Latest wires

Much has been written about the plan by the Federal opposition (likely to be the next Government) to abolish franking credit refunds. Along with removing negative gearing for existing housing and a 30% minimum tax rate on family trust distributions, this amounts to a three-pronged attack on Australian investors. Show More

This week US President Trump announced a second round of tariffs on USD 200 billion of imports from China. The two key issues for markets leading up to this announcement were: Show More

Volatility is a fact of investing in financial markets. But rather than working against it, Bill Pridham, Co-Portfolio Manager at Ellerston Global Investments, says that savvy investors can make volatility work in their favour. For businesses whose earnings are not linked to the economic cycle, market volatility can provide an... Show More

Today I analyse a case before the Federal Court where the judge has, thus far, refused to accept the joint submission from both ASIC and Westpac that Westpac should be fined $35 million for breaching Labor's new responsible lending laws because the judge cannot find any such breach. It is... Show More

On my last trip to China, we were a little cautious despite the optimism displayed by China’s primary industries — a flow on from the stimulus-led recovery of 2016. Our caution proved warranted. Money supply tightened and key macro indicators weakened, which hit bulks in particular. This time around there... Show More

Investors looking for a professionally managed exposure to global natural resources will soon have a new investment option on the ASX. Last week Tribeca confirmed that the IPO for Tribeca Global Natural Resources Limited had exceeded the minimum subscription with the offer surpassing $100 million. Show More

Warren Buffett recently gave an interview where he reiterated his firm belief in the US economy, which justifies Berkshire Hathaway’s investment focus on quality US companies. In doing so, he emphasised the long-term investment horizon, bemoaned the focus on short-term forecasting but defended his right to receive quarterly updates. Show More

In its latest Quarterly LMI Market Review, Independent Investment Research (IIR) provides detailed coverage of 49 listed investment companies, listed investment trusts and active ETFs including commentary, investment views and ratings. We have coverage across a number of sectors and investing strategies and provide insight into performance, discounts and premiums... Show More

Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith teared up when he heralded the closure of his 19-year-old locally sourced all-profits-to-charity Dick Smith Foods because the German discount chain Aldi, which only entered Australia in 2001, has “destroyed us”. Smith said, when announcing the closure in July, that he had written to Coles, Metcash... Show More

There are about 2000 companies that fall into the micro-cap universe, and it’s the nursery for those companies that will go on to become future leaders on the ASX. The challenge is finding quality; just 25% of companies with a market cap under $250 million make a profit, and only... Show More

At a recent technology conference, I attended there was a whole panel discussion on the opportunities around the use of technology and innovation in the education sector. While not as sexy and almost ubiquitous as FinTech or platform businesses like Facebook and Netflix etc. Education globally is still a huge... Show More

A few months ago, we wrote about taking a position in Hong Kong-listed China Everbright International (CEI), a pioneer in providing waste to energy (WTE) solutions for urban and agricultural waste. Show More

In April 2016 Greenland Minerals updated its Feasibility Study on its Kvanefjeld Rare Earths Project in Greenland. Since the original Feasibility Study had been published in May 2015 the price of uranium, a significant by-product at Kvanefjeld, had come down, but Greenland Minerals had also made a lot of progress... Show More

This bull market is now one of the oldest on record, yet reasons to be wary of it are growing. We sat down with Matthew Haupt, Portfolio Manager at Wilson Asset Management to get his perspective on how much longer investors have left to make hay. Show More

The list of problems facing Telstra is well known: falling revenues as the NBN rolls out, and declining market share in mobile. As the payments from the NBN begin to roll-off, some have questioned whether Telstra can even maintain its reduced dividend. But it’s precisely this negativity that caught the... Show More

With the parched conditions lingering in some key farming regions, it’s becoming a case of the water haves and have-nots for the key listed agriculture plays. Show More

One of my all-time favourite movie scenes is when Woody Allen stands in the queue in Annie Hall (1977) and he ends up having a discussion with the loudmouth academic behind him who professes to know everything there is to know about Marshall McLuhan. Show More

As the old saying goes; “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. And nowhere is this truer than the sometimes-scary world of deep value and contrarian investing. Some of the stocks mentioned here have fallen 80% or more from relatively recent highs, and have fallen off the radar of index... Show More

Small companies continue to attract attention from investors while large caps deal with sector specific and macro headwinds. I took the opportunity to fire 10 questions at Chris Prunty who is a portfolio manager at QVG Capital - a specialist small cap investment firm. Show More

Dr Don Hamson from Plato Investment Management is always on the lookout for the best income opportunities from equities. His research suggests that there has been a 40% increase year on year for the dividends being paid out from the resources sector. Show More