Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust performing well
Aberdeen Asset Management’s Japan Investment Trust appears to be one to watch, boasting a solid performance; share prices have risen 5.7% over the past 3 months and are up 41.14% on the year.
Their biggest holdings include Japan Tobacco (4.9%), Shin-Etsu Chemical (4.6%) FANUC (4.5%), with 28% of the fund in the consumer goods sector, 21.3% in industrials and 12.6% consumer Services.
The fund’s aim is to “achieve long-term capital growth principally through investment in listed Japanese companies”. In October 2013, the company moved from an All Asia to a Japan only mandate; however, this doesn’t appear to have affected performance
The fund manager reports that Japanese equities had a positive month, rising in May and buoyed by stronger US economic data, as well as China’s decision to cut interest rates and liberalise its capital markets further. The yen’s continuing depreciation against the US dollar also enticed foreign buyers who felt that a more competitive exchange rate would favour exporters and flatter earnings because of a positive translation effect. Economic news was somewhat upbeat and the labour market remained tight, with the jobless rate falling to an 18-month low.
Japanese car giant Toyota announced plans to buy back shares for the first time in five years, repurchasing a stake of 350 billion yen; their operating profits continued to grow despite a decline in sales, signalling positivity for the Japanese economy.
However, Looking ahead, the fund’s report suggests that Japan’s economic growth is likely to slow: although first-quarter GDP growth was underpinned in part by business spending, it was also flattered by a substantial build-up in inventory. However, if the fund’s past performance is anything to go by, it may still be an opportunity worth investigating.
Tesco shows early signs of recovery
Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, Tesco PLC (TSCO.L) delivered stronger sales figures than were expected in its first quarter, suggesting that it might be on the road to recovery.
The company reported this morning that same store sales had dropped 1.3% for the first quarter compared to last year, nearly half the 2.3% drop predicted by analysts at Barclays.
Shares in Tesco, down 21 percent over the last year, were up 3.4 percent this morning, their highest price in more than a month.
Tesco has followed the trend of most British supermarkets and had a slow 18 months, with slumping sales and declining profits. In April, Tesco reported the steepest ever full-year loss for a British retailer, arguably the worst year in its 96 year history.
“Our first quarter results represent another step in the right direction,” Tesco’s new Chief Executive Dave Lewis told reporters. “Clearly customers are noticing that we’re investing in the offer.”
Looking forward, Mr. Lewis said he expects to see deflation for the foreseeable future and warned that there is “still an awful lot of volatility out there as we change quite a lot in our business”
Collar Club crowdfunding finance for exclusive shirt company
For those that find popping to the dry cleaners too much of a hassle – let alone actually ironing – look no further than Collar Club, the latest company to launch a campaign on Crowdcube.
In their own words, the rather nattily named Collar Club “exists to free men from the pain of buying, washing, drying and ironing a shirt ever again”. Sounds pretty good so far.
Collar Club have undertaken some revolutionary research and found that most people hate laundry and ironing – but, perhaps unsurprisingly, men hate it more. And from that simple fact, the business was born.
The idea is simple; following a free trial fit, customers can order up to eleven shirts on a monthly subscription basis, which can be replaced every 12 month. The old shirts are then either kept by the customer, or donated to charity. If you’re lucky enough to be living in London, for an additional fee you can arrange to have five shirts a week taken away for laundering, and replaced with a fresh sheet of workday shirts – you can even choose whether you’d prefer them delivered folded or hung.
Aiming for an exclusive market, their target customer is a man earning £75,000 or more, working long hours, travelling frequently who has limited downtime. Obviously, men like these don’t wish to be stuck inside completing domestic tasks such as ironing in their rare moments to themselves – fortunately, the Collar Club’s service is here to help.
Their milestones are clear: they raised £298K seed funding between in August & December 2014 and completed the development of the product, branding and design work. Their logo, a wolf in a suit and tie, has a rather Christian Grey-esque feel – which probably depicts the company’s brand rather well.
They are aiming to raise £150,000 via crowdcube, in return for 6.98% equity. They are currently on £76,210, with 35 people investing. Collar Club will use the funding raised to invest in marketing and advertising, working capital and staffing costs.
Confusion over Sony’s involvement in Kickstarter project
Since the launch of the crowdfunding campaign, there has been significant confusion over Sony’s role in the development of much anticipated video game Shenmue 3.
At a press conference, Sony PlayStation’s director of third party production and developer relations Gio Corsi confirmed: “PlayStation is definitely a partner in this game. It’s going be run through third-party production, but we’re going to help YsNet get the game done. We’re going to be partners on it the whole way.”
However, its creator Yu Suzuki said: “Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.” He maintains that Sony’s involvement is limited to “publishing support”. The $2 million fundraising target was meant to be to gauge public interest, with Suzuki admitting the amount needed to produce the game would be more like $10 million.
The lack of transparency had justifiably led to confusion: if Sony aren’t involved – why the announcement at their event? If they are backing, why the need to use Kickstarter when Sony is a multi million pound company? Suzuki has confirmed that the project is bolstering the campaign with “other funding sources already secured”, although whether this source is Sony cannot be confirmed due to contractual obligations.
Suzuki attempted to clarify the details in an update on the Kickstarter post, claiming Sony wasn’t involved and that the extra dollars raised through crowdfunding would be for “extra quests, events, and new gameplay systems.” If the crowdfunding continues on this level, at the $5 million mark he promised there would be an “all new gameplay feature,” while $10 million would secure “a much larger, completely open world” to explore.
However, Suzuki’s post still fails to answer some fundamental questions about how the game is being made and it it might be better to hold off investing until these details have been clarified.
When the project opened in the wake of the E3 announcement, the interest was so huge that users were hit by errors showing that the site was having trouble loading, and it set a Guinness World Record to become the fastest video game to raise $1 million on a crowdfunding site. In the popular game, players take control of Ryo Hazuki, a troubled 18-year-old keen to avenge the mysterious death of his father. It mixes action, role-playing, life simulation and adventure.
Backers receive a range of rewards for investing in the project — from getting to participate in surveys and polls to decide the direction of the game, for $5, all the way up to a $10,000 reward that allows backers to go to dinner with the developers.
Crowd2Fund launches UK’s first “revenue loan”
Online crowdfunding platform Crowd2Fund have recently launched the “Revenue Loan”, a completely unique type of lending tailored for early stage or seasonal businesses.
Revenue-based funding is a model whereby businesses repay the loan as a percentage of company revenue, meaning that they are not tied to fixed monthly repayments; giving them the agility to grow quicker due to more manageable cash flow. They are ideal for start-up businesses who are not eligible for a bank loan, but do not want to part with company equity; whilst revenue loans are more expensive than bank loans, they are less expensive than equity and are much easier to obtain.
Revenue-based financing isn’t a new idea – it was very popular in the early-to-mid 1900s, especially in the American oil and gas industries – however, Crowd2Fund are the first platform to bring revenue loans to the UK.
From an investor’s point of view, revenue lending is particularly attractive because of their high returns; the normal interest rate is around 10%. With revenue-based financing, investors don’t own shares or sit on the board of the company they invest in; revenue-based financing is similar to equity in that it’s in the investor’s best interest for the business to grow quickly and successfully. Companies usually pledge 2 percent to 8 percent of their revenue until the amount repaid reaches a certain threshold, usually two to three times the amount borrowed. Loan terms are typically structured so that repayment takes two to three years, but the duration really depends on the borrower’s financial performance.
Crowd2Fund completed the UK’s first ever revenue loan for the Glen Rothay Hotel, established in 1624 and based in the Lake District.The Glen Rothay Hotel was unable to get a bank loan due to a technicality, even though they are clearly a credit worthy business. Due to the seasonal nature of the business, the revenue loan was perfect for them as it allowed them to undergo refurbishment works during low season. Six investors funded the £40k loan via Crowd2Fund with Glen Rothay expecting to repay the loan early as revenue has been higher than anticipated following the upgrade.
Beef Digital were the UK’s second ever revenue loan, which recently closed successfully after raising £50k to fund the expansion of their digital agency. Matt, the founder of the agency said: “Traditional bank funding was not able to provide us with the support that we need. As well as allowing us access to finance, Crowd2Fund have provided us with marketing and business development resources which have allowed us to raise more awareness of who Beef Digital are and what we are doing.”
Interest in Crowd2Fund’s revenue loan seems to be high , and they have started to attract more mainstream brands who are applying for this type of flexible finance. Crowd2Fund are a platform that aim to create fast, fair and flexible finance to meet today’s demands. They are the only FCA regulated crowdfunding platform to offer 5 models of finance, across debt and equity investments.
Sage Group biggest riser on the FTSE100
Sage Group (LON:SGE) is up 3.10% today after a report revealed that it’s had its “buy” rating kept by analysts at Citigroup.
Sage Group’s stock is up 41.46% over the past 200 days, outperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which has risen 5.35% over the same time period.
Sage Group has had a net rise of 38.69% over the past year and is currently trading at 532.2p per share.
H&M stocks down due to strong US dollar
Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz (HMb.ST) down 2.5 percent at 331.70 crowns after reporting that the strong US dollar has had a “very negative impact” on purchasing costs.
It said the situation could be even worse for its third and fourth quarters due to the rise in the U.S. dollar.
H&M sources 80% of its clothes in Asia, in contracts denominated in U.S. dollars however sells most of them in Europse. In comparison, their biggest competitor Inditex (ITX.MC) sources more of its products from Europe and therefore has not taken the same hit.
“We expect continued margin contraction in the remainder of 2015,” said Bernstein analyst Jamie Merriman. H&M shares have risen around 4 percent this year, underperforming Inditex, which is up 29 percent.
Dubai property prices set to drop 20%
Dubai real estate developers and lends are preparing for an expected drop in property prices, after Standard & Poor estimated that values may fall by a fifth.
The credit rating agency said that subdued demand, slower economic activity and downbeat investor sentiment all contributed to their prediction.
“Slightly lesser demand will come from non-residents,” S&P said in a statement. “In early 2015, non-resident demand from Russia and other member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was particularly subdued.”
However, analysts say that developers and lenders are better prepared for this than when a similar crash in 2008 brought the city to the brink of bancruptcy. Lending restrictions, a clampdown on speculation and greater dependence on rental income mean that builders and banks should be cushioned against repercussions.
Dubai’s real estate market is notoriously volatile, and has scarcely seen a period of steady, modest growth throughtout the last decade of its transformation from desert to bustling business hub.
Better controls from the UAE central bank, weaker demand and more focus on rental income rather than property development have both tempered house prices and meant that developers are better placed to withstand market shocks.
FTSE falls from three week high
The FTSE 100 fell 13.56 points this morning, as uncertainty over Greece began to affect the market.
Britain’s top share index is set for its first decline in five days, breaking its three week winning streak. Whilst European stocks have suffered over the past week of Greek negotiations, the FTSE has so far avoided the backlash and continued to perform well.
“It’s fears as to what happens next with the Greek debt bail out talks that are spooking the market. Last night’s divergence between the two sides has clearly rocked sentiment,” said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct.
“Although the downside in London may be looking quite limited right now, the picture is far worse on the continent.”
A Greek deal looks increasingly unlikely before the Saturday deadline imposed by creditors. If Greece default on their loan and exit the EU, global markets look set for a difficult few months.
Greeks defiant as deadline looms closer
Greek PM Alex Tsipras has resumed talks with creditors this morning, as the deadline for a deal grows ever closer.
Greece’s ruling party dismissed creditors’ demands as “blackmail”, striking a defiant tone in the face of accusations that they were refusing to compromise.
If a deal is not struck within the next 48 hours, Greece are unlikely to be able to repay the 1.5bn euros owed to the IMF. They will then face default, leading to a possible exit from the EU. However if an agreement is reached, creditors will unlock another 7.2bn euros worth of bailout funds.
“The lenders’ demand to bring annihilating measures back to the table shows that the blackmail against Greece is reaching a climax,” Nikos Filis, the ruling Syriza party’s parliamentary spokesman told Mega TV.
Whilst talks looked positive at the beginning of the week, there is now growing doubt that a deal will be reached before Saturday. European stocks are suffering in the wake of the uncertainty:
“Optimism around a Greek deal had been driving price action all week but a stall in the negotiation process has put the brakes on the rally,” said IG market strategist Stan Shamu.