Infrastructure trust HICL (LON:HICL) has announced a £68 million investment in Hector Rail, Scandinavia’s largest private sector rail freight operator. The investment trust’s 42% stake will be acquired alongside other InfraRed managed funds, which together will own 100% of Hector. The deal is noteworthy for being HICL’s first ‘enhancer’ investment. Such deals should support the FTSE 250 trust’s 10%-plus medium-term total return target. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of the year, when Hector Rail will represent around 2.3% of HICL’s portfolio. Over time, HICL plans to have 20% of its assets in such higher-return investments. On…

Shares in Likewise (LON:LIKE) rose after the fast-growing floor coverings distributor upgraded FY26 profit guidance following strong Q3 trading. Led by CEO Tony Brewer, Likewise continues to take market share in a tough flooring market. And the Solihull-headquartered firm has investment in place to support a renewed medium-term £300 million revenue target, a step up from the previously stated £250 million. On a roll Helped by price increases, H1 results demonstrated strong revenue growth and margin improvement despite Middle-East-related cost pressures and hot UK weather. Total revenue increased 15.4% to £89.9 million and underlying pre-tax profits powered ahead by 79.5%…

In the latest episode of the podcast, the Sharesify gang discuss Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) valuation, Asia Pacific funds and this week’s stock surge at Raspberry Pi (LON:RPI). Ian briefs the team on his discussion with Grace Osborne, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sustainable Finance Analyst, who was in New York for Climate Week. Grace told Ian about the industries most at risk from climate change and explained why diversified industrials could be winners from a warming planet. Next up, James flags unexpected guidance upgrades from package holidays specialist On the Beach (LON:OTB) and online fashion retailer Asos (LON:ASC). He also discusses his in-depth feature…

Once again, investment trust Baillie Gifford US Growth (LON:USA) is squaring up to Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital. At the annual general meeting (AGM) on 23 October, the activist hedge fund will attempt to replace the trust’s board for the third time. Baillie Gifford US Growth is a unique fund which combines the best private and public US growth companies. Managed by Gary Robinson and Kirsty Gibson, the trust invests in exciting names like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Anthropic, OpenAI and Databricks. The fund hit a rough patch in 2021 and 2022 when a sell-off in long-duration growth companies exposed weaknesses in its…

In the latest special edition of the podcast, Grace Osborne, Sustainable Finance Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence joins the team. Our special guest is in New York for Climate Week, which is taking place alongside the UN General Assembly. To kick things off, Grace gives us an overview of her detailed report called ‘Europe’s Climate Resilience Challenge: The 2026 – 2035 Outlook’. James and Ian are surprised to learn that Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent. Grace explains that Europe’s climate costs are spreading beyond physical assets into output, margins and operating costs. She warns that extreme heat, water stress and…

Growth-hungry investors cannot afford to ignore Asia Pacific, a region offering a diverse range of opportunities across major economies including China, India and Japan, as well as South Korea, Vietnam and Australia. Asia leads the world by population and gross domestic product (GDP), yet UK investors allocate less than 10% of their portfolios to this dynamic and diverse region. This is a missed opportunity. Why? Well, powerful long-term trends are driving Asian growth and creating world-leading companies across Asia Pacific. In this article, we explain why diversified portfolios should have an allocation to this vast and rapidly-growing region. And we…

Shares in On The Beach (LON:OTB) bounced after the online package holiday specialist said FY26 profits will land in the top half of previous guidance. The upgrade follows a strong summer season for the Manchester-headquartered firm. On the Beach is also enjoying ‘strong booking momentum’ into FY27, with total bookings up 17% in the last eight weeks. In a brief pre-close trading update, On the Beach guided to FY26 adjusted pre-tax profits of £22 million to £23 million for the year ending 30 September 2026. That is in the top half of the £18 million to £25 million forecast given…

In the latest episode of the podcast, the Sharesify chaps talk risk-on markets, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Mexican demographics and why one star stockpicker sees a historic buying opportunity in small caps. Our tech expert Steven explains this week’s stock surge at Meta, while retail-watcher James discusses JD Sports Fashion’s (LON:JD) first foray into Mexico. He also tells us why home improvement giant Kingfisher (KGF) raised its FY27 profit and free cash flow guidance in the face of mixed consumer markets. Ian walks us through strong FY26 results from engineering group Renishaw (LON:RSW). He also treats us to his key takeaways…

Shares in Warpaint London (LON:W7L) plunged after the cut-price cosmetics seller warned it expects FY26 revenue to be towards the lower end of consensus. The AIM-listed makeup supplier insisted current year adjusted EBITDA should fall ‘within the current range’ of analysts’ forecasts. However, the firm’s FY26 performance will be ‘significantly more second half weighted’ than in prior years. And this means the firm needs to deliver a near-faultless H2 in order to meet full-year earnings forecasts. Doing so could prove difficult given pressure on consumer spending and cautious retailer ordering across many of Warpaint’s markets. Revenue warning For the uninitiated,…

Renewables investor Foresight Solar Fund (LON:FSFL) is stepping up efforts to address a stubbornly-wide share price discount to net asset value (NAV). In today’s H1 results, the board insisted change needs to be accelerated. As such, it is ‘considering all strategic options’ to maximise value for shareholders in ‘an effective and timely manner’. For the uninitiated, Foresight Solar is a renewable energy infrastructure fund with roughly £1 billion deployed into solar and battery storage assets. H1 results revealed a 4.3% drop in NAV from 99.2p at the end of December to 94.9p as of 30 June 2026. This fall primarily…