UK Value Investor

Whether or not a company’s shares are a good investment will depend on what you’re looking for.  In my case I want my investments (which match those in the UKVI Model Portfolio) to produce higher total returns than the general market (i.e. the FTSE All Share), primarily through: Having a higher dividend yield at all times Growing the dividend income faster than inflation and faster…

Despite the ongoing financial crisis it seems that bank shares are still a popular investment, and Barclays’ shares may be the most popular of all.  However, there’s more to investing than simply looking for what’s popular. Of the UK banks, Barclays (LON:BARC) has –so far – coped with the crisis relatively well.  It hasn’t suspended its dividend, which for income investors is at least something.…

Neil Woodford’s latest purchase of WM Morrison Supermarkets P L C (LON:MRW) makes him the company’s largest shareholder.  This move is in stark contrast to Woodford’s exit from Tesco (LON:TSCO) just over a year ago.  We know that Warren Buffett prefers Tesco, so which supermarket is the better investment? Before I get into the details, I have to admit that sometimes I feel sorry for…

This week RSA Insurance (LON:RSA) cut its dividend by more than 30%, and the reaction from Mr Market was instant and obvious – shares fell by around 14%, sending shock waves of disbelief out across the investing landscape.  The dividend was cut in order to allow cash to be diverted towards future growth opportunities, most notably in emerging markets.  In the words of the CEO,…

Serco (LON:SRP) is a FTSE 100 listed support services and outsourcing company.  It has over 100,000 employees, international operations and provides a wide range of operational and process related  services.  Recent contract wins include ground maintenance in Canterbury, operation and maintenance of a new Bus Rapid Transport System in Indore, India, and an extension to continue running the Docklands Light Railway. Shares in Serco Group…

Thanks for that Ed, anybody who asks about costs at different portfolio sizes, I'll point them to this article. I've always said that an investor should probably have 20 or 30 K in their portfolio before going down the stock picking route. Until you're at that level you might as well stick with funds IMO.

Apologies for the blatant self promotion, but UK Value Investor is quite heavily focused on dividend income. The monthly newsletter contains a list of around 150 FTSE350 stocks with reliable dividend payments over the last decade. These stocks are then ranked by dividend and earnings yields, growth rates and quality/consistency. There is a simple investment strategy for always holding the stocks with the best combination…

Sorry for the delayed reply dbfromgb and thanks for those points. However, in their interim management statement of October 18th the company announced a goal of growing bus profits to £100 million, which stands in contrast to your (very good) points about their bus business. This highlights an interesting point, which is that most of the time the future is not knowable. Whether they hit…

I haven't seen that one before, and I'm surprised by how close it is to what I do, although the details are all different. Basically he looks at: high earnings yield high dividend yield financial strength through good working capital liquidity and low levels of interest bearing debt good long-term growth consistent long-term growth That pretty much ticks all my boxes for a sensible approach…

Hi Ed. I agree with everything in the article and the related research, because it's more or less what I do myself. However, I would say that just because Buffett is replicable doesn't mean he isn't a genius. Virtually everything a person can do is replicable by other people. I like F1 so I'll use Schumacher as an example. He won more races and more…