Pension consulting and administration group XPS Pensions (XPS) has been on a tear over the last year with the shares almost doubling, reflecting double-digit growth in the business.An unscheduled trading update on 14 February sent the shares to yet another new all-time high as the FTSE 250 company revealed full year results will be 'materially' above previously ungraded expectations.The board expe

London stocks were mixed on Friday, on the back of geopolitical uncertainty as world leaders come together at the Munich Security Conference.US Vice President JD Vance said Friday the US was prepared to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, ahead of a meeting in Munich with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky meanwhile said that once Kyiv reached a common position with the US and Eu

London's blue chip index was in the red around midday on Friday, as investors await US retail sales and industrial production data.The FTSE 100 index traded down 17.80 points, 0.2%, at 8,747.10. The FTSE 250 was up 65.80 points, 0.3%, at 20,981.66, and the AIM All-Share climbed 2.18 points, 0.3%, at 725.38.The Cboe UK 100 was flat at 877.76, the Cboe UK 250 firmed 0.3% to 18,337.27 and the Cboe Sm

Full year to be materially aheadRegulatory change tailwindAnalysts upgrade earningsIn an unscheduled trading update, pension consulting and administration group XPS Pensions (XPS) said it expects full year results to March to be 'materially' ahead of prior expectations.The shares raced 14% ahead, hitting an all-time peak of 396p in early trading before settling around the 386p level.Over the last

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 question a

Bellway director sells 27,303 sharesSupreme director sells 1.6 million sharesXPS Pensions CFO sells £223,881 worth of sharesIn the run-up to the Budget on 30 October, many directors have been selling shares in anticipation of a hike in capital gains tax.A person closely associated (PCA) with Keith Adey executive director of Tyne and Wear-based housebuilder Bellway (BWY) has sold 27,303 shares for

First half revenue up 23%Full year ahead of prior expectationsPositive regulatory backdropPension consulting and administration firm XPS Pensions (XPS) jumped 9% to a new all-time high of 334.4p after reporting strong first half revenue growth of 23% and raising full year guidance.The shares are up 99p or 42% so far in 2024 and 66% over the last 12 months after notching up another year of 20% reve

Investors will be keen to discover if insurer Direct Line Insurance (DLG) has continued its positive start to the year when it reports first-half results on 4 September after a tumultuous 12 months.The business delivered a strong first quarter, with double-digit written premium growth in Motor, Home and Commercial businesses and overall growth of 15% for ongoing operations.Chief executive Adam Win

After reporting record revenue in the year to March 2023, the question for pension consulting and actuarial firm XPS Group (XPS) was 'how do we follow that?', as co-chief executive Paul Cuff put it.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(

For readers who may not be aware, being market-cap weighted both the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 index are reviewed and rebalanced every three months to take account of share price movements.In the previous review, which took place at the end of February, budget airline group EasyJet (EZJ) won promotion to the FTSE 100 while precious metals group Endeavour Mining (EDV) was relegated to the FTSE 250

The knock-on effects of the Truss government?s disastrous ?mini-Budget? in late 2022, which caused panic-selling of bonds by pension funds and forced the Bank of England to provide tens of billions of pounds to stabilise markets, continue to work their way slowly through the financial system.Whereas before the upheaval most defined-benefit (DB) funds were decades from being fully funded, thanks to

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 FTSE 3

Soft drinks business Britvic (BVIC) serves up full-year results on 22 November, when investors will be thirsty to learn how volumes are holding up at the Fruit Shoot, Robinsons and Tango maker which also produces and sells brands including Pepsi and 7UP in Great Britain and Ireland under exclusive agreements with PepsiCo (PEP:NASDAQ).Price hikes and volume growth helped Britvic's revenues to bubbl

Higher prices set to dominate Tesco's first-quarter earnings updateBargain-hunting and promotions means margins could be lowerSupermarket giant Tesco (TSCO) is due to report its results for the period from March to May on 16 June, with analysts expecting higher prices to be the main driver of sales while volumes and average basket sizes are likely to have fallen.This is against a first quarter of

Ken Wotton, manager of Strategic Equity Capital (SEC), reveals how he chooses which stocks to invest in and how he continually reviews his portfolio to ensure it is suited to market conditions. Importantly, and by design, the businesses in our portfolios share certain characteristics centred around financial quality and mitigating downside risk.They have very low levels of leverage or none at all,

Stock prices were largely in the red in London at midday on Wednesday as investors await in-coming interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.The FTSE 100 index was marginally higher, up 3.52 points at 7,539.74, boosted by a strong performance from banking stocks.Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was down 67.52 points, or 0.4%, at 18,711.58, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.

Stocks prices in London were suffering early Wednesday, but the pound was benefiting, after UK inflation came in higher than expected, rising rather than falling.The FTSE 100 index opened down 15.66 points, or 0.2%, at 7,519.06. The FTSE 250 was down 95.05 points, or 0.5%, at 18,682.71, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.67 of a point, or 0.1%, at 804.29.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 751.94, the

The crisis sparked by the mini-Budget (23 September) may have calmed for now thanks to the intervention of new chancellor Jeremy Hunt but the issues raised by this episode have not gone away.As is often the case during periods of market stress previously obscure areas come into focus and that's been the case with LDIs (liability-driven investment policies) held by defined benefit pension schemes.

Investors are increasingly looking for stocks, bonds or funds that pay a good income.Dividends or bond coupons provide positive returns which are particularly attractive in a more challenging market such as now.Many people have this year lost money from backing high-growth but dividend-less stocks such as Tesla (TSLA:NASDQ) and Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ), and they're fed up.In the other side of the rin

Look at the investment trust space if you want to outperform the market when it comes to investing in UK smaller companies.Using data from FE Fundinfo, Shares compared the sector performance to the FTSE All-Share and the Numis Smaller Companies indices.Only seven out of 17 open-ended funds in the UK Smaller Companies sector have beaten the market over the past five years, according to analysis by