Investors Chronicle

In this week's episode of the Companies and Markets show Belvoir is our result of the week following a solid earnings report, Elon Musk buys a seat on the Twitter board, and Arthur Sants joins the panel to discuss which companies are best placed to deal with inflationary pressures.All that before Julian Hofmann is once again on hand to break down Warren Buffett's second bit of activity in as many weeks, with a $4bn stock purchase of Hewlett Packard. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Newman, Mark Robinson and Jemma Slingo join the Companies and Markets panel to discuss our result of the week, UK housebuilder Bellway, before diving into litigation funder Burford Capital's annual report and the investment case for Tesco as a defensive stock. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Inflation is making real returns harder to come by, eroding the value of cash and creating a tougher outlook for equities, particularly ‘growth’ stocks which are valued according to future earnings. How can investors protect themselves? In this interview, Sebastian Lyon, founder and chief investment officer at Troy Asset Management, tells Mary McDougall how his multi asset funds are positioned to protect and grow money (in that order) over time. They discuss his outlook for inflation, current equity positioning, where he sees value in bonds and the role of gold. Lyon manages Personal Assets Trust (PNL) and is the senior fund manager of Troy’s Trojan Fund (GB00BZ6CNS31). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Newman, Mark Robinson and Julian Hofmann returns to breakdown chancellor Rishi Sunak's spring statement and Warren Buffett's latest $12bn purchase of the insurer Alleghany. Then Mary McDougall joins the pod to talk through her long-read: 'Can tech save healthcare?'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paul Major, manager of Bellevue Healthcare Trust (BBH), believes the future of healthcare will be very different from what we have today and looks to invest in companies at the forefront of making change possible - from those improving disease diagnosis to companies delivering care at home.  In this podcast, he tells the IC’s Mary McDougall where he thinks the most important innovations are developing in healthcare, how he approaches investing in the companies involved and explains the investment case for some of the trust’s largest holdings.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Hamer joins the Companies and Markets roundtable to discuss the ongoing commodities crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, including some of the more niche ones like helium and uranium. The team also dive into some of the M&A activity we're seeing - or rather, not seeing.Then Michael Fahy joins the show to talk through his feature: 'Travel industry bears Covid scars'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With little more than three weeks left until the end of the tax year, make sure you’ve used up as much of your Individual Savings Account allowance as possible. For those who like to get ahead, you might want to start thinking about where to invest next year’s Isa allowance too, from April 6. But deciding what to invest in is not straightforward. Inflation, war and volatility are currently the dominant themes in markets and the outlook for investors is very uncertain. In this podcast, George Bear, assistant portfolio manager at IG and Michel Perera, chief investment officer at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, explain the relative merits of cash vs stocks and shares Isas and talk through how current events are impacting markets and where you might consider investing to preserve and grow your savings. This podcast is sponsored by IG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the Companies and Markets show this week Mary McDougall joins Alex Newman and Julian Hofmann to discuss the changing face of ESG, volatility in Russian shares causing havoc on investment platforms, and asking why the FTSE 100 is weighted towards value stocks.Then deputy IC editor Dan Jones joins the pod to discuss his long read: 'Running the rule over the subscription economy'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There’s no one correct way to set up an investment portfolio but there are several pitfalls to avoid so you don’t leave yourself over exposed, or with little chance of achieving desirable returns. To help us adopt the Charlie Munger approach of not doing anything stupid, Sam Dickens, portfolio manager at IG tells the IC’s Mary McDougall how you can construct and monitor a robust portfolio. They discuss how to assess your risk tolerance, what level of diversification might be optimal and what asset allocation could look like for someone investing for the long term. This podcast is sponsored by IG. Subscribe today and get 4 weeks for just £4.Claim your first 4 weeks of Investors' Chronicle Print + Digital for just £4. Your subscription will include access to investorschronicle.co.uk, our magazine app, plus the magazine delivered to your door. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Investors' Chronicle staff Michael Fahy and Arthur Sants join regulars Mark Robinson and Julian Hofmann to discuss the continued market effects of the war in Ukraine. Of particular interest this week is defence shares, with companies specialising in hardware and software reaping rewards of an increased pressure of NATO countries to invest in armaments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Like other growth-oriented portflios, Henderson Smaller Companies (HSL) has had a difficult start to the year amid concerns about monetary tightening and, more recently, the crisis in Ukraine. Neil Hermon, who works on the fund, makes the case for top holdings like Impax Asset Management (IPX) and Future (FUTR) continuing to flourish in the longer-term, and for investors who like secular growth stocks to see now as a potential buying opportunity. But he warns about plenty of risks, from buying "growth at all costs" to churning a portfolio based on market rotations or macro events.He also discusses how his smaller companies funds have built up substantial exposure to mid cap shares, and why this makes sense over a rigid focus on small caps. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Being a successful investor has as much to do with your behaviour as it does with studying annual reports. As Morgan Housel puts it in his brilliant book The Psychology of Money, “investing is not really about what you know, it’s about how you behave”.In this podcast, Henry Cobbe, head of research at Elston Consulting, discusses with the IC’s Mary McDougall the most common mistakes that investors make and how to mitigate against them. They also talk through how to approach investment research and the importance of seeking different sources.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Newman, Jemma Slingo, and Mark Robinson discuss some of the economic ramifications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, before touching briefly on the banking and logistics sectors.Then Julian Hofmann joins the pod to discuss his feature 'Ready for a turnaround: the art of distinguishing value traps from recovery gems'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The IC’s favourite economist Chris Dillow is back on the podcast this week! He talks through what leading indicators are telling us about prospects for the stock market, his thoughts on inflation and why retail sales data in the UK look surprisingly encouraging. He also cautions against paying too much attention to medium term earnings forecasts, reminds us to be humble about how little we know and explains why he doesn’t think investors should change their asset allocation as they get older, contrary to popular belief. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For many people, investing in a way to help make the world a better place is a priority. But as sustainable investing has exploded in popularity, so have the investment options and it can be very difficult to know what the best approach is.Some people don’t want to own any companies that they deem to have a negative impact on the environment and society. Others take the view that it’s better to engage with companies - which you can do as a shareholder - and encourage them to do better.In this podcast, Amy Lazenby, investment director at Close Brothers Asset Management, talks through what sustainable investing means to her, what options you have for constructing a sustainable investment portfolio and how to navigate a myriad of reporting standards to make sure a company or fund is meeting the environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards that you expect.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

William Green has interviewed slews of the world’s most legendary investors from John Templeton to Charlie Munger and synthesised what we can learn from them in his bestseller Richer, Wiser, Happier, which draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with over 40 of the world’s most successful investors. In a tribute to his late father, whose favourite publication was Investors’ Chronicle, William discusses with the IC’s Mary McDougall what makes a great investor and what sacrifices might come with it. What the motivations are beyond money, whether the rise of index funds and commission free trading sites has made active investing harder and why his obsession with investing didn’t tempt him to be a money manager himself… See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When putting together an investment portfolio, for an optimal risk / return profile you’ll want significant exposure to overseas stocks. The UK now makes up around 4 per cent of the global stock market and, while many pundits believe UK stocks are attractive relative to international peers, the UK has been among the poorest performing of the major equity regions over the past decade. In this podcast, IG’s chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp and the IC’s deputy editor Dan Jones discuss how much exposure investors should have to UK stocks and the pros and cons of investing in different geographies. They also talk about currency and cost implications of investing overseas in the context of both funds and individual shares. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As 2021 fades in the memory, the spectre of inflation is firmly on investors’ minds and Simon Gergel gives his view on what that may mean for markets in 2022. After a year where finding genuinely under-priced good businesses – rather than those that are cheap for a reason – paid dividends, Simon explains how extreme pricing anomalies still appear prevalent. This could be where investors are overlooking longer-term potential or, equally, being over exuberant on short-term earnings momentum. To see the full podcast series visit https://www.merchantstrust.co.uk/podcast/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Buying shares can be much more risky than buying funds, but get it right and the returns can be greater too. In the fifth episode of our investing explained podcast series, IG’s chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp and the IC’s former associate editor Algy Hall talk through what a share is, different styles for investing in shares and multiple approaches to assessing valuations. Algy also talks about his most successful stock screens, how to see through company marketing spin and how to account for intangible assets. Chris sheds light on how the success of different styles can differ across geographies and sectors, where different valuation metrics are suitable and how to know when is the right time to sell. This podcast is sponsored by IG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nick Train’s stock picking success over the past 30 years has made him one of the UK’s best known fund managers. But over the past 12 months both his global and UK-focussed funds have notably underperformed their peers. In this interview, he tells the IC’s Leonora Walters why he is resolutely sticking with his investment approach and why quality companies could do ‘extraordinarily well.' Train talks through the investment case for London Stock Exchange (LSE), Unilever (ULVR) and Schroders (SDR) among others and explains why he finally lost patience with Pearson (PSON).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.