Today, the UK’s largest Pharma company, GlaxoSmithKline paid out is July dividend.
19p per share.
What did this cost GlaxoSmithKline ?
The total number of voting rights in the Company is 4,918,418,059, thus:-
4,918,418,059, x £0.19 = £934,499,431.21
That is £934 million.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10042
That is a 5% yield.
On the 5th July, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation paid out its quarterly dividend.
It is 7.8636 pence per share.
http://www.hsbc.com/investor-relations/share-and-dividend-information/dividend-timetable
The total number of voting rights in HSBC Holdings plc is 20,050,550,509.
Thus:-
20,050,550,509 x £0.078636 = £1,576,695,089.83
That is £1,576 Million = £1.576 Billion.
5.5% yield. Delicious
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In June 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
27-Jun-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2026 £1,000.0000 Million
22-Jun-2017 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,587.4980 Million
06-Jun-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,874.9990 Million
01-Jun-2017 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027 £2,500.0000 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£1,000.0000 Million + £2,587.4980 Million + £2,874.9990 Million + £2,500.0000 Million) = £8962.497 Million
Million
£8962.497 Million = £8.962497 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in June, HM Government borrowed:-
£298 million each day for the 30 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2026, 2027 and 2037. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We Are In It Together….”
The Intelligent Investors
On Monday 3rd July, The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust paid out its dividend.
1.16p a share.
https://www.bailliegifford.com/individual-investors/funds/scottish-mortgage-investment-trust/
How much will this dividend cost ?
The total number of voting rights in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC is 1,367,519,485.
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SMT/13211234.html
Thus:
1,367,519,485 x £0.0161 = £22,017,063.71
That is £22m.
The USA’s Central Bank is the Federal Reserve.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/
Run by the New Yorker, Janet Yellan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Yellen
The Growth in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet since 2007 when the Global Financial Crisis began is best documented here:-
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm
Total assets today are at over $4,470 Billion (That is $4.470 TRILLION).
Looking at that graph:
10th Sept 2007: Assets = $886,314 MILLION
22nd May 2017: Assets = $4,470,852 MILLION
One can see the US Fed buying the bad assets of the troubled banks = TARP The Troubled Asset Relief Programme.
The Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust is a London Listed Invesment Company
A £640m fund.
Top 10 holdings:-
CVS 2.89%
FDM 2.49%
JD Sports Fashion 2.34%
Keywords 2.26%
JSG 2.21%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals 2.16%
Sanne 2.11%
Coats 2.09%
BooHoo 1.98%
Clinigen 1.93%
Total top 10 holdings make up 22.46 % of the total holdings.
The total number of holdings are 83.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50965
A yield of over 3%
Zopa (Zone of Potential Agreement), the Peer to Peer lender has launched the Zopa ISA
http://www.zopa.com/lending/isa
the potential yield of over 6% is making the headlines.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/news/zopa-scraps-key-saver-protection-offers-isas-paying-61pc/
Yesterday Royal Dutch Shell paid out its Quarterly Dividend.
$0.47 a share is to be paid out.
$0.47 a share = 37.12p
Royal Dutch Shell plc’s capital consists of 4,476,695,491 A shares and 3,745,486,731 B shares, each with equal voting rights
https://irssl.euroinvestor.com/asp/ir/IRM_Shell/ssl2017/NewsRead.aspx?storyid=13615958&ishtml=1
Thus:-
4,476,695,491 A shares x 37.12p + 3,745,486,731 B shares x 37.12p = £3,052,074,040.81
That is £3 Billion.
Delicious.
The term last time buyers is the fact of the UK housing shortage.
The facts.
The housing market in the UK is stagnant, largely because there aren’t enough new houses being built for people to move into. With over 11.4 million homeowners over the age of 55 classed as Last Time Buyers.
These “Last Time Buyers” (LTBs) are sitting on £820 billion of property wealth and 7.7 million spare bedrooms. The equivalent to 2.6 million family homes.
Imagine the possibility of freeing up these houses ?
What huge affect this would have. So why has nothing happened ?
First, many older homeowners allow inertia to keep them in their current home, which is often no longer fit for purpose and expensive to maintain. Also, many of those 55 and over – and 63% of those with at least two spare bedrooms – do intend to move, but all too often, they leave it late. More than half believe that it will be best to wait until they are over 70 before moving, and a quarter will wait until 80. Coupled with a lack of suitable alternatives, high asking prices and the potential tax burden when they do try to downsize, this means that many will never make the move.
We need tax advantages to help our retired population down size and free up homes and nlock huge amounts of wealth.
BP today paid out its quarterly dividend, Fri 23rd June 2017
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bp_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=233&newsid=881611
the first quarter 2017 would be US$0.10 per ordinary share = 7.7563 pence per share.
What is the cost of this dividend to BP PLC ?
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bp_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=233&newsid=878650
The total number of voting rights in BP p.l.c. is 19,684,630,913
Thus:
19,684,630,913 x 7.7563 pence per share = £1,526,799,027.51
That is £1.526 Billion = £1.526 Billion
A yield of 6.9%. Delicious.
The Henderson Diversified Income Trust is a London Listed investment company
https://www.janushenderson.com/ukpi/fund/195/henderson-diversified-income-limited
The Top Ten Holdings are:-
1 VIRGIN MEDIA SECURED FINANCE PLC 6.25% BDS 28/03/29 GBP100000REG S 2.10%
2 NATIONWIDE BLDG SOC 10.25% VAR PERP CCDS GBP 2.00%
3 CO-OPERATIVE GROUP HLDGS 2011 LTD 6.25% NTS 08/07/26 GBP100000 1.80%
4 CSC 6.625% 2025 1.80%
5 PGH CAPITAL 6.625% 18/12/25 1.80%
6 TRAVELPORT 6/16 TLB 1.80%
7 COTT CORP 5.5% BDS 01/04/25 USD2000 144A 1.70%
8 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP 6.25% 2049 1.70%
9 ERICOM IRELAND 10/16 TLB 1.60%
10 EVRY 9/10 TLB4 1.60%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=250708&action=
a yield of over 5%
Work done by highly regarding Resolution Foundation shows how living standards are falling
http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/
As inflation picks up, and wage growth is near zero, our purchasing power falls.
As items such as petrol for the car, food such as staples like bread, milk, cheese and fruit all increase in price, but zero wage growth, life gets hard.
What this shows time and time again, the most vulnerable suffer.
Climbed from 105p to today at 250p.
The Real Estate Credit Investments focuses on secured commercial and residential debt in the UK and Western Europe by exploiting opportunities in publically traded securities and real estate loans.
http://www.recreditinvest.com/
The Investment Portfolio of loans is worth £163.7m
Number of loans 19
Fair Value £112.8m of loans
Number of bonds 28
Bond Portfolio £62.7m
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=152828&action=
The Alcentra European Floating Rate Income Fund Limited is London listed investment company.
The fund invests predominantly in senior secured loans and floating rate senior secured bonds issued by European corporates.
5 Largest Holdings:-
Numericable 3.14% of Fund
Motor Fuel Group 2.57% of Fund
ERM 2.46% of Fund
Diaverum 2.20% of Fund
Cabot 1.95% of Fund
The Geographic Breakdown:-
UK 34.62%
France 16.02%
Netherlands 10.61%
Germany 8.78%
USA 6.34%
Luxembourg 5.09%
Sweden 4.47%
Spain 3.49%
Norway 2.62%
Other 5.99%
Cash 1.97%
It pays dividends monthly.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=2673632
A yield of over 6.5%
On Thursday 8th June, Legal and General PLC paid out 10.35p to shareholders.
What was the cost of the dividend to Legal and General PLC ?
http://ir.euroinvestor.com/Tools/newsArticleHTML.aspx?solutionID=3066&customerKey=legalandgeneralgroup&storyID=13617595&language=en
The Company’s capital consisted of 5,955,353,619 Ordinary shares of 2.5p each, with voting rights.
Thus:-
5,955,353,619 x £0.1035 = £616,379,099.57
That is £616 Million
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10055&action=
that is 5.5% yield.
Delicious.
The Lloyds Banking Group has now finally returned to private ownership after the 2008 financial crisis.
Today the shares offer a dividend yield of over 3.5%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10056&action=
Look at the 5 year performance.
Lows of 30p
Highs of 88p
3i: Investors In Industry.
Its share price growth over the past 5 years in amazing
from £2 to £9.
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In May 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 3 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
23-May-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2036 £882.3000 Million
18-May-2017 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2019 £2,962.1500 Million
04-May-2017 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2037 £2,293.7880 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£882.3000 Million + £2,962.1500 Million + £2,293.7880 Million) = £6,138.238 Million
£6,138.238 Million = £6.138238 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 31 days in May, HM Government borrowed:-
£198 million each day for the 31 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2019, 20236and 2037. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We Are In It Together….”
Luis Alvarez the former CEO of BT Global Services with www.asadkarim.co.uk
In these near zero interest rate times (base rate in 0.25%), the hunt for yield is imperative.
However, one can find some gold nuggets if one looks hard.
http://www.greencoat-ukwind.com/
An infrastructure investor in UK wind farms. Twenty wind farms comprising a net capacity of 436.1MW
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=7013076&action=
A yield of over 5%
The BlackRock Commodities Income Investment Trust plc is a London listed investment vehicle
It’s top ten holdings are:-
1. Royal Dutch Shell Plc B. 6.6%
2. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 6.0%
3. Rio Tinto Plc. 5.7%
4. Exxon Mobil Corporation 5.5%
5. BHP Billiton Plc. 3.7%
6. MMC Norilsk Nickel 2.9%
7. Newcrest Mining Ltd. 2.8%
8. Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. 2.7%
9. Conocophillips. 2.7%
10. Glencore International PLC. 2.6%
Total of 41.2%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=152827&action=
A yield of over 8%
The Best PM the UK Never Had.
The insurance fund consolidating company Phoenix Holdings has an incredible dividend policy.
http://www.thephoenixgroup.com/
it is over 6%.
In an environment of 0.25% Base Rate, this yield is delicious.
The UK’s Flagship Index is the FTSE-100 Index.
The symbol is UKX
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50058
The top 100 UK companies but 12 companies distort the index due to relative weightings.
Royal Dutch Shell is 9.2% of the FTSE-100
HSBC 6.9% of the FTSE-100
British American Tobacco 5.4% of the FTSE-100
BP 4.7% of the FTSE-100
GlaxoSmithKline 4.2% of the FTSE-100
AstraZeneca 3.2% of the FTSE-100
Diageo 3.1% of the FTSE-100
Vodafone 2.9% of the FTSE-100
Unilever 2.6% of the FTSE-100
Reckitt Benckiser 2.5% of the FTSE-100
Lloyds Banking Group 2.4% of the FTSE-100
Prudential 2.4% of the FTSE-100
That is 12 companies make up 49.5% of the whole index.
What does this mean ?
So if you invested £1,000 with a FTSE 100 tracker, 49.5% of that £1,000 which is nearly half of your investment just goes into 12 stocks. That means, £495 of your cash is invested in the 12 companies above, and then the remaining £505 will be spread between 88 companies.
Thus your fortunes are tied to really 12 companies and their performance. A very distorted index.
On Friday 19th May 2017, The Prudential paid its 30.57p dividend to shareholders
with assets of £599 Billion Under Management.
The total number of voting rights in Prudential is therefore 2,585,706,972
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/prudential_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=401&newsid=868325
Thus:
2,585,706,972 * £0.3057 = £790,450,621.34
That is £790 million
2.5% yield
On Wednesday 17th May 2017, GKN paid its 5.9p dividend to shareholders
Founded in 1759 with today over 58,000 employees, GKN is a global engineering business. GKN, design, manufacture and service systems and components for most of the world’s leading aircraft, vehicle and machinery manufacturers.
Founded more than 250 years ago, GKN have adapted, developed and grown into a £9.4 billion business at the forefront of global technology
The total number of voting rights in GKN plc is 1,717,311,053
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/gkn1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=76&newsid=868483
Thus:
1,717,311,053 * £0.059 = £101,321,352.13
That is £101 million
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10041
2.5% yield
Yesterday, (Tue 16th May), Lloyds Banking Group, paid out its dividend to shareholders.
2.2p was paid out.
What did this 2.2p dividend cost Lloyds Banking Group ?
The share capital of Lloyds Banking Group is made up of 71,459,965,313 ordinary shares
Thus:
71,459,965,313 x £0.022 = £1,572,119,236.89
That is £1.572 Billion of cash
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10056&action=
A yield of over 3%
The UK’s national electricity network is owned and run by National Grid.
HM Opposition (the Labour party) are proposing it is nationalised if they win the UK general election.
What would it cost for the UK Government to buy back National Grid from the investors who own it today ?
Share Price is about £10 a share.
Total voting rights
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/national_grid/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=374&newsid=868275
3,753,238,483 are the shares in circulation
Thus:
3,753,238,483 x £10 = £37,532,384,830
That is £37 Billion pounds which is just about the UK’s current annual defence budget.
Also, if the UK Government bought National Grid, it has to take on it’s debt.
That debt is over £25bn.
So, potentially spends £37bn to buy it and needs to cover the £25bn of debt.
On Thursday 11th May, BT plc, the worlds most dynamic media and telecoms group announced its annual results.
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bt/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1470&newsid=870893
The proposed dividend is delicious:
“Proposed final dividend of 10.55p, up 10%, giving a full year dividend of 15.40p, also up 10%.”
Now the total voting rights are
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bt/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1470&newsid=867698
The total number of voting rights in BT Group plc on that date was 9,960,490,519
This, the dividend will cost BT:
9,960,490,519 x £0.1055 = £1,050,831,750
That is just over £1 Billion.
a 5% yield. Delicious
Apple has massive cash reserves.
The figures are incredible.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q2FY17ConsolidatedFinancialStatements.pdf
The Balance Sheet is revealing:-
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $15,157,000,000
Short-term marketable securities $51,944,000,000
Accounts receivable, less an allowance of $53 at each period end 11,579,000,000
Inventories $2,910,000,000
Vendor non-trade receivables $9,033,000,000
Other current assets $11,367,000,000
Total current assets $101,990,000,000
Long-term marketable securities $189,740,000,000
Property, plant and equipment, net $27,163,000,000
Goodwill $5,473,000,000
Acquired intangible assets, net $2,617,000,000
Other non-current assets $7,549,000,000
Total assets $ 334,532,000,000
It holds over $15 Billion in cash or close to cash assets such as T-Bills
It holds $51 Billion in short term securities, such as 3 Month T-Bills or Asset Back Commercial Paper that matures in 3 months
It holds inventory (iPads, iPhones) worth $2.9 Billion
It holds long term assets such as Bonds and other financial instruments of $189 Billion
So the financial assets are $15bn + $51bn + $189bn. = BIG MONEY = $255bn
Infrastructure India PLC is an AIM London listed company buying infrastructure assets in India.
It currently owns 4 assets in India:
Distribution Logistics Infrastructure Limited (DLI)
Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Limited
Indian Energy Limited (IEL)
India Hydropower Development Company, LLC
The Foreign & Colonial Property Trust has had amazing performance.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=112535
A yield of 4%
Look at the growth and the clear dip of Brexit, and then recovery.
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In April 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
26-Apr-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2046 £857.7930 Million
20-Apr-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £3,162.4970 Million
12-Apr-2017 2½% Treasury Gilt 2065 £1,724.9990 Million
04-Apr-2017 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027 £2,867.7390 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£857.7930 Million + £3,162.4970 Million + £1,724.9990 Million + £2,867.7390 Million = £8,613.028 Million
£8,613.028 Million = £8.613028 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in April, HM Government borrowed:-
£287 million each day for the 30 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2027 2046 and 2065. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
Yesterday (Tue 2nd May), the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust paid out it’s monthly dividend of 2.7p to shareholders.
http://www.fandc.com/foreign-and-colonial-investment-trust/
Companies % of Portfolio
Amazon 1.4
UnitedHealth 1.2
Alphabet 1.1
Microsoft 1.1
Utilico Emerging Markets 0.9
Facebook 0.8
BP 0.8
Priceline 0.8
Philip Morris 0.7
Apple 0.7
Total assets: £3.6 billion
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/fandc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=521&newsid=860565
The total number of voting rights that can be exercised in the Company is: 545,024,660
Thus:
545,024,660 x £0.027 = £14,715,665.82
That is £14m in dividend payments
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10192&action=
A yield of 1.7%
Dow 30 Index
The Dow Jones is now hitting all times highs. Who are the Dow 30 Companies
MMM 3M
AXP American Express
AAPL Apple
BA Boeing
CAT Caterpillar
CVX Chevron
CSCO Cisco
KO Coca-Cola
DIS Disney
DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co
XOM Exxon Mobil
GE General Electric
GS Goldman Sachs
HD Home Depot
IBM IBM
INTC Intel
JNJ Johnson & Johnson
JPM JPMorgan Chase
MCD McDonald’s
MRK Merck
MSFT Microsoft
NKE Nike
PFE Pfizer
PG Procter & Gamble
TRV Travelers Companies Inc
UTX United Technologies
UNH UnitedHealth
VZ Verizon
V Visa
WMT Wal-Mart
Yesterday (Friday 28th April), the TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund paid out it’s monthly dividend of 0.5p to shareholders.
https://twentyfouram.com/en/funds/twentyfour-select-monthly-income-fund/
Security Sector % of whole fund
NWIDE 10.25 PERP CCDS Banks 2.93
COVBS 6.375 PERP Banks 2.48
SANUK 10.375 Banks 2.34
AVOCA 11X F ABS 2.25
JUBIL 2014-12X F ABS 2.19
BRACKN 10.5 11/15/21 REGS High Yield – EU 1.98
ALDMRE 11.875 PERP Banks 1.89
ARGID 6.625 09/15/23 REGS High Yield – EU 1.85
CS 7.5 PERP REGS Banks 1.84
HPARK 1X E ABS 1.82
With 154.6 million shares in circulation: 154,600,000
Thus 154,600,000 x £0.005 = £773,000 was the cost of the dividend.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=26656574
A yield of 7%. You read that correct.
The Performance of The Witan Investment Trust.
The Witan Investment Trust is a long standing famous London listed Investment Trust.
The performance is amazing
Berkshire Hathaway the investment company run by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet holds these stocks in its investment portfolio.
151,610,700 shares in American Express Company = 16.8% of Company Owned
61,242,652 shares in Apple Inc. 1.1% of Company Owned
6,789,054 shares in Charter Communications, Inc. 2.5% of Company Owned
400,000,000 shares in The Coca-Cola Company 9.3% of Company Owned
54,934,718 shares in Delta Airlines Inc. 7.5% of Company Owned
11,390,582 shares in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. 2.9% of Company Owned
81,232,303 shares in International Business Machines Corp. 8.5% of Company Owned
24,669,778 shares in Moody’s Corporation 12.9% of Company Owned
74,587,892 shares in Phillips 66 14.4% of Company Owned
22,169,930 shares in Sanofi 1.7% of Company Owned
43,203,775 shares in Southwest Airlines Co. 7.0% of Company Owned
101,859,335 shares in U.S. Bancorp 6.0% of Company Owned
26,620,184 shares in United Continental Holdings Inc. 8.4% of Company Owned
43,387,980 shares in USG Corp. 29.7% of Company Owned
32.98p on 27/06/2016
35.27p on 19/09/2016
37.16p on 16/12/2016
38.64p on 27/03/2017
The Dividend has been fixed at US$0.47 yet you can see the dividend has increased quarter on quarter due to devaluation of £Sterling
Astra Zeneca PLC is one of the world’s largest Pharmaceutical companies.
It has a debt funding programme to help finance its operations
https://www.astrazeneca.com/investor-relations/debt-investors.html
15 sets of listed bonds that trade on the debt market.
Fx Amount(m) Issue Maturity Coupon
USD 1,750 12-Sept-07 15-Sept-17 5.90%
USD 1,000 16-Nov-15 16-Nov-18 1.75%
USD 400 16-Nov-15 16-Nov-18 3m Libor + 0.53%
USD 1,000 18-Sep-12 18-Sep-19 1.95%
USD 1,600 16-Nov-15 16-Nov-20 2.375%
EUR 500 12-May-16 12-May-21 0.25%
EUR 750 24-Nov-14 24-Nov-21 0.875%
USD 288 15-Nov-93 15-Nov-23 7.00%
EUR 900 12-May-16 12-May-24 0.75%
USD 2,000 16-Nov-15 16-Nov-25 3.375%
EUR 800 12-May-16 12-May-28 1.25%
GBP 350 13-Nov-07 13-Nov-31 5.75%
USD 2,750 12-Sep-07 15-Sep-37 6.45%
USD 1,000 18-Sep-12 18-Sep-42 4.00%
USD 1,000 16-Nov-15 16-Nov-45 4.375%
In total = $6,101 Million = £7,546 Million of debt.
The UK Government is spending more (National Government Expenditure) than it gets in income (Taxes, Duties, Asset Sales).
This document makes somber reading.
http://www.dmo.gov.uk/documentview.aspx?docname=remit/drmr1718.pdf&page=Remit/full_details
2018-19 needs £123.0 Billion of Borrowing
2019-20 needs £130.9Billion of Borrowing
2020-21 needs £136.3 Billion of Borrowing
2021-22 needs £116.4 Billion of Borrowing
Thus national debt increases by £505 Billion in the next 4 years.
Glencore is the FTSE-100 listed miner and commodities trader.
The performance of its shares in the past 12months is amazing.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=2558517
Shares have climbed from just over 100p to over 320p
That is over 300% gain in 12months,
Compare it against the FTSE100.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50058
from 5800 points to just over 7300.
That is a gain over just over 25%
Today, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) pays out its dividend to its shareholders.
23p a share.
What will that cost ?
The total number of voting rights in the Company is 4,917,299,936
Thus:
4,917,299,936 * £0.23 = £1,130,978,985.28
That is £1.13 Billion
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10042
a yield of over 4%
BT PLC is the worlds most dynamic telecommunications and media corporation in the world.
It has global operations had has a huge pension fund to pay the pensions of former employees.
The pensions portal for the pension fund is:-
Some very interesting statistics can be found here in its latest newsletter to members:-
http://www.btpensions.net/download/469/BTPS-Deferred+newsletter+2017.pdf
Today in 2016 it has 201,261 actual pensioners claiming a pension from the £43,168 Million fund
Annually the pension money paid out is £2,359 Million to the 201,261 pensioners.
One can do some simple calculations now:-
the average pension then paid out is £2,359 Million / 201,261 pensioners
That is £11721.09 a year which is £976.75 a month.
Just an average figure of what is paid out.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39485083
Highwire by The Rolling Stones
We sell ’em missiles, We sell ’em tanks
We give ’em credit, You can call up the bank
It’s just a business, You can pay us in crude
You’ll love these toys, just go play out your feuds
We got no pride, don’t know whose boots to lick
We act so greedy, makes me sick sick sick
So get up, stand up, out of my way
I wanna talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, who’s gonna pay
I wanna talk to the man right away
We walk the highwire
Sending men to the front line
And hoping they don’t catch the hell-fire
Of hot guns and cold, cold lies
We walk the highwire
Send the men to the front lines
And tell ’em to hotbed the sunshine
With hot guns and cold, cold lies
Our lives are threatened, our jobs at risk
Sometimes dictators need a slap on the wrist
Another Munich we just can’t afford
We’re gonna send in the 82nd Airborne
Get up, stand up, who’s gonna pay
I wanna talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, outta my way
I wanna talk to the man right away
We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a dead lie
And hoping they don’t taste the shell-fire
Of hot guns and cold, cold lies
We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a dead lie
Catching the fight on the primetime
With hot guns and cold, cold lies
Get up! Stand up!
Dealer! Stealer!
Hey!
We walk the highwire
Sending men to the front line
And hoping that we backed the right side
With hot guns and cold, cold lies
We walk the highwire
Sending men to the front line
And hoping they don’t catch the hell-fire
With hot guns and cold, cold, cold, cold, cold lies
We walk the highwire
We walk the highwire
With hot guns and cold, cold, cold lies.
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In March 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 5 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
02-Mar-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,500.0000 Million
09-Mar-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2036 £833.7370 Million
14-Mar-2017 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027 £2,557.9170 Million
22-Mar-2017 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,299.9970 Million
28-Mar-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,874.9990 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,500.0000 Million + £833.7370 Million + £2,557.9170 Million + £2,299.9970 Million + £2,874.9990 Million = £11,066.65 Million
£11,066.65 Million = £11.06665 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 31 days in March, HM Government borrowed:-
£356 million each day for the 31 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2027 and 2047. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
One of the most significant changes from the HM Government, 2017 Spring Budget is the reduction in the tax-free dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000. It affects investors who are shareholders with portfolios – of about more than £50,000, and what this means more people may have to pay more tax on their dividend income on the shares they own.
The change is effective from April 2018, meaning investors have just over a year to organise their dividend income to shield it as much as possible from increased tax charges. Potential options to consider.
(1). Using the tax-free dividend allowance
Investors will continue to have a £2,000 tax-free dividend allowance, which means they will be able to hold about £50,000 in stocks. Today, the FTSE-100 Index is yielding 3.8% (a rough approximation on dividend yield) before having to pay any tax on dividend income. Investors could decide on moving their highest-yielding stocks (BP, Vodafone, Shell etc etc ) into ISAs or Pensions, while keeping the lower-yielding stocks (growth stocks) outside the ISA wrapper.
(2). Using ISA’s
Investors could use ISA’s to shield their dividend income as they offer tax-free income and growth. By acting before the end of this tax year, investors can shield up to £55,240 in a stocks and shares Isa by the time the new allowance comes into force:
* £15,240 in 2016/17
* £20,000 in 2017/18
* £20,000 on first day of the tax year, 6 April 2018.
By using both of a couple’s allowances, this could mean investing up to £110,480 over three years.
If investors sell existing share holdings and reinvest the proceeds in an ISA using the ‘bed and ISA’ rules, this may give rise to a capital gains tax charge, although it could be partially or fully covered by the individual’s £11,100 (2016/17) capital gains tax exemption. Investors need to be aware that ISA’s, unlike direct share holdings, cannot be placed into trust for inheritance tax (IHT) planning. Instead, when the investor dies, the ISA will remain within the estate for the purposes of IHT. This is in sharp contrast with pension investments, which are usually deemed to be outside the estate.
(3). Switching investment objectives
For any shareholdings that cannot be shielded in ISA, investors could consider switching their investment profile – moving from an emphasis on generating income to one centred on capital appreciation. If investors decide to reduce their income-generating investments, they could also choose to regularly sell investments or gains to supplement their reduced dividend income.
While these actions may be helpful in reducing dividend income tax liability, they may store up future capital gains tax charges unless planning is undertaken to counter this.
Concluding comments from www.asadkarim.co.uk:
The tax rules for shareholders have been changing fast. The tax-free dividend allowance was only introduced a year ago, and now it is being more than halved.
These quick-fire changes send out a confused message to those trying to save for their futures, and makes it difficult to set a long-term plan. But it also flags up the need for shareholders to work with their advisers to make sure their investment portfolio is tax-efficient. Tax is not the only consideration when setting the right portfolio, but it is an important one.
Why investing in “productive assets” such as Real Estate or Stocks is more valuable in the long term compared to “commodity” such as Gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTj9HEt3Mc0
Hank Paulson (former US Treasury Secretary), interviewed by Warren Buffet.
The JP Morgan Indian Investment Trust has had an incredible run
20 years ago, it was about 70p, today it is over 680p.
5 years ago it was about 350p and today it is 683p.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=11885&action=
5 year graph:-
The news broke on Monday 27th March, that a new field of oil has been found.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-39406131
Hurricane Oil has found a field in the North Sea of 1,000,000,000 barrels of oil.
http://www.hurricaneenergy.com/
They made the discovery of a huge new field:-
Now lets put that into context.
The world consumes 96 million barrels of oil.
https://www.iea.org/about/faqs/oil/
So Hurriane’s new field:
1,000,000,000 barrels of oil / 96 million barrels of oil a day = 10.4 days new supply of oil for the world.
The Manchester and London Investment Trust is a London Listed Investment Fund.
http://www.manchesterandlondon.co.uk/
The Investment Manager is M & L Capital Management Limited.
The Top Investments:-
Microsoft Corp
Amazon.com
Alphabet
Facebook
Apple
Polar Capital Technology Trust
GlaxoSmithKline
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
Smith & Nephew
Heineken
Yahoo
Shire
Worldwide Health Trust
Beiersdorf
Dadide Campari-Milano
Salesforce
Pernod Richard
Unilever
Zoetis
Paypal
Nvidia
Astra Zeneca
Roche Holdings
The SME Loan Fund
Syngenta
The Shareprice is £3.34 but the actual asset value is £4.08.
Thus a discount of 20%. What this means ?
Buying a £4.08 asset for £3.34.
The Bankers Investment Trust is a very old fund, founded in 1888, by the directors of Williams and Glyn Bank, which is a part of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
https://www.henderson.com/ukpi/fund/168/the-bankers-investment-trust-plc
Since 1966, the dividend has grown year on year.
The top ten holdings are:-
BP
British American Tobacco
Royal Dutch Shell
Apple
Comcast
Delphi Automotive
American Tower
Alphabet
American Express
Cooper Cos
The Trust is managed by Henderson Investors.
The largest shareholder:-
5.4% owned bt Investec Wealth & Investment
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10127&action=
a yield of 2.3%
Yesterday, AstraZeneca paid out this March 2017 Dividend.
The dividend was £1.502 a share
https://www.astrazeneca.com/investor-relations/dividend-policy.html
Now how much will that cost the company ?
As at 28 February 2017 the issued share capital of AstraZeneca PLC with voting rights is 1,265,386,327 ordinary shares of US$0.25. No shares are held in Treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in AstraZeneca PLC is 1,265,386,327.
Thus:
1,265,386,327 * £1.502 a share = £1,900,610,263
That is £1.9 Billion of cash
That is a yield of 4.6%
£$€….That’s What I Want
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W25_jgiY51I
On December 2nd 2016, Shell PLC announced the quarterly dividend of US$0.47 per A ordinary share (“A Share”) and B ordinary share (“B Share”).
https://irssl.euroinvestor.com/asp/ir/IRM_Shell/ssl2017/NewsRead.aspx?storyid=13492555&ishtml=1
That $0.47 = 37.16p.
Now, three months on, on March 10th 2017, Shell announced the quarterly dividend of US$0.47 per A ordinary share (“A Share”) and B ordinary share (“B Share”).
https://irssl.euroinvestor.com/asp/ir/IRM_Shell/ssl2017/NewsRead.aspx?storyid=13551375&ishtml=1
That $0.47 = 38.64p
Are you can see the Dividend of $0.47 remains the same quarter on quarter, but due the devaluation of £Sterling, the UK£ payment has increased by 1.48p per share.
BREXIT.
The Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust is a world class fund
With a market capitalisation of over £1,800 million
Its performance below shows how £1.50 has become £6.50
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behaviour is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_WE9kUDKkg
L&G Global Health & Pharmaceuticals Index
L&G Worldwide Trust
L&G Asian Income Trust
L&G US Index
L&G Global Technology Index
L&G Global Equity Index Fund
Emerging Markets Index Fund
L&G UK Property
https://www.legalandgeneral.com/investments/products-and-funds/actively-managed/other/
Global 100 Index Trust
International Index
Mixed Investment 0-20% Fund
Mixed Investment 0-35% Fund
Mixed Investment 20-60% Fund
Mixed Investment 40-85% Fund
London house prices are on a different plateau. London has become a separate economy to the rest of the UK.
Consider to areas in North West London. Harrow and Stanmore. They site in Zone 5 on the London Underground.
Semi-Detached Houses.
Harrow. Last sold in 2015 for £615,000
Stanmore: Last sold in 2016 for £802,000
The connection between salary and house price is broken.
Genius
Warren Buffet: Amazing Documentary on the worlds most successful investor. He takes The Long View
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VlojxrCp9Q
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In February 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
23-Feb-2017 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,299.9970 Million
15-Feb-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2026 £1,250.0000 Million
09-Feb-2017 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,624.2900 Million
07-Feb-2017 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2019 £3,004.2150 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,299.9970 Million + £1,250.0000 Million + £2,624.2900 Million + £3,004.2150 Million = £9,178.50 Million
£9,178.50 Million = £9.17850 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 28 days in Feb, HM Government borrowed:-
£327 million each day for the 28 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2019, 2026 and 2047. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
Yesterday, the City of London Investment Trust paid out its Feb 2017 Dividend
4.05p a share.
https://www.henderson.com/ukpi/fund/169/the-city-of-london-investment-trust-plc
The yield is 3.9%
Now, the shares in issue are 336,484,868.
Thus:-
336,484,868 x 4.05p a share = £13,627,637.154
The dividend cost the trust, £13.6m in cash.
The SME Loan Fund is an investment vehicle listed on the London Stock Exchange managed by Amberton Asset Management.
http://ambertonam.com/the-sme-loan-fund/
A £49m Investment Company that is an alternative finance provider (A creditor) to Small and Medium Enterprises.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=45547223&action=
The yield is over 5%
The Intelligent Investor
it is useful to see what companies have out performed the FTSE-100 Index in the past 12months.
HSBC Holdings has done very well climbing from £4.50 to over £6.80. That equates to over 50% in 12months.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10048&action=
The FTSE-100 has climbed only by 28%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50058
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames has a fund that pays the pensions of its retired workers.
https://www.kingston.gov.uk/downloads/file/1740/pension_fund_annual_report_2015-16
Some interesting facts:
Income into the fund in 2016 was £41.5m
Expenditure out of the fund in 2016 was £34.4m
Thus a financial surplus in 2016.
“The Fund continues to be a growing Fund and cash flow positive, as contributions from members and employers exceed the cost of pensions and benefits payable”
The fund is worth £651.48m = 100.0%
Fidelity:
Global Equities Fund £157.5m = 24.17%
Emerging Market equities £16.579m = 2.54%
Cash and other investment balances £3.183m = 0.49%
ColumbiaThreadneedle:
Unitised Insurance Policy (Global equities) £122.398m = 18.79%
Schroders:
Other Managed Funds (Global equities) £86.511m =13.28%
Henderson:
Other Managed Funds (Bonds) £88.480m = 13.58%
UBS:
Property Unit Trusts £29.822m = 4.58%
Cash and other investment balances £1.703m = 0.26%
Pyrford:
Other Managed Funds (DGF) £73.420m = 11.27%
Standard Life:
Other Managed Funds (DGF) £70.078m = 10.76%
In house:
Cash £1.670m = 0.26%
A pension fund whose income is greater than its outgoings.
BP is one of the largest oil companies in the world.
http://www.bp.com
It is a huge company, whose value is nearly £100bn
One major component that makes up the value, are the reserves that BP has in the ground. One of the largest reserves is the Clair field.
“Clair Ridge is the second phase of development of the Clair field which, with an estimated eight billion barrels of oil in place, is the largest undeveloped hydrocarbon resource on the UKCS. Clair was discovered in 1977, but challenging reservoir characteristics and the technological limits of the time meant it was the mid-1990s before the field saw extensive drilling and 2001 before BP and partners approved a development plan.”
Because of the scale of the investment, it has four partners.
BP – 28.6%
ConocoPhillips – 24.0%
Chevron Corporation – 19.4%
Royal Dutch Shell – 28% (including 9.3% interest obtained from Hess in a swap in 2009)
BP is targeting 640 million barrels of recoverable resources
What is the value of this 640,000,000 barrels:
Brent Crude has an approximate value today of $55 = £44.
So 640,000,000 x £44 = £28,160,000,000
That is £28 Billion.
The value of the whole 8bn Barrels ?
easy:
8,000,000,000 barrels * £44 = £352,000,000,000
That is £352bn which is about 23% of UK Annual GDP.
The Legal and General UK Equity Income Fund is a £413.4 million Unit Trust managed by Legal and General.
An actively managed fund, with 80 holdings, its top ten are:-
Holding %
HSBC Holdings PLC 5.08%
Imperial Brands 4.85%
British American Tobacco 4.58%
AstraZeneca 4.46%
Vodafone Group 4.32%
Royal Dutch Shell A 4.28%
BP 4.09%
BT Group 3.75%
Lloyds Banking Group 3.48%
Prudential 3.27%
The top ten make up 42% of the fund.
The yield of the fund is 4%.
The past 12 months has seen amazing growth in the share price of Royal Dutch Shell B (RDSB). It has grown from about £14 a share to over £22. A gain of over 50%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=133755
Now compare this against the FTSE-100, which as grown by 28%.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50058
See below:-
The JPMorgan Global Convertibles Income Fund Limited is a London Listed Investment Trust.
It holds investments in the following sectors:-
Communications 20.50 %
Real Estate 18.00 %
Consumer Cyclicals 12.10 %
Industrial 9.90 %
Consumer Non-cyclical 8.10 %
Other financials 6.30 %
Basic Materials 6.00 %
Banks 5.80 %
Technology 4.90 %
Energy 4.60 %
Utilities 3.80 %
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=9768953&action=
A £175m Investment Fund, paying out 5% yield
Holding Security Description Market Value % of Fund
7,000,000.00 CHINA OVERSEAS FINANCE INVESTMENT CAYMAN V LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND ZERO CPN 05/JAN/2023 USD 5,898,312.86 2.90%
9,500,000.00 CAPITALAND LTD CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1.85% 19/JUN/2020 SGD 250000 5,432,378.68 2.67%
6,000,000.00 SUBSEA 7 SA CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1% 05/OCT/2017 USD 200000 4,828,405.39 2.37%
5,616,000.00 VEREIT INC CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 3.75% 15/DEC/2020 USD 1000 4,680,383.43 2.30%
5,277,000.00 REDWOOD TRUST INC CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 4.625% 15/APR/2018 USD 1000 4,333,026.97 2.13%
5,636,000.00 TWITTER INC CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1% 15/SEP/2021 USD 1000 4,250,381.49 2.09%
5,000,000.00 INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP SA CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED .25% 17/NOV/2020 EUR 100000 4,152,612.93 2.04%
38,000,000.00 KINGSOFT CORP LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1.25% 11/APR/2019 HKD 1000000 3,973,427.62 1.95%
3,549,000.00 LIBERTY INTERACTIVE LLC CALLABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 4% 15/NOV/2029 USD 930.3369 1,798,627.08 0.88%
2,635,000.00 LIBERTY INTERACTIVE LLC CALLABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 3.75% 15/FEB/2030 USD 948.4356 1,297,644.19 0.64%
1,029,000.00 LIBERTY INTERACTIVE LLC CALL/PUT CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1.75% 30/SEP/2046 USD 1000 847,034.99 0.42%
41,824,100.00 AIR FRANCE-KLM PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2.03% 15/FEB/2023 EUR 10.3 3,912,947.65 1.92%
4,528,000.00 FANG HOLDINGS LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2% 15/DEC/2018 USD 1000 3,653,108.45 1.79%
4,545,000.00 YANDEX NV CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1.125% 15/DEC/2018 USD 1000 3,564,450.49 1.75%
4,000,000.00 SGL CARBON SE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2.75% 25/JAN/2018 EUR 100000 3,425,344.50 1.68%
3,500,000.00 AABAR INVESTMENTS PJSC MEDIUM TERM NOTE FIXED 1% 27/MAR/2022 EUR 100000 2,294,038.06 1.13%
1,500,000.00 AABAR INVESTMENTS PJSC MEDIUM TERM NOTE FIXED .5% 27/MAR/2020 EUR 100000 1,080,801.69 0.53%
3,100,000.00 MARKET TECH HOLDINGS LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2% 31/MAR/2020 GBP 100000 3,158,900.00 1.55%
3,922,000.00 YY INC PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2.25% 01/APR/2019 USD 1000 3,128,059.29 1.54%
3,750,000.00 HAITIAN INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2% 13/FEB/2019 USD 250000 3,125,256.03 1.54%
3,681,000.00 STARWOOD PROPERTY TRUST INC CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 3.75% 15/OCT/2017 USD 1000 3,092,248.11 1.52%
3,100,000.00 CARILLION FINANCE JERSEY LTD CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2.5% 19/DEC/2019 GBP 100000 2,989,950.00 1.47%
3,600,000.00 DP WORLD LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 1.75% 19/JUN/2024 USD 200000 2,922,843.87 1.44%
2,765.00 WELLS FARGO & CO. PREFERENCE 7.50% 2,921,492.41 1.44%
2,900,000.00 ST MODWEN PROPERTIES SECURITIES JERSEY LTD CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 2.875% 06/MAR/2019 GBP 2,753,550.00 1.35%
3,200,000.00 TOTAL SA MEDIUM TERM NOTE FIXED .5% 02/DEC/2022 USD 200000 2,718,257.09 1.34%
3,200,000.00 ZHEN DING TECHNOLOGY HOLDING LTD PUTABLE CONVERTIBLE BOND ZERO CPN 26/JUN/2019 USD 100000 2,647,227.52 1.30%
3,200,000.00 TELEFONICA SA MEDIUM TERM NOTE FIXED 6% 24/JUL/2017 EUR 100000 2,624,343.63 1.29%
2,900,000.00 IBERDROLA INTERNATIONAL BV CONVERTIBLE BOND ZERO CPN 11/NOV/2022 EUR 100000 2,585,313.56 1.27%
2,503.00 BANK OF AMERICA CORP. PREFERENCE 7.25% 2,520,631.15 1.24%
3,100,000.00 AMERICA MOVIL BV CONVERTIBLE BOND FIXED 5.5% 17/SEP/2018 EUR 100000 2,517,839.21 1.24%
2,500,000.00 VODAFONE GROUP PLC CONVERTIBLE BOND ZERO CPN 26/NOV/2020 GBP 100000 2,478,500.00 1.22%
Balance of portfolio 101,939,208.56 50.08%
Total portfolio 203,546,546.90 100.00%
Interesting to see that that the fund is at a massive discount. Assets of £203m and stock market valuation of £175m
Another way of looking at it is to say, it is like buying 203p for only 175p
The International Biotech Trust is a £220m London Listed Investment fund, that invests in the Biotech sector.
Top Ten:-
Celgene 7.5%
Biogen 6.8%
Genmab 6.4%
Alexion 5.8%
Actelion 5.0%
Gilead 4.5%
Tesaro 4.5%
Shire 4.5%
Regeneron 4.3%
Ariad 3.1%
Interesting to know that
Market Share Price is 550.0p
Net Asset Value is 620.4p
So effectively you are buying £6.20 for £5.50
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In January 2017, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 5 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
31-Jan-2017 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,444.0460 Million
18-Jan-2017 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,881.9490 Million
12-Jan-2017 2% Treasury Gilt 2025 £2,250.0000 Million
10-Jan-2017 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2046 £837.7980 Million
05-Jan-2017 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2037 £2,329.9140 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,444.0460 Million + £2,881.9490 Million + £2,250.0000 Million + £837.7980 Million + £2,329.9140 Million = £10,743.707 Million
£10,743.707 Million = £10.743707 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 31 days in January, HM Government borrowed:-
£346 million each day for the 31 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2025, 2026 and 2037. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
The world’s most dynamic media and communications company is BT PLC
Yesterday, BT paid its Feb 2017 dividend to its shareholders.
http://www.btplc.com/Sharesandperformance/Dividends/Dividends.htm
£0.0485 per share.
Now much did that cost BT plc ?
The total number of voting rights in BT Group plc on that date was 9,958,766,455
Thus:
9,958,766,455 x £0.0485 = £483,000,173.1
That is £483 MILLION.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10025&action=
A yield of over 3%
Anybody who has lived or watched the prices of London homes for the past 20 years will tell you how much the city has changed. They could be talking about particular areas that were once considered undesirable, and are now flourishing, or they could be referring to the wealth of new businesses that have cropped up.
For example, areas like West Drayton are in the process of gentrification as Cross Rail arrives in 2017/18
In years gone by with the London 2012 Olympics, one has seen Stratford transformed.
I will now analyse average housing prices, salaries and the switch from buying to renting homes that many have chosen (or, perhaps more accurately, been forced into).
Housing Prices
Property prices in the UK have been growing in a pretty consistent manner over the years, and that rings true particularly in the nation’s capital.
The average price of a property in London, as of December 2016, is £487,649 (according to the Land Registry). This is 123 percent higher than the UK average (£217,888). London is known for being an expensive place to live. It’s always been that way. But younger individuals might be shocked to see how inexpensive, by today’s standards, the housing market was in 1996. Back then, the average price of a home was £79,000.
(In 1997 one could buy a detached house in the IP5 (Martlesham Heath in leafy Suffolk for £55,000)
As you can see, the rise in prices has grown consistently at a steep rate. Only following the 2008 recession did things get a little difficult, but now, they’re back on track. At the moment, the market is currently experiencing its steepest climb yet. It remains to be seen how things will work out in the future, but they look pretty strong right now.
Salary Growth, or Lack of first time buyers
The average first-time buyer in 1996 earned approximately £21,575 per year.
They borrowed, on average, around £55,575 from a mortgage lender in order to purchase their first home. Today, it is a very different story. Housing prices have increased, as we have seen, but salary raises haven’t been able to keep up. In 2016, a first-time-buyer typically needs to put down a deposit of £96,000 – and the average salary is only £51,000. That deposit figure is ten times what it was in 1996, while buyers today borrow an average of £174,000. So, obviously, it is now much more difficult to become a homeowner. And these figures are based on those who did manage to get a mortgage. I don’t know the number of people who would have been able to purchase a home, if salaries had risen at the same rate as housing prices. One of the reasons housing prices have risen so fast is because of a lack of supply. Therefore, it is incredibly important that new-build projects receive significant investment. There are sure to be a few people priced out of property, who instead are renting a place to live. Which leads onto our next point as to how the property market has changed.
Buying vs Renting
In 2001, approximately 15 percent of people who were living in London did not own their property. Instead, they were renting. Today, however, that figure has shot up to around 33 percent. It is difficult to argue that this is because of anything other than housing prices being too high for many people. Although there may be a few exceptions. Some people don’t like to be tied down, for example. But this has proven to be good news for the buy-to-let marketplace. There is a constant need for rental properties, and many investors have found success in this area. And according to research conducted by PwC, things are only going to get better for these individuals. By 2025, around 60 percent of Londoners will be renting.
Vodafone PLC pays out a dividend of €0.0474 today.
The UK’s No 2 telecoms operator, behind the market leader and world beating BT Group PLC
The total number of voting rights in Vodafone is 26,617,945,523.
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/vodafone3/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=221&newsid=832585
So the cash paid out to shareholders is:
26,617,945,523 x €0.0474 = €1,261,690,617.79
€1,261,690,617 = £1,110,590,000
Vodafone pays out £1.110 Billion.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10097
A yield of 5%
The New River Real Estate Investment Trust is a near £800m London Listed investment trust investing in property.
The portfolio is:-
£1.3 billion Assets Under Management
96 % Occupancy
33 Shopping Centres
22 Retail Warehouses
15 High Street Assets
358 Pubs
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=2057097&action=
Borrowings of £470.8m
The Debt of Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer PLC, the famous UK retailer, has a debt programme to fund its business operations.
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/investors/debt-investors#edbb67e737a24f9d86ad48628067e7e5
April 2021 Syndicated revolving credit facility £1.1bn
2017 US$500m 6.250% Semi-annually
2019 £400m 6.125% Annually
2021 £300m 6.125% Annually
2037 US$300m 7.125% Semi-annually
2025 £400m 4.750% Annually
That equates to:-
£1,100m + US$500m + £400m + £300m + US$300m + £400m =
£1100m + £405m + £400m + £300m + £243m + £400m = £2,848m
that is £2.848 Billion
The picture below shows the dangers of a concentration of risk in one asset.
In the past days the FTSE has moved little, with highs of over 7,200 to lows of 7135. That is about a movement of 1%
BT plc has traded this week from £3.80 to as low as £2.99. That is price movement of 20%
The benefits of a fund like a FTSE-100 tracker is obvious. Never have all your eggs in one basket.
The M&G High Income Investment Trust is an London Listed Investment Trust. The Company was incorporated on 23 December 1996 and is a split capital investment trust company with three share classes (Zero Dividend Preference Shares, Income Shares and Capital Shares).
It’s top twenty holdings are:
Treasury 1.00% 2017 8.90% ‘AAA’ credit rated bonds
Treasury 1.25% IL 2017 8.69% ‘AAA’ credit rated bonds
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ 4.30% Oil & gas producers
British American Tobacco 4.16% Tobacco
AstraZeneca 3.61% Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology
GlaxoSmithKline 3.45% Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology
HSBC Holdings 3.00% Banks
Vodafone Group 2.70% Mobile telecommunications
BP 2.56% Oil & gas producers
Sage Group 2.19% Software & computer services
Unilever 2.07% Food producers
Imperial Tobacco 2.02% Tobacco
Aviva 1.91% Life insurance
BT Group 1.80% Fixed line telecommunications
RELX 1.79% Media
National Grid 1.62% Gas, water & multi-utilities
United Utilities 1.62% Gas, water & multi-utilities
Legal & General Group 1.57% Life insurance
Essentra 1.49% Support services
Rio Tinto 1.34% Mining
Twenty largest holdings 60.79% = £254million
http://docs.mandg.com/AR/MandG-High-Income-Investment-Trust_Annual-Report-and-Accounts_GB_ENG.pdf
One of the largest money managers in the world is Norges Bank. It is the Central Bank of Norway, and manages the profits from its oil industry.
Over 7,500 BILLION Krona = £700 Billion = €833 Billion = $869 Billion.
It manages the money with investments in Shares, Fixed Income (bonds) and Real Estate.
It also has manadates with external fund managers:-
External Equity Fund Managers
◾3G Radar
◾A/T Capital Management
◾Abax Investments
◾Ajeej Capital
◾Altus TFI
◾AM Advisors
◾Andino
◾Ashmore Equities Investment Management
◾B & P Asset Management
◾ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners
◾Avaron Asset Management
◾BlackRock
◾BPH TFI
◾Capital International Limited
◾Cephei Capital Management
◾CIM Investment Management
◾Concorde Asset Management
◾DNB Asset Management
◾Dragon Capital Management
◾Duet Mena
◾Eastspring Investments
◾Ecofin
◾Ellerston Capital
◾ENAM Asset Management
◾Fairtree Capital
◾Financiere Arbevel
◾Foord Asset Management
◾FPM Frankfurt Performance Management
◾GCA Investment Management
◾Gondo Visio and Visio Capital Management
◾Greenwoods Asset Management
◾Investec Asset Management
◾Ion Value Management
◾Kairos Partners
◾Karma Capital Advisors
◾Keel Capital
◾Keywise Capital Management
◾Krungsri Asset Management
◾Laurium Capital
◾Lazard Asset Management
◾Levin Capital Strategies
◾Lynear Wealth Management
◾Maybank Asset Management
◾Meritz Asset Management
◾Mirabaud Asset Management
◾Moneda Asset Management
◾Nabo Capital
◾Neuberger Berman Asia
◾Obafrica AM and La Financiere de l’Echiquier
◾Old Mutual Global Investors
◾Operadora GBM
◾Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company
◾Prosperity Capital Management
◾Quantum Advisors Private Limited
◾Rasmala Asset Management
◾Red Gate Asset Management
◾Rheos Capital Works
◾Schroder Investment Management
◾Sparx Asset Management
◾Specialised Research
◾Springs Capital
◾Squadra Investments
◾Steyn Capital Management
◾Templeton Asset Management
◾Temporis Capital
◾Verno Capital
◾Victoire Brasil Investimentos
◾VIP Research & Management
◾Visio Capital Management
◾Water Asset Management
External Fixed-Income Managers
◾Ashmore Equities Investment Management
◾Investec Asset Management
◾Templeton Asset Management
The loss of well paid banking jobs due to Brexit can not be under estimated.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38677504
So HSBC and UBS are saying 2,000 investment banking jobs are going to be out transferred of London.
What does this mean financially ?
So lets make some rough calculations:-
HSBC: 1,000 jobs to leave London.
If the average wage of an investment banker at HSBC is £115,000 then the wage bill that leaves London is:
1,000 * £115,000 = £115,000,000 (£115 Million)
UBS: 1,000 jobs to leave London.
If the average wage of an investment banker at UBS is £125,000 then the wage bill that leaves London is:
1,000 * £125,000 = £125,000,000 (£125 Million)
The taxs that will be lost by the UK Goverment:-
HSBC: Wage bill of £115,000,000 and assume 45% goes in total due to income tax and national insurance.
That is £51,750,000 (£51.75 Million)
UBS: Wage bill of £125,000,000 and assume 45% goes in total due to income tax and national insurance.
That is £51,750,000 (£56.250 Million)
A total loss of £108,000,000 (£108m). That is £108m less for HM Government to spend on UK defence, public services like hospitals, schools, universities or police.
Now what else you have to remember, is the salaries after tax, are known as disposable income.
HSBC wage bill of £115 Million, 45% lost in tax (£51.75 Million) leaving £63,250,000) to be spend by employees.
That money is for travel, paying for London Transport, on Oyster or Taxi / Uber. Eating in restaurants, or cinema or buying food at Tesco.
All money that is now lost.
UBS wage bill of £125 Million, 45% lost in tax (£56.250 Million) leaving £68.750) to be spend by employees.
That money is for travel, paying for London Transport, on Oyster or Taxi / Uber. Eating in restaurants, or cinema or buying food at Tesco.
All money that is now lost.
That money supports local jobs, cinema workers, supermarket workers, taxi drivers.
Also those 2,000 people are not paying council tax.
Average Council tax of say £1,100 a year.
2,000 * £1,100 = £2,200,000.00 (£2.2 million) less for councils which means less cash for social care, libraries, refuse/trash collection, street cleaning.
Brexit. Loss of cash for the UK. Serious indeed, and www.asadkarim.co.uk calculations are just on 2,000 jobs.
The Sanditon Investment Trust plc in a London listed investment company. It invests predominantly in listed equity securities of companies
• which derive a significant proportion of their revenues or profits from; or
• which are predominantly operating in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland.
Top 10 Long Positions:-
Babcock International 6.9%
RELX 5.1%
Melrose Industries 4.3%
Diageo 3.1%
Man Group 2.9%
Laird 2.8%
ITV 2.7%
Sanditon Asset Management 2.6%
BHP Billiton 2.4%
HSBC 2.2%
Total 35.0
Last week on Thursday 12th Jan, GlaxoSmithKline paid its dividend to its shareholders.
It was 19p a share.
The total number of voting rights in the Company is 4,910,110,112
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/GSK/13083316.html
So the cost of the dividend to GSK was:
4,910,110,112 * £0.19 = £932,920,921.28
That is £932 Million of Cash.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10042
That is a 5% yield.
The Aberdeen Frontier Markets Investment Company is a £100m investment company, whose objective is to provide shareholders with long term capital growth by investing in the Frontier
Markets of Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.
It’s top ten holdings that make up 65% of the fund are:
Advance Copernico Argentina Fund Argentina 8.6%
East Capital Balkan Fund – C Class Balkans 8.3%
Fondul Proprietatea GDR Romania 8.1%
Tundra Pakistan Fund Pakistan 7.6%
VinaCapital Vietnam Opp. Vietnam 7.0%
PXP Vietnam Emerging Equity Fund Vietnam 6.8%
Sturgeon Central Asia Equities Fund Asia 6.0%
SCM Africa Fund Africa 4.9%
SC Africa Consumer Fund Africa 4.2%
MSCI Pakistan Pakistan 3.9%
Total 65.6%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=232655
A yield of 1.5%
The most famous shop on the UK high street is the highly regarded Marks and Spencer
http://www.marksandspencer.com
Today, Friday 13th Jan 2017 Marks and Spencer pays it dividend.
It is 6.8p a share.
How much will this cost Marks and Spencer PLC today ?
http://otp.investis.com/generic/regulatory-story.aspx?newsid=832422&cid=228
The Company’s capital consists of 1,624,726,830 ordinary shares with voting rights
So 1,624,726,830 x £0.068 = £110,481,424.44
£110m leaves the bank account today.
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In December 2016, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
14-Dec-2016 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2036 £800.0000 Million
07-Dec-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,250.0000 Million
06-Dec-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,668.5700 Million
01-Dec-2016 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £3,122.8290 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£800.0000 Million + £2,250.0000 Million + £2,668.5700 Million + £3,122.8290 Million = £8,841.399 Million
£8,841.399 Million = £8.841399 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 31 days in December, HM Government borrowed:-
£285million each day for the 31 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2026, 2036 and 2047. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
The UK High Street is dominated by Costa Coffee on every shopping street.
Costa Coffee is owned by the Whitbread group
To fund operations, apart from the cash generated by the business, Whitbread has a bond issuance programme.
https://www.whitbread.co.uk/investors/key-financial-information/corporate-debt.html
When you add the debt securities issued it comes to £1,706.90 Million.
That is £1.7bn of debt.
Lets keep things in context, its sales are in 15.16 were £2,921.8m.
Yesterday, 6th Jan, Rolls Royce PLC, one of the most highly regarded engineering companies in the world, paid its dividend to its shareholders.
It was 4.6p per share.
How cash did the dividend cost Rolls Royce PLC ?
The issued share capital of the Company is comprised off 1,838,787,676 ordinary shares of 20p each with voting rights.
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rolls-royce1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=171&newsid=822957
Thus
1,838,787,676 x £0.046 = £84,584,233.10
£84m in cash.
Now Blackrock own 5% of Rolls Royce:
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/rolls-royce1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=171&newsid=820016
they have 92,012,850 shares, so they got 92,012,850 * £0.046 = £4,232,591.10 in cash, that is £4.2m
Picture the situation in London. Rent is £1000 a month for a small flat. The tenant is a driver for Uber. Now this person works all day as a self employed driver. They earn about £9 a hour.
One then has to look at the real picture. So they have to run the car, fuel it, pay for wear and tear on the car, such a tyres.
Then they need to pay themselves a wage. The income is based on picking up passengers. It is not constant.
Wages are low. Tax collected then by the government is low. National Insurance collected by the government is low.
Rent paid by the driver is high, at £1000 a month. The numbers do not work.
Living standards are falling. Taxes collected by government to pay for key public services are falling. People are just making a living.
Today, the TR Property Investment Trust, a London listed FTSE-250 Real Estate investment fund paid out a dividend of 4.1p per share.
It invests in Pan European equities and UK direct property on behalf of its shareholders.
It’s top ten indirect holdings are:-
Top Ten Holdings
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO 10.4%
LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC 7.6%
VONOVIA SE 7.0%
LEG IMMOBILIEN AG 6.2%
KLEPIERRE 5.4%
FONCIERE DES REGIONS 3.1%
BUWOG AG 2.7%
DEUTSCHE WOHNEN AG 2.6%
SEGRO PLC 2.5%
HISPANIA ACTIVOS INMOBILIARIOS SAU 2.5%
It then holds direct properties in its portfolio which accounts for just over 8% of its total holdings:
Strategic allocation (%)
UK Shares 32.3
UK Direct Property 8.8
Continental Shares 71.2
Debt -12.3
TOTAL 100.0 %
Happy New Year !!
“Investment is crucial. Because the truth is, you only get jobs and growth in the economy when people invest money, at their own risk, in setting up a business or expanding an existing business.”
Tomorrow, HICL Infrastructure pays out £0.0191 on Dec 30th 2016.
https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/hicl/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1239&newsid=816302
HICL is now a member of the FTSE-250, it began life known as HSBC Infrastructure.
The Company’s issued share capital consists of 1,457,706,805 ordinary shares
https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/hicl/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1239&newsid=801023
That means the total cost of the dividend to HICL was:-
1,457,706,805 ordinary shares x £0.0191 = £27,842,199.98
That is £27.84 Million.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=185903&action=
A yield of 4.5%
School fees for public schools in the UK have no connection to the salaries of the middle classes.
1. Eton College
http://www.etoncollege.com/currentfees.aspx
£12,354 per term = £37,062 per year
2. Harrow School (near South Ruislip)
http://www.harrowschool.org.uk/Fees-and-Deposits
£12,450 per term = £37,350 per year
3. Framlingham School (Suffolk)
http://www.framcollege.co.uk/Admissions-Fees
£6,211.50 per term = £18,634.50 per year (non boarding)
4. Ipswich School
http://www.ipswichhighschool.co.uk/Fees-and-scholarships
£4,458 per term = £13,374 per year (non boarding)
4 examples of the fees that parents may have to pay. It is now becoming unaffordable for the middle classes as those numbers are paid from bank accounts AFTER tax. So Harrow fees of £37,350 per year is actually a £60,000 annual salary in approximate terms !!
Merry Xmas.
Look at the Graph. Today the Nasdaq Composite is at over 5,000 points. In Dec 1996 it was at 1,000 points, then rocketed to just over 5,000 by Jan 2000 with the Dot.Com bubble.
in 20 years you would have made 5 Times your money. Index trackers are beautiful.
In December 1996, the FTSE-100 was at 4118 Points
In December 2016, the FTSE-100 was at 7017 Points
Index trackers are beautiful.
Imagine if one invested in a tracker fund that tracked the Dow Jones Industrial Index, 20 years ago:
The Dow 30 was at 9, 814. In December 1996
Now if one held that fund, today, 20 years on :-
The index is at 19, 843 in December 2016
The index has more than doubled in 20 years. With hindsight it was a one way bet. Your money has more than doubled, with dividends from these companies in the index. Praise to Jack Bogle.
On Friday 16th December, BP PLC paid its shareholders its Q3 dividend. The cash amount was 7.9313p.
The total number of voting rights in BP PLC is 18,321,665,312.
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/bp_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=233&newsid=615531
The cash paid to shareholders is thus:-
18,321,665,312 shares x £0.079313 = £1,453,146,240.89
That is £1.453 billion.
Yesterday, Friday 16th December, Royal Dutch Shell, paid it’s third quarter dividend.
The quarterly dividend in 2016, has remained stable at $0.47 a share.
In September the 2nd quarter dividend was the stable figure of $0.47 which equated at the UK Sterling exchange rate at the time of 35.27p per share.
Yesterday Shell paid out $0.47 per share, but the UK Sterling exchange rate was 37.16p per share.
What you can see is the real affect of the devaluation of Sterling.
Someone with 100 shares in September would have got: £35.27
That same person yesterday with the 100 shares would have got: £37.16
That is an increase of over 5% in 3 months for doing NOTHING
Fidelity Asian Values PLC is a London listed investment trust, worth £220m
Launched in 1996.
It’s top ten holdings are:-
POWER GRID CORP OF INDIA LTD
TISCO FINANCIAL GROUP PCL
COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTR MFG CO
HOUSING DEV FINANCE CORP LTD
WPG HOLDING CO LTD
RHT HEALTH TRUST
ASCENDAS INDIA TRUST
LT GROUP INC
SK HYNIX INC
How the shares trade at 10% discount to the assets. Thus the share price is reflecting 90% of the real value of the assets.
Formerly Amvescap PLC, the owner of the UK investment house, Invesco Perpetual, is one of the largest money managers in the world.
Renamed Invesco after moving from London.
The assets under management are vast:
http://www.invesco.com/corporate/dam/jcr:d97b217c-9b9a-4fcc-946c-698e359c0954/2016_11_09_aum.pdf
assets under management (AUM) of $807.5 billion
The UK has a major issue regarding rampant house price inflation. The link between salaries and actual house prices is now gone.
For example in 1997,a graduate earning say £18,000 could afford to buy a house that was on the market for £55,000 in East Anglia.
The 3.5 times multiple of salary to house price meant one could buy that £55,000 house.
Today, the situation is that a new graduate earning £28,000 in East Anglia, could not afford a house, as that £55,000 in 1997 is now on the market for £200,000
Madness.
Why ?
The simple reality is not enough supply of new houses. A major cause and rarely mentioned by the politicians is that the our aging population live in incorrectly dimensioned homes.
A family house, say a 4 bedroom house, that once housed a full family, is now occupied by an elderly couple or just one person.
These homes are not coming onto the market for younger people, thus lack of supply of family homes.
The Standard and Poors 500 Index (The USA’s largest 500 companies) has done exceptionally well.
S&P 500 rose is at about 2,240, an all time high.
The S&P 500® is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.
Within this index assets comprising approximately US$ 2.2 trillion of this total.
The index includes 500 leading companies and captures approximately 80% coverage of available market capitalisation
http://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500
The top ten companies in the S&P 500. are:
Apple
Microsoft
Exxon Mobile
Johnson & Johnson
Berkshire Hathaway B
Amazon.com
JP Morgan chase & Co
General Electric
Facebook
Wells Fargo
Yesterday, HSBC Holdings paid out its third interim dividend to shareholders.
It paid out US $0.10 = £0.080417
The total number of voting rights in HSBC Holdings plc is 19,805,075,710 shares.
So the dividend paid to shareholders:-
19,805,075,710 shares x £0.080417 =£1,592,664,773.37
That is £1.592 Billion cash paid out to shareholders.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC is a London listed Windfarm operator.
http://www.greencoat-ukwind.com/
Worth over £850 Million.
Offering a yield of over 5.4%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=7013076
The Portfolio consists of interests in nineteen wind farms located in the UK, together having an aggregate net installed capacity of 420.1MW. All of these assets are onshore except for Rhyl Flats.
Greencoat carries total debt of £245m, a portfolio generating sufficient electricity to power 375,000 homes.
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In November 2016, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
22-Nov-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,874.9960 Million
17-Nov-2016 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2026 £1,100.0000 Million
08-Nov-2016 1¾% Treasury Gilt 2037 £2,711.0900 Million
01-Nov-2016 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,750.0000 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,874.9960 Million + £1,100.0000 Million + £2,711.0900 Million + £2,750.0000 Million = 9,436.086 Million
£9,436.086 Million = £9.436086 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in November, HM Government borrowed:-
£314 million each day for the 30 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2026, and 2043. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
The TwentyFour Income Fund is a closed-ended investment fund managed my Twenty Four Asset Management. TFIF is the ticker symbol
£428.2m of assets
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=6340436&action=
A yield of 6.5%
Top Ten Holdings are:-
CBFLU 1 BTL RMBS 3.32%
SCGC 2015-1 Consumer ABS 3.22%
LUSI 5 Prime RMBS 3.05%
AURUS 2016-1 Consumer ABS 2.67%
WARW 1 NC RMBS 2.63%
TPMF 2016-GR1 Prime RMBS 2.12%
MPS 3 NC RMBS 2.04%
AMF 2015-1 BTL RMBS 1.97%
SCGC 2016-1 Consumer ABS 1.95%
CELES 2015-1 BTL RMBS 1.95%
and pays our quarterly.
Aviva PLC is one of the UK’s largest insurers. Its origins are Commercial Union, Norwich Union, General Accident, Morley Fund Management, Hill House Hammond to name just a few names from the past.
The dividend paid was 7.42p per share.
The issued share capital of Aviva PLC is 4,058,275,949 shares.
Thus cash leaving the business to shareholders is:-
4,058,275,949 x £0.0742 = £301,124,075.42
That is £301 million pounds in cash to the shareholders of Aviva PLC
The UK media have been covering the UK Government Debt.
The figure is £1.64 Trillion
To be simple:-
£1.64 Trillion
£1,640 Billion
£1,640,000 Million
Now this debt is formed by the UK Debt Management office, (http://www.dmo.gov.uk) issuing blocks of Bonds, (gilts) to fund the UK.
This £1,640,000 Million is formed of literally hundreds of blocks of debt, issued monthly.
In the style of keeping things simple, if the interest rate was 1.25% on this £1,640,000 Million, then just the interest payments annually would be £20,500 Million
That is £20.5 Billion
That is actually an under estimate of the interest payments, but it is the order of magnitude of interest HM Government has to pay on its debt mountain. Money that pays the creditors.
With a UK Population of 60 Million.
That debt of £1,640,000 Million equates to £27,333 per UK Person.
The interest of £20,500 Million equate to £341 per UK Person per year.
On Wed 23rd November, the UK Government gave it’s Autumn Statement.
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/autumn-statement-2016
What is true is that the HM Government, will spend more money that it earns. Thus expenditure will exceed income, but how by how much ?
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts:
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/
£68.2bn in 2016-17
£59.0bn in 2017-18
£46.5bn in 2018-19
£21.9bn in 2019-20
£20.7bn in 2020-21
So over the next 5 years, the UK National debt will GROW by £216.3 Billion. But it remember, we are in it together.
Benjamin Franklin quote.
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
When it comes to investing, nothing will pay off more than educating yourself. Do the necessary research, study and analysis before making any investment decisions
A new mortgage lender has opened up for business.
http://www.vidahomeloans.co.uk/
Founded and financed by Belmont Green
http://www.belmontgreen.co.uk/
Vida Homeloans will be a wholesale-funded lender that will only distribute through intermediaries, the source of capital is Pine Brook, which is a New York-based private equity firm.
http://www.pinebrookpartners.com/
It’s customer based will be the self-employed, contractors, employees with a short work histories, buy together for more than two applicants and borrowing in or into retirement.
More customer choice, and a mortgage provider for customers traditionally shut out of the mortgage market.
The United States of America is the home to the most dynamic economy. The nation has created household names like Verizon, Time Warner, AT&T, Ford, BNC Holdings, General Motors, BT Private Wires, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems to name just a few.
It is also home to CNN.
On Wed 16th November, Zopa announced that it is going to enter the UK banking market.
Already Zopa has lent out £1,800 Million via its platform. Simply brilliant.
http://cdn.zopa.com/pressrelease/2016/zopa-announces-plan-to-launch-bank.pdf
May the Zone of Potential Agreement prosper.
The Indian Central Bank, The Reserve Bank of India has taken a huge step to clean up the economy.
https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=38520
On the 8th November, The Reserve Bank of India issued this statement.
“This is necessitated to tackle counterfeiting Indian banknotes, to effectively nullify black money hoarded in cash and curb funding of terrorism with fake notes”
It has effectively sent a message to the world that the Indian Economy is open for business. Black Market Cash is no longer tolerated. This is a huge step for India where cash is the main form of currency that is used.
On thing that this may facilitate is the long term trend to stop using cash and the use of electronic money.
Esure Group PLC
ESure is the FTSE-250 insurer that is the owner of GoCompare.com
It collects £320.4m in insurance premiums. It has an investment portfolio to help meet its potential liabilities.
Cash & Liquidity of £210m [27%]
Fixed Income £525m [67%]
Equities £43m [6%]
Total £778m
“….Group’s conservative asset allocation focusing on higher rated credit quality bonds”
Interesting to see the low exposure to shares.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=6853112
4% yield.
AT&T the American Telecommunications giant has a large debt mountain.
http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/files/pdf/investor_relations/debt_list_2q16.pdf
The total debt is a staggering $126,835,952,257 ($126 Billion).
However what is very interesting is the cost of the debt, (the interest payments).
http://www.asadkarim.co.uk has calculated the annual interest on all the 124 Bonds that are still outstanding that adds up to the $126 Billion.
The annual cost of interest payments are actually:-
$4,996,447,892
That is just under $5bn a year to AT&T.
The revenues of AT&T are about $146.8 billion.
So the actual debt burden which may seem large at $126,835,952,257, when interest rates are low, and the cash flow is strong, one can safely say $4,996,447,892 is fine.
Imagine before the June 23rd 2016, you held £100,000 in cash.
Around about the 1st June, £1 = €1.30
Thus £100,000 sold to buy Euro’s would have converted to €130,000
So, imagine 5 months on, that €130,000 is converted back into Sterling.
Today £1 = € 1.12.
So:
€130,000 converted back to UK £ = 115,760.
Thus a potential gain of £15,760.
The UK National Debt is a topic that is not widely reported. However the UK as a whole is a highly indebted nation.
The figures here are worrying.
So the UK spends more than it earns (revenues from taxation and duties)
Currently the UK is carrying £1,604 Billion of debt, and by March 31st 2017, the UK is forecast to spend another £34 Billion to take the current debt from £1,604 Billion to £1,638 Billion.
This debt is constantly accruing interest that is paid to the UK creditors. Remember, we are in it together.
I like Tracker Funds
The JP Morgan Indian Investment Trust PLC is a £670m London listed investment trust.
http://am.jpmorgan.co.uk/investment-trusts/trusts/indian-jpm-it.aspx?isin=GB0003450359
Top 10 Holdings
HDFC Bank Ltd. 7.79%
Housing Development Finance Corp. 6.78%
Infosys Technologies, Ltd. 6.38%
Tata Consultancy Services 5.16%
Ultra Tech Cement Ltd. 4.86%
IndusInd Bank Ltd. 4.66%
Sun Pharmaceutical 4.55%
Kotak Mahindra Bank 4.25%
ACC Limited 4.15%
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd 4.15%
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In October 2016, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
19-Oct-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,500.0000 Million
12-Oct-2016 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2036 £850.0000 Million
06-Oct-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,000.0000 Million
04-Oct-2016 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £2,819.6750 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,500.0000 Million + £850.0000 Million + £2,000.0000 Million + £2,819.6750 Million = 8,169.68 Million
8,169.68 Million = £8.196 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 31 days in October, HM Government borrowed:-
£263 million each day for the 31 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2026, 2036 and 2047. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
UK Mortgages PLC is an investment fund managed by Twenty Four Asset Management.
http://www.twentyfouram.com/funds-and-services/uk-mortgages-ltd
Today UK Mortgages is paying out 1.5p per share for it’s October Dividend.
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/UKML/12998846.html
UK mortgages has an issued share capital of 250,031,969 shares.
Thus today, its is paying out:-
250,031,969 x 0.015 = £3,750,479.53 to its shareholders.
that is £3.75m cash.
RIT Capital Parnters PLC is the Rothschild Investment Trust that is member of the FTSE-250 Index. It has substantial stake of the personal wealth of The Rothschild family.
With assets of £2,614m, yesterday it paid its dividend to shareholders 15.5p per share.
with 155,351,431 shares issues, it paid out:-
155,351,431 x £0.155 = £24,079,471.81
That is £24m
A yield of 1.7%
Time Warner, the owner of the HBO and CNN network is now subject to a take over from AT&T.
The financials of Time Warner are interesting.
http://ir.timewarner.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=70972&p=irol-debt
It’s debt position is interesting:-
Coupon Maturity Face Amount $m
7.25% 10/15/17 $500
9.15% 2/1/23 $602
7.57% 2/1/24 $450
6.85% 1/15/26 $28
6.95% 1/15/28 $500
8.30% 1/15/36 $200
6.88% 6/15/18 $600
6.63% 5/15/29 $1000
2.10% 6/1/19 $650
4.88% 3/15/20 $1400
4.70% 1/15/21 $1000
4.75% 3/29/21 $1000
4.00% 1/15/22 $500
3.40% 6/15/22 $500
1.95% 9/15/23 $700
4.05% 12/15/23 $500
3.55% 6/1/24 $750
3.60% 7/15/25 $1500
3.88% 1/15/26 $600
2.95% 7/15/26 $800
7.63% 4/15/31 $2000
7.70% 5/1/32 $2000
6.50% 11/15/36 $1000
6.20% 3/15/40 $600
6.10% 7/15/40 $1000
6.25% 3/29/41 $1000
5.38% 10/15/41 $500
4.90% 6/15/42 $500
5.35% 12/15/43 $500
4.65% 6/1/44 $600
4.85% 7/15/45 $900
Total : $23,680m
AT&T Buys Time Warner, and will take on the $23.68 Billion of Time Warner debt.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) has announced its plans to buy Time Warner, the owner of HBO and CNN. AT&T is a part of American history. It is a giant, a pioneer, and has followed the innovations of strategy of the global leader in telecoms and media, British Telecommunications PLC.
Interesting to understand some very basic financials of AT&T.
Number of shares of AT&T: 6,150,000,000 (that is 6.15 Billion shares)
Share Price: $37.49
Market Capitalisation (Value) = 6,150,000,000 x $37.49 = $230,563,500,000
That is $230 Billion.
Now what is the debt of AT&T ?
http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/files/pdf/investor_relations/debt_list_2q16.pdf
That is $126,835,952,257
Yes, $126.8 Billion.
The Standard Life Equity Income Trust is a £188m London listed investment trust.
It’s top 20 holdings make up 50% of its total investments:-
BT 4.2%
Sage 4.2%
Vodafone 3.2%
RELX 3.0%
Aviva 2.7%
Micro Focus 2.6%
Rio Tinto 2.5%
Imperial Brands 2.4%
Supergroup 2.3%
Legal & General 2.2%
Close Brothers 2.2%
Beazley 2.2%
Saga 2.2%
River & Mercantile 2.1%
Prudential 2.1%
Britvic 2.0%
Tyman 2.0%
Safestyle UK 2.0%
NewRiver Retail 1.9%
National Grid 1.9%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=50887&action=
A yield of 3.5% in times of 0.25% base rate.
Amazing. January 1984. Timeless
Today, Standard Life paid out its October Dividend. 6.47p per share.
Standard Life’s issued share capital consists of 1,975,668,483 ordinary shares. A useful note is that Standard Life manages the BT Defined Contribution Pension Scheme, the BT Retirement Savings Scheme.
http://www.btretirementsavingscheme.com/
BT, the world’s most dynamic, media and telecommunications corporation
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/standardlife1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=65&newsid=801413
Thus today, the dividend cost Standard Life:
1,975,668,483 x £0.0647 = £127,825,750.85
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=186960&action=
That is £127m cash. A yield of over 5%.
One of the worlds largest money managers in Fidelity Investments
The money under management at Fidelity is huge.
$5.4 TRILLION
https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/fidelity-by-numbers/overview
That is about 33% of US GDP.
The Honeycomb Investment plc is a specialist lending fund which seeks to provide shareholders with an attractive level of dividend income and capital growth through the acquisition of interests in loans make to consumers, small businesses and other counterparties in specialist lending market segments which are underserved by mainstream lenders.
The investment manager is Pollen Street Capital Limited.
The loans originate from:-
http://www.honeycombfinance.com/
It is these loans that are then bought by the Honeycomb Investment Trust plc.
Its portfolio is:-
Top 10 Holdings:-
Consumer Loans –Secured Loans 64.92%
Consumer Loans –Unsecured Loans 14.91%
Micro SME Loans Loans 9.00%
Organic Originations Loans 6.97%
Freedom Finance Limited Equity 1.81%
Pay4Later Equity 1.33%
Cash 1.06%
Total 100.00%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=49066786&action=
The Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust is a £230m London listed investment fund, run by Terry Smith
Top five holdings are:-
Marico
GrupoLaLa
Godrej
Hypermarcas
Vitasoy
Its geographic split is:-
Asia 55%
Europe, Middle East, Africa 26%
Latin America 11%
Cash 8%
Total 100%
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=32594589&action=
The Scottish American Investment Company PLC is a London listed £400m investment trust. it is managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited, the Edinburgh-based investment firm.
https://www.bailliegifford.com/individual-investors/funds/scottish-american-investment-company/
The top ten holdings are:
1 Coca Cola 2.5%
2 WPP Group 2.4%
3 TSMC ADR 2.4%
4 Johnson & Johnson 2.0%
5 Procter & Gamble 1.9%
6 Sonic Healthcare 1.8%
7 Kimberly-Clark De Mexico 1.8%
8 Linear Technology 1.8%
9 Partners Group 1.8%
10 Pepsico 1.7%
Makes up 19.9% of the fund.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10289&action=
a 3.6% yield.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFpFDyKeqyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhWE0we4FaQ
The Phoenix Group is a UK FTSE-250 Listed Life Assurance company, that buys closed life books.
http://www.thephoenixgroup.com/
It has around 4.5 million policyholders and £52 billion assets.
On Wed 28th September, Phoenix announced it was buying Abbey Life from Deutsche Bank who are in the eye of current storm.
http://www.thephoenixgroup.com/investor-relations/proposed-acquisition-of-abbey-life.aspx
Interesting to see the debt structure of Phoenix Life.
yes, total debt of £12,148 Million
Phoenix offers its shareholders an yield of 3%.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=2366179&action=
Another month, guess what, take a lucky guess, it is the same old story, HM Government, spends more money than it receives via taxes and duties. Another deficit month, thus to bridge the gap, needs to borrow on the bond market.
In September 2016, the HM Government had to borrow money to meet the difference between tax revenues and public sector expenditure. The term for this is The PSNCR: The Public Sector Net Cash Requirement.
There were “only” 4 auctions of Gilts (UK Government Bonds) by the UK Debt Management Office (http://www.dmo.gov.uk/) to raise cash for HM Treasury:-
20-Sep-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2047 £2,874.9990 Million
14-Sep-2016 0 1/8% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2046 £800.0000 Million
06-Sep-2016 1½% Treasury Gilt 2026 £2,874.9970 Million
01-Sep-2016 0½% Treasury Gilt 2022 £3,150.8860 Million
When you add the cash raised:-
∑(£2,874.9990 Million + £800.0000 Million + £2,874.9970 Million + £3,150.8860 Million = 9700.882 Million
9700.882 Million = £9.700882 Billion
On another way of looking at it, is in the 30 days in September, HM Government borrowed:-
£223 million each day for the 30 days.
We are fortunate, while the global banking and financial markets still has the confidence in HM Government to buy the Gilts (Lend money to the UK), the budget deficit keeps rising. What is also alarming, is the dates these bond mature 2022, 2026, 2046 and 2047. All long term borrowings, we are mortgaging our futures, but at least “We are in it together…”
Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest energy companies in the world.
It has two share classes, Shell A for Dutch shareholders and Shell B for UK Shareholders.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=133655
[Shell A]
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=133755
[Shell B]
Look at the revenues:-
31-Dec-11 $470,171 Million
31-Dec-12 $467,153 Million
31-Dec-13 $451,235 Million
31-Dec-14 $421,105 Million
31-Dec-15 $264,960 Million
One can see year on year, the effect of falling energy prices affecting the revenues of Royal Dutch Shell
The largest economy in the world is the United States of America. It is also the most generous nation, whenever in the world their is a natural disaster, the USA are the first nation to send emergency aid.
What is happening now in the world, is the growth of the 1%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vttbhl_kDoo
The 1% population are now owning more and more assets that the rest of society. A trend that we are seeing all over the world. The concentration of money and assets in the hands of so few can not be a good trend.
The FTSE-All Share index is the broadest barometer index of the UK’s listed companies.
Interesting to see the long term trend.
on 3rd July 2012 it was 2951
on 4th July 2016 it was 3518
One can see the trend of year on year growth, the benefit of investing in a tracker.
President Obama has made a great investment quote:-
“Cutting the US Federal deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you’re flying high at first, but it won’t take long before you feel the impact.”
On Thursday 22nd September, Legal and General PLC paid 4p to its shareholders
http://www.legalandgeneral.com
Legal and General’s capital consisted of 5,952,449,117 Ordinary shares of 2.5p each, with voting rights.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=67701&p=irol-rnsArticle&ID=2198957
Thus:-
5,952,449,117 x £0.04 = £238,097,964.68
That is £238million paid to it’s shareholders.
http://www.shareshop.hsbc.co.uk/shareshop/security.cgi?csi=10055&action=
That is a yield of 6%
