Since they facilitate the flow of capital and debt, financial companies play a crucial role in oiling the wheels of the global economy and due to the fact it permeates almost every aspect of corporate and personal life, the vast financial services sector has been dubbed the 'nervous system of capitalism'. Candidly, this sector has a reputation for being, well, a bit dull, yet financials have a...

Continued outperformance in 1H Interim dividend up 35% Shares trading at premium Valued-focused investment trust Temple Bar (TMPL) delivered another period of outperformance for the six months to 30 June,with the total return in net asset value increasing 14.2% against 9.1% for the benchmark. The trust continued its strong absolute and relative performance with three-year share price total...

Close scrutiny of the AIC's (Association of Investment Companies) UK Equity Income sector shows two trusts with strong retail followings occupying top and bottom spots in the five-year share price total return performance table, namely Temple Bar (TMPL) and Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT). In what represents a reversal of fortunes for two popular portfolios, the value-oriented former has...

In an environment where share prices have been volatile, focusing on dividends and those companies which can grow their dividend over time has real merit. The fact these businesses feel confident enough to increase their generosity to shareholders and, in the first place, have the financial strength and discipline needed to sustain a regular payout, are real ticks in the box from an investment...

According to the latest Dividend Monitor report from Computershare, which looks after the share registers of 900 companies, total UK corporate dividend payments fell 4.6% or £700 million in the first quarter of this year to £14 billion. The decline was mainly due to lower one-off special dividends and a handful of large cuts from firms such as Burberry (BRBY) and Vodafone (VOD), which halved...

Funds inevitably have their up and downs in performance. When a fund has gone through a particularly poor spell, does this represent a buying opportunity for investors in the expectation it will bounce back to form?Likewise for existing investors, should they stick or twist? Fortunately, there are lots of studies from the institutional fund management world which provide answers to that...

Strong first-half returnsInterim dividend up 20%Portfolio still undervaluedValue-focused investment trust Temple Bar (TMPL) continued its run of outperformance in the six months to 30 June with an NAV (net asset value) total return of 13.1% against a 7.4% return for the FTSE All-Share index.The share price total return was 11% following a widening of the discount to NAV to 7.5% from 5.6% at...

Retail bellwether Marks & Spencer's (MKS) latest results (22 May) suggest the food, fashion and furniture seller has embarked on the turnaround which has been long in the making with many false dawns down the years.Shares in the FTSE 100 retailer are at a fresh five-year high of 300p following the delivery of forecast-beating full-year figures and a first final dividend since 2019. Yet despite...

UK stocks look cheap on so many different valuation metrics, not just one or two, suggesting a robust, genuine investment opportunity is available to long-term investors. So why does nobody seem convinced?This article explores the scepticism surrounding the UK?s market?s attractive valuation and examines the underlying evidence to support it. Shares concludes UK stocks really are a compelling...

It has been a difficult year for investment trusts as a whole. Discounts have widened across various sectors and there have been a series of failed continuation votes and mergers. Yet some trusts have still done extremely well - relative both to the wider market and their peer group. In this article we shine a light on the biggest outperformers in some of the Association of Investment...

Retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS) is the gift that keeps on giving. Its share price is up 162% since October 2022, dividends are back after a four-year absence, and analysts keep finding reasons to upgrade earnings forecasts. In fact, the analyst consensus earnings estimate has increased 11 times this year, according to Stockopedia data.Earnings growth is a key driver for share price growth so it...

Value stocks have outperformed growth stocks by 12% since Pfizer (PFE:NYSE) announced the first effective Covid-19 vaccine on 9 November 2020. That's comparing the MSCI World Value index against the MSCI World Growth index.We have reason to believe the value investing style could soon deliver even bigger outperformance given the shift in the backdrop from cheap money to more normalised...

Value-focused trust delivered 3.4% NAV total returnMarks & Spencer among best-performersCar maker Stellantis is a new purchaseValue-oriented investment trust Temple Bar (TMPL) outperformed the FTSE All-Share index in the half ended 30 June 2023 as strong share price performances from the likes of Marks & Spencer (MKS), EasyJet (EZJ) and Standard Chartered (STAN) more than offset disappointing...

If you blinked, you might have missed it, but there was a flicker of life in the UK stock market in July. The FTSE 250 index of medium-sized companies jumped by almost 4% in one day, its best showing for over a year. The FTSE 100 also ended the month at its highest level since May.In and of itself this isn't too remarkable; markets rise and they fall, capriciously and sometimes sharply. But...