of 9% is comfortably ahead of our FTSE All-Share benchmark at 3.9%. It?s a tale of feast and famine, however, with half of our selections achieving double-digit gains while 40% are in the red.!function(){"use...

One of the most popular investment trusts with AJ Bell?s ISA millionaires, City of London (CTY) is a favourite with investors seeking long-term income and capital growth and a gateway to large international companies.However, while the long-run performance record is strong, Curtis? cautious approach means the fund can underperform in some market conditions. On a 10-year share price total...

By his own admission, Nick Train, manager of Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT), isn?t one for nostalgia, whether that is reflecting on past glories or the ?melancholy fact? as he puts it that the popular investment trust has underperformed the FTSE All-Share index for the last three years.Moving into 2024, the trust has again lagged the benchmark with a share price return of -1.9% in January...

FTSE 100 firm RELX (REL) is 'ahead of the game' when it comes to integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its business and we think this continues to be underappreciated by the market. We expect that to change in 2024 and this makes the shares a compelling investment for the year ahead.RELX takes large datasets and analyses these for clients across a range of sectors as well as publishing...

AdobeIt may look like odd timing to back Adobe (ADBE:NASDAQ) just after lukewarm guidance, but we think this is a great opportunity.The creative digital software firm called for fiscal 2024 earnings per share of $17.60 to $18 on $21.3 billion to $21.5 billion revenue, a little light compared with the consensus of $18 and $21.7 billion revenue respectively.The shares plunged 7%, which seemed...

RELX (REL) £28.83Market cap: £53.9 billionShares in information provider and data analytics specialist RELX (REL) rarely look cheap and today is no exception. However, this is a really excellent business, whose track record stands up over the long term and which is well positioned to adapt to and benefit from developments like the growth of AI (artificial intelligence).The stock has enjoyed...

It's not often the UK stock market gets to blow its own trumpet but in September the FTSE 100 was the best-performing major global index, gaining 2.3%, while Germany's Dax lost 3%, the S&P500 lost 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended the month 4.5% lower.Key drivers of international weakness were the continued rise in bond yields, which is particularly negative for the valuation of growth...

It can be hard to look past day-to-day cares and worries and give proper thought to achieving a financially comfortable retirement. However, if you want to enjoy a decent quality of life after you bring your career to a close then you must devote more attention to your pension.Investment trusts, held within a SIPP (self-invested personal pension), can be a useful vehicle to help you achieve...

We have touched before on the issue of 'concentration risk' or having too many eggs in one basket and the benefits of a diversified portfolio. The recent decision by the Nasdaq stock exchange to reduce the weighting of the biggest tech stocks has once again raised the question, can you have too much of a good thing?We do not necessarily mean tech stocks, but as an investor it is important to...

There is no hotter area to invest in today than artificial intelligence, or AI as it is commonly known. Ever since OpenAI's ChatGPT took the world by storm, investors have been racing to find winners from this explosive trend.Corporate leaders, meanwhile, have been scrambling to prove to investors that they are harnessing the technology to drive revenue growth, improve operational efficiency,...

Today's era of higher interest rates means shares face competition for investors' hard-earned savings money from the interest on cash and the coupons paid out by bonds. However, the purchasing power of cash is being eroded by inflation, while the coupons investors clip from bonds can only ever be fixed.'The beauty of equities and equity income is the growth,' says Troy Asset Management's Blake...

Given some of the most successful fund managers go to the trouble of calculating the average age of companies in their portfolios it is fair to conclude it is an important characteristic of how they invest.In this article we look at why longevity in companies matters and identify some of the oldest firms across the UK, Europe, and US. Later in the article we look at some of the oldest...

Putting aside some of your disposable income on a regular basis to build up a deposit on a first home and take that initial step onto the property ladder is something everyone strives for, but did you know the government will give you thousands of pounds for free to do it?Launched in April 2017, the Lifetime ISA is one of the less well-publicised savings products, but it can get you to that...

Finally, everyone is talking about UK stocks. The spotlight is back on the country after the UK's FTSE 100 was one of the few major indices globally to record positive returns in 2022 and this year it has broken through the 8,000 level and hit a new record high. Hopefully, this will lead to the return of foreign investors who have shunned the UK since the Brexit vote in 2016.Investors can...