2023 profits shy of estimatesTougher trading seen in DecemberBoard envisions brighter 2024Shares in Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) plunged almost 30% to a 12-month low of 62.1p after the eyewear company warned its performance for the 2023 calendar year would be below market expectations due to softer sales in December.The market took a dim view of the news, although Bath-headquartered Inspecs said it...

For the second part of our annual survey, we asked fund managers if they had changed their view on any stocks this year, for better or for worse, and what lay behind their decisions.As with the winners and losers survey last week, the answers were often frank and once again we would like to thank everyone who took part.Thomas Moore - Aberdeen Equity Income Trust (AEI)THE STOCK THAT I CHANGED...

There were several trends in the UK stock market this year which, if you managed to identify them, served you well.Most obviously, although it may not have seemed it at the index level, large-cap stocks generally performed better than small- and mid-caps, although for the lucky few the small-cap space has been rife with takeover activity.In terms of sectors, aerospace and defence topped the...

Allied Minds (ALM) chairman Bruce Failing bought $4 million worth of shares in the tech incubator just days before investors voted in favour of the company delisting from the London Stock Exchange.Once backed by fund manager Neil Woodford before his career hit the wall, Allied Minds was set up to commercialise bright ideas created by US academia and federal research laboratories.The company...

'Recent market falls have given us the opportunity to buy some great companies at sensible prices,' says Simon Edelsten, co-manager for investment trust Mid Wynd International (MWY) and the open-ended Artemis Global Select (B568S20) fund.'If you look at some of our buys this year you might say we've adopted an eyes and ears approach to investing,' continues the Atermis money manager, who...

- Better than expected full-year revenues and profits- Growth continued into 1Q 2022- Maiden dividend of 1.25p per shareEyewear frames designer, manufacturer and distributor Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) delivered better full-year revenues and profit than the market anticipated and said trading in the first three months of 2022 was 'ahead of our expectations'.Sales for the first quarter to March 2022...

Leading eyewear designer, manufacturer and distributer Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) said full-year trading to 31 December was in line with the board's expectations.Looking to 2022 management said it remained confident in delivering sustained growth underpinned by recent acquisitions and 'multiple' market opportunities across the globe.The shares were unchanged at 380p, roughly in the middle of their...

Eyeware company Inspecs (SPEC:AIM), a current Shares Tip of the Year for 2021, added further to its global reach with the acquisition of Swedish design and licensing firm Ego for an initial outlay of just over £6 million.From its headquarters in Stockholm, Ego - which was founded in the early 1960s - designs eyeware for prestige brands such as Liberty, Barbour, Joseph, Viktor & Rolf and...

London's FTSE 100 edged 0.21% higher to 7,356.94 points on the last full trading day before Christmas, as investors welcomed news that the Omicron variant may not be as severe as previous strains.Citing data from an Oxford University laboratory study, drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN) said a three dose course of its Covid-19 vaccine is effective against the highly transmissible new strain.This...

Constructed last December from shares in UK, European and US markets, Shares' 'Stock picks for 2021' portfolio was based on high conviction in 12 companies for the year ahead. While more than half of them have subsequently done well, there were a handful of disappointments.The net effect is a decent 8.6% return excluding dividends - that's higher the historical average 6% to 7% from equities...

Among the best kept investment secrets is the fact smaller companies typically outperform larger companies over the medium and long term thanks to characteristics ranging from innovation and faster organic growth to entrepreneurial management, agility in the face of change and the greater likelihood of a takeover bid.Within the UK's small cap funds and investment trusts sectors is an elite...

Despite a fuel crisis, ongoing inflation worries and the end to the furlough scheme, Shares' top picks for 2021 continue to outperform the wider stock market.But while the FTSE All-Share index ultimately did very little during the third quarter, adding just 44 points, or about 1.1%, our 12-stock selection continued to present us with successes and challenges aplenty.Half a dozen of our picks...

Every December Shares selects a group of stocks to own for the year ahead. The selection for 2021 have performed well with an average share price gain of 15.2% over the past six months compared with a return of 11.9% for the FTSE-All Share index.Although the list isn't intended to be a portfolio, to calculate the return we have assumed that each holding has an equal weighting.The hit rate or...

INSPECS (SPEC:AIM) 404PGain to date: 49%Original entry point: Buy at 271p, 23 Dec 2020Shares in eyewear frames designer-to-optically advanced spectacle lenses maker Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) are up the best part of 50% since we originally highlighted the group's global growth potential and the scale benefits and synergies to come from the acquisition of eyewear supplier Eschenbach.The Bath-based...

At the end of a tumultuous first quarter for global markets our top picks for 2021 have handily outperformed the market, chalking up a 9.5% gain versus 6.3% from UK shares in general, as measured by the FTSE All-Share.Four of the 12 stocks have underperformed, having been victims of shifting market sentiment as much as any individual failings at a company-level.BUMPER PERFORMANCE FROM...

Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) 340pGain to date: 25.5%Original entry point: Buy at 271p, 23 December 2020Shares in eyewear frames designer-to-optically advanced spectacle lenses maker Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) are up an eye-catching 25.5% since we highlighted the group's global growth potential and the scale benefits arising from the acquisition of eyewear supplier Eschenbach in December.An in-line update (29...

Eyewear frames and optically advanced spectacle lenses maker Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) joined the stock market in February 2020 and its shares have since risen by 40%. We see a lot more upside at the Bath-based company which is still in the early stages of its global growth journey.The eyewear industry has bounced back from Covid-enforced closures with opticians operating safely, Inspecs' end-October...

AlibabaChina offers huge growth potential in 2021 and beyond and Alibaba (BABA:NYSE) is arguably the best way to play this theme.The country?s answer to Amazon, Alibaba owns the largest online marketplaces in China while Alibaba Cloud is the region?s leading cloud platform. The company went public six years ago, and its share price has since risen nearly 300%.Ambitious plans, which include...

London's FTSE traded lower on Thursday, the blue chip benchmark down 0.97% at 6,323.56 points following a soft session on Wall Street and in spite of positive vaccine updates.Investors remained concerned by the continuing spread of coronavirus, worried that Covid-19 restrictions will slow the economic recovery, as well as by the lack of progress on a new stimulus aid package across the...

Bath-based eye wear frame specialist Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) has compelling growth credentials which have been masked by disruption to Asian supply chains and closing of opticians during lockdown.We believe this has created a great opportunity to buy the shares at a decent price. On 2021 earnings the shares trade on a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 14.8 according to estimates from broker Peel...