The FTSE 100 index of leading UK shares hit a new record of 10,000 points on the first full day of trading this year, hitting an intraday high of 10,051. Investors were encouraged by signs of a recovery in the economy as the S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers index) increased to 50.6 in December, its highest level in more than a year, from 50.2 in November. A reading over 50 is taken to mean the economy is expanding, while a reading below 50 means the economy is contracting, and today’s reading suggests activity is picking up steam. Meanwhile,…

Shares in AIM-listed PC game developer and publisher Frontier Developments (FDEV) surged almost 10% on the news it had appointed a new chief executive. Jo Cooke, who joined the board as of 1 January, is currently a director or partner in Hillside Clubhouse and Hillside Trading and was previously a director of industry body UK Interactive Entertainment. Price: 484p +9.4%P/E: 11.6xMarket Cap: £170mYield: n/a Not so much a new arrival as a returnee as Cooke was director or marketing at FDEV from 2014 to 2017 before moving to global media group Omnicom. Cooke is also full-time head of marketing at…

AIM-listed payment services group Boku (BOKU) has announced it will buy back up to 4 million shares or 5% of its issued capital as it believes the current market prices undervalues the business. The firm says the buyback ‘represents a good investment opportunity and effective use of our growing own-cash balances, as well as a reaffirming of our belief in the company’s long term growth plan’. Price: 219p +4.2%P/E: 93xMarket Cap: £648mYield: n/a Boku already owns 6.5 million shares or 2.1% of the company, so either we’re being dim or the maths doesn’t add up. There are roughly 297 million…

HARBOUR ENERGY (HBR) – Oil & Gas Harbour Energy announced it has won the contract from the Mexican government and its commercial partners to operate the offshore Zama oil project. The firm has a 32.2% interest in Zama, while Mexican state oil company PEMEX has a 50.4% stake and Talos Energy Mexico has a 17.4% stake. Discovered in 2017, the Zama field contains an estimated 750 million boe (barrels of oil equivalent) of recoverable resources. Price: 198.6p +0.2%P/E: n/aMarket Cap: £3.3bnYield: 10% Harbour operates two significant projects in Mexico, Kan – where it has a 70% interest and the project…

Digital 9 Infrastructure Trust (DGI9), which is in the process of winding down and handing back cash to shareholders, has announced the disposal of its Aqua Comms business for slightly more than expected. The business, which owns subsea fibre assets in the Atlantic and Irish Seas, was sold for £34 million against a June 2025 valuation of £32.4 million. Aside from around £10 million of working capital needed to process the final wind down of the company, the sale proceeds will be returned to investors via a pro-rata compulsory capital redemption. Price: 5.8pNAV: 32.7p (June 2025)Market Cap: £50mYield: n/a Once…

Thinking back to the global financial crisis, one of the most insightful accounts of the origins of the meltdown, and the various winners and losers, is Michael Lewis’s 2010 book ‘The Big Short’. In the book – and the 2015 film, which we would recommend to anyone interested in financial markets – one of main characters is hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who successfully shorted US housing credit. Short selling involves borrowing stock from an institution or a broker, for a fee, and selling in the hope of making a profit by buying back at a significantly lower price. It’s…

Technology group Defence Holdings (ALRT) has signed a deal with Gloucestershire Police to deliver a proof-of-value programme for AI-enabled automation of video and taped interviews. This will enable the police force to use AI to convert unstructured PACE-governed interview data into structured digital summaries, making workflows faster and more efficient. The PoV programme will set performance benchmarks and demonstrate whether the software is suitable, with a proposed second phase expected to assess evidential-grade accuracy and other requirements for a broader rollout next Spring. Price: 1.9p -9.9%P/E: n/aMarket Cap: £45mYield: n/a This is the second positive news story on ALRT in…

Gulf Marine Services (GMS), the supplier of offshore support for the energy industry, has announced a two-year extension for one of its mid-sized self-elevating vessels currently operating in the Arabian Gulf area. This contract takes the firm’s backlog to $607 million or more than three times this year’s projected revenue. Price: 19.3p +2.9%P/E: 8.5xMarket Cap: £223mYield: n/a GMS shares popped 12% a week ago when it announced a new contract for one of its large vessels also operating in the Middle East. Clearly demand for its services remains robust, so a period of hefty downgrades to forecasts we might start…

The board of Baillie Gifford-managed Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWI) has sent a stiff letter to Saba Capital, managed by Boaz Weinstein, calling for clarification of his agenda by 5 January 2026. Less than a year ago, Saba campaigned for the removal of the trust’s board and investment manager and a change of strategy to trigger a ‘liquidity event’, but the proposal was roundly rejected by other shareholders. The letter suggests the board has since sought to engage ‘constructively’ with Saba and put forward what it calls a number of credible options to provide liquidity for shareholders, all of which…

Every December, the strategy team at Saxo Bank publish their Outrageous Predictions for the coming year, some serious, some not so serious. For 2026, the team has once again put together a collection of out-of-the-box, bonkers themes which, while they might seem highly improbable, just might come true. In total there are nine themes, but we’re focusing on the six we think are most interesting from an investor’s viewpoint. We have to start with tech, so how about Q-Day arriving early – Q-Day being the day when quantum computers can unlock public-key encryption, making large amounts of sensitive data vulnerable…