Dividends on Spread Bets? Many first-time spread bettors will not even consider the impact of dividends on their trading returns, and may not even realise that spread bets pay dividends (or the equivalent adjustments or credits)...
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Risk Grades, Price Monitoring Extensions and Capitulation
Q. Risk grade – what risk grade? Have you noticed that for the first time in a long time that the Risk Grade on Rank has today dropped below 300. Risk grade – what risk grade? A: Broadly speaking the Risk Grade...
Why are Shared Ownership Schemes usually a Bad Idea?
Q. Why are Shared Ownership Schemes usually a bad idea? A: There are a number of reasons to be careful of these schemes. However, there are numerous variations on the theme, which makes it impossible to describe any...
Housebuilders Priced below Book Value and REITS
Q. Housebuilders priced below book value…isn’t that a very strong positive buy signal? I picked up a comment about many housebuilders currently being priced below book value by up to 20%. Now unless there is some...
Buybacks, Debt, Placings and Profit Warnings
Q. Are there rules on when profit warnings have to be issued? Over the last year I have experienced profit warnings on a few equity holdings I held – in several instances the results came in significantly below broker...
Mergers and Takeovers
Q. Mergers – Why do the acquiring company shares often fall while the target company shares rise? There are some misconceptions among small investors about the stock price movements in the situations when one company...
Promotion and Relegation of FTSE Stocks
Q. Why isn’t an AIM stock with a big capitalization like Playtech not in the FTSE 250? A: AIM stocks can be any size. AIM is independent of the FTSE ‘leagues’. AIM sits alongside the FTSE index not beneath it...
Questions about Yield, Ex-Dividend and Record Date
Q. Why do I have to pay tax on shareholdings? A: Taxes are a way for the state to generate revenue and unfortunately all share investors are liable to a 10% tax on company dividends which is usually deducted by your broker. Even...
Preference Shares and Share Splits
Q. What are Preference Shares? Recently I’ve heard of banks issuing preference shares – how are these different to ordinary shares and am I better or worse with preference shares (when compared to ordinary shares...
Analysts Jargon, Underweight, Neutral and Overweight
Q. What are Broker Tips? A: Broker tips are recommendations to buy, sell or hold shares made by brokerage firms. These range from well-known, international brands such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan through to much smaller...