Hector McNeil

Excellent analysis that speaks to the need for regulators to shift their focus away from price and number of networks and instead look towards the value delivered to customers and economies from having robust and well invested networks capable of carrying and nurturing new services and products.

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Prominent investment adviser Gary Black has raised serious concerns about the valuation of MicroStrategy Incorporated (MSTR), arguing that the stock of the company may in fact be significantly overpriced. In a recent post on X, Black, managing partner at The Future Fund LLC, expressed confusion after pointing out that the Bitcoin (BTC) holdings of MicroStrategy were valued at $31.2 billion at the time, with a net debt of $4.2 billion, resulting in an equity value of around $27 billion. Yet, its market cap stood at an eye-popping $106 billion. Read the full story on the CryptoWeekly website using our link below. #cryptocurrency #crypto #microstrategy #investment #stock

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UK Assets On GBST’s Composer Wealth Management Platform Pass £200 Billion Read more: https://lnkd.in/eeyJejFh #GBST #WealthManagement #ComposerPlatform #UKFinance #AssetManagement #FinancialMilestone #finance #fintech #FinancialIT

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UK Equity fund flows (net) resume negative monthly trend - Is the UK Government tone deaf to the clarion calls now reverberating across the entire UK equity ecosystem on the structural damage that is being inflicted through public equity liquidity drainage? Where are the political leadership and action points to reverse this trend? Time to adopt the multiple action points that those closest to the equity markets have been advocating (both privately and publicly) for some time. Failing to act, escalates the problem to an existential crises for UK public equity markets as we have historically known them - we are seriously "at risk" of having UK Plc seriously damaged contrary to the national interest. To date, lots of talk but very little real tangible action. Verdict: Simply not good enough, must do demonstrably far better and must do so very quickly.

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Positive developments often come in threes - the New British Growth Partnership investment vehicle, reform of British Business Bank to draw on £7.9bn permanent capital base and LIFTS investments expected to begin in late 2024. In this case, it comes with a fourth critical factor: Making the British Business Bank independent of Government may well be the most meaningful and significant development of all - as it releases the enterprise required for constructive capital deployment at scale, free of political oversight. The UK is at last moving forwards!

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A step in the right direction, but c'mon...how difficult do they need to make this? The lemmings of the #UK institutional investment sector want a more globally competitive domestic market but insist on tying the hands of the boards, preventing them from competing globally. It's not that hard - The Investment Association should simply instruct these boards to find the best and most experienced talent available and provide competitive, well-aligned pay packages across both executive directors and non-executive directors. If you don't compete, you can't win. #investing #stocks #corporategovernance #shareholderactivism

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Hedge funds gear up for $2.6bn Ukraine debt restructuring - https://lnkd.in/eGKHh4M3 TOP STORY: A coalition of hedge funds invested in Ukraine, including Aurelius Capital Management and VR Capital Group is gearing up for debt-restructuring negotiations with the Ukrainian government to rework approximately $2.6bn in GDP warrants, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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In our Cytonn topical this week, we analysed the performance the performance of Unit Trust Funds for the period ended 30th September 2024, following the release of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Quarterly CIS Report – Q3’2024. Below are the highlights; i. The industry’s overall Assets under Management (AUM) grew by 24.5% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to Kshs 316.4 bn at the end of Q3’2024, from Kshs 254.1 bn recorded in Q2’2024. On a y/y basis, the total AUM increased by 53.1%, from Kshs 206.7 bn as at the end of Q3’2023. Key to note, Assets under Management of the Unit Trust Funds have registered an upward trajectory over the last five years, growing at a 5-year CAGR of 35.7% from Kshs 68.9 bn recorded in Q3’2019. ii. MMFs remained with the largest investment allocation, coming in at 62.2% in Q3’2024, a decline from 67.4% recorded in Q2’2024. Similarly, the amounts invested in MMFs as of 30th September 2024 recorded a 15.0% increase to Kshs 196.8 bn, from Kshs 171.2 bn recorded at the end of Q2’2024. iii. The overall UTFs portfolio remained predominantly invested in government securities, accounting for the largest share at 41.4% by the end of Q3’2024. This was followed by Fixed deposits at 31.1% allocation, a marginal decrease from 33.4% allocation in Q2’2024 attributable to the lower deposit rates provided by banking institutions during the period. iv. As of the end of Q3’2024, there were 41 Collective Investment Schemes (CISs) in Kenya, up from 36 recorded at the end of Q3’2023 and an increase from the 38 recorded at the end of Q2’2024. Out of the 41 schemes, 35 of them (equivalent to 85.4%) were active while 14 (14.6%) were inactive. Click the link below to read the full topical: https://lnkd.in/daqWArz6

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Really interesting stats below re: IPO issuance (or lack thereof) these last few yrs. There is now one of the largest backlogs of IPO’s in cap mkts history. Post election, we think we will see the start of explosive, multi-year issuance of extremely high quality IPO’s across a wide number of sectors. Bring it!! Gray's Creek Capital Partners

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Northstar Asset Management MDD's (fund factsheets) are out now and available on our website. https://lnkd.in/d8_Y6htM Our Quarterly Fund Commentary videos can also be found on our website here: https://lnkd.in/dFdK9NF9 Videos are to be viewed in conjunction with the MDD. #fundfactsheet #MDD #investing #equitymarkets #globalmarkets

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QuotedData's new note on Caledonia Investments plc looks at the steps it is taking to address its discount. https://lnkd.in/eNMdrqnW #QuotedData #QD #CaledoniaInvestments #CLDN #investments #investmentcompanies #investmenttrusts #research #global #flexibleinvestment

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FE fundinfo launches Nexus platform. The platform will be powered by one ‘golden source of information’ that aims to offer reliable, high-quality investment data https://lnkd.in/eRsY9C-S #fundadmin #Custody

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Caveat Emptor/Caveat Venditor Interesting 'reported' development with the putative sale of The Hundred by Elizabeth ammon in The Times yesterday. This follows some exaggerated/sensationalist commentary and financial information publicly shared by Lalit Modi over the last months. Over the coming weeks, as author of The Financial Review of ECB Finances in April 2023, I will write more fully on the many factors surrounding the sale of The Hundred. This is the first of many updates. What is clear is that Dwayne Spradlin’s Harvard Business Review (“Are you Solving the Right Problem?” September 2012) is as relevant to the game’s current governing body - the England and Wales Cricket Board ('ECB') - as it is to a bog-standard widget factory. Spradlin observes that “most companies aren’t sufficiently rigorous in defining the problem they’re attempting to solve and articulating why those issues are important”. Spradlin challenges the decisions taken, and how in hindsight alternative routes should have been made, or even that a decision once made, can concerningly address the wrong problem. The key, he eruditely highlights, stems from asking the right questions at the start so that the right problem is ultimately tackled. Which begs the question, who asks the right questions and scrutinises decisions made by the ECB and is the right problem ultimately being tackled? Cricket in the UK, at the county and recreational level, is essentially run by well-intentioned, heavily-overworked and stretched volunteer boards, which are transitory in nature and comply in general with Sport England best practice. Whilst ensuring freshness of tenure, there remains limited corporate memory for stakeholders, or owners of the ECB, to appropriately challenge and review how the ECB is operating and above all else for whom and indeed why historic and future decisions are made. So, in reality, probably no one at county, recreational, national or political level properly challenges and scrutinises what the ECB does, and no one who will be around to deal with the consequences of its actions. Vikram Banerjee, the ECB’s director of business operations in The Guardian on 30th May 2024 was quoted as saying the aim in the potential sale is “to seek partners with expertise to help us take the competition to the next level, while ensuring any investment benefits the whole game” alongside the chance “to engage new global strategic partners to help us unlock the future potential of the Hundred”.   This appears a potentially honest acceptance that the ECB, despite significant internal spend over the last decade, doesn’t have sufficient in-house expertise to create value. Hence the desire for other partners to invest now to share in future value creation and also providing near term salvation/liquidity for many cash strapped counties. I'll explore many financial and strategic factors from a buyers' and sellers' perspective. More to follow. #TheHundred #cricket #economicsofsport

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UK Gilt Market: Déjà Vu from the 2022 Crisis? 📉💷 The UK gilt market is under intense pressure again, echoing the turmoil seen during the 2022 LDI crisis. Following the recent budget announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the scale of additional borrowing has pushed the 10-year gilt yields to 4.45%, nearing the peak levels last witnessed in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s infamous mini-Budget. Investors are concerned that Labour’s “tax, borrow, and spend” approach could require even more gilt issuance in the coming months, putting pressure on bond markets. The increased borrowing raises questions about the UK’s fiscal sustainability, with potential long-term effects on interest rates, inflation, and investor confidence. As the markets adjust, memories of 2022’s LDI-driven gilt collapse serve as a stark reminder of the risks inherent in fiscal policy shifts of this scale. #UKEconomy #GiltMarket #BondYields #Investing #FiscalPolicy

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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its final rules on payment optionality for investment research, aiming to improve market competition for the benefit of investors. Substantive Research Ltd's Mike Carrodus talks to Global Trading about what the latest changes mean. #Trading #Markets #CapitalMarkets #Regulation #ResearchRebundling #GlobalTrading https://lnkd.in/eTKdZstC

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