Opinion

Semiconductors would have to be one of the most pervasive and critical pieces of technology in our daily lives – but they are usually not thought about very much. They certainly don’t seem to get the investment love like they should, or get talked about as much as, say, the FAANG stocks or electric vehicle…

Benchmark-beating Stonehorn Global Partners, a specialist Asian equity team of ex-Macquarie personnel, has expanded its Australian team after a $300 million year. The team that gave up managing $4 billion in assets at Macquarie Equities to build their own business in 2019 have delivered exceptional returns in their Stonehorn Asia Equity All-Cap Fund, adding 18.6%,…

The Australian Corporate Bond Company, which introduced single-issue liquid, exchange-traded, corporate bonds for Australian retail investors from its formation in 2013, is now expecting to take off having finally received an unrestricted license from ASIC. The full license was a battle which took place concurrently with the four-year battle against cancer by the company’s founder,…

Protecting your practice Potential COVID-19 for business owners For financial advisory firms, OH&S issues are rarely a priority. The odd paper cut hardly demands regulatory intervention. But COVID-19 could change all that, says John Makris and Dominic Fleeton, Partners at the specialist workplace law firm Kingston Reid. The focus of health and safety regulators has…

Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) delivered one of the surprises of earnings season last week, once again exhibiting the importance of quality when it comes to investments in property. Quality, as they say, comes down to your definition and in our view it is about the tenant, not necessarily the underling asset. With the property sector…

Clearly, we should have seen it coming. A launch party full of B-grade celebrities on a pristine beach in a cyclone ravaged region, it had all the hallmarks of a disaster. This week saw the regulator taking action against the Mayfair Platinum Group, including its subsidiaries IPO Wealth, Mayfair 101, and M-Notes among others. The…

Whatever criticism people may level at James Mawhinney, the entrepreneurial fund manager who still has a grand design for Dunk Island real estate, they can never say he is going down without a fight. He has hit back against ASIC, for considering him a “flight risk”, as well as receivers to one of his funds…

Another investment platform is due to arrive in NZ within weeks under the ‘Flint Wealth’ brand. It is an equal partnership between Brisbane-based Research IP, run by well-known Australian advisory market identity Darren Howlin, and NZ’s Harbour Asset Management and Trustee Executors. As was flagged by Howlin last December, Flint Wealth is primed to enter…

Inflation is an age demographic phenomenon; ask anyone with a vintage pre 1980s’ versus the younger set. To a lesser extent is inequality. The case for the former is growing, and notably too the number of investment groups that are discussing the topic. Unlike central bank accommodation and deleveraging post the financial crisis, this time…

Lazard: 11.4% return in the June quarter When we saw this headline we assumed it was from one of Lazard’s global equity strategies across its US$170 billion ($240 billion) portfolio. We were as surprised as anyone when we realised it had actually come from its Emerging Market debt strategy, so we decided to take a…

CBA profit dips 11.3% but dividend at the limit The Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (ASX:CBA) handed down their financial year result today; beating guidance on its dividend, but not on earnings. Management reported a 12.4% increase in statutory profit, which includes gains on the sale of assets including CFS, to $9.6 billion, but real…

  Company Ticker  March high March low Fall %  Current $ % Flight Centre FLT  $        32.15  $       9.91 -69.18%  $     11.70 15.30% Corporate Travel CTD  $        14.12  $       4.35 -69.19%  $     10.41 58.21% Webjet WEB  $        10.00  $       3.76 -62.40%  $       3.42 -9.94% Hello World HLO  $          3.28  $       0.85 -74.09%  $       1.89 55.03%…