AIM for Growth

Back in November when Aviva’s share price dropped below £4 I thought that it would bounce back after a sharp market sell off. Though shares did continue to drop further, all the way down to below £3.65 in December, the market returned to normal levels of £4.30 before again dropping off to sub £4 levels recently.  The question for investors therefore is, can the stock once again rebound and return to the £5 mark or will it see another sell-off to drop even further than current valuations. NEW CEO Aviva is taking steps in a new direction with the departure of former CEO Mark Wilson, and the arrival of Maurice Tullock as his replacement. Though people were happy with Wilson’s revival of Aviva, it is arguably the right time for someone new as Wilson has completed his task at the company.  Further management shake ups are happening with Aviva’s chief of finance, Tom Stoddard stepping down at the end of the year, ending a five year reign with the company. The new CEO als...

I recently shifted my investment strategy to focus on UK growth stocks in the search for higher returns than that on offer in the FTSE 100. As a result, this has lead my research into the FTSE AIM index, which is a market for smaller growth companies to raise capital to fund expansion. The AIM index provides a great alternative to the FTSE 100 for portfolio selection and offers a host of benefits for new investors. SOURCE OF GROWTH The FTSE AIM 100 is full of great stocks, including names such as Fevertree, Boohoo Group PLC, and my previously discussed AB Dynamics . Such stocks have produced stunning returns over the years such as a 1500% return since 2015 for AB Dynamics and over 1300% return for Fevertree within the same time period. It is important to understand though that due to such great returns there is the potential for equally large downside. For example, the recent collapse of Burford Capital which dropped over 60% in one week. This is why I would suggest that AIM...

If you like the look of FTSE 100 data giant Experian then it may be worth looking in a similar sector at the AIM growth company, GB Group. Due to less coverage on the index, there is potential for the stock to achieve relatively higher levels of growth and hence deliver greater returns over the medium to longer-term for investors. WHAT THEY DO GB Group is an identity management company, with a market cap of £1.13 billion and is listed on the software and services sector of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. The company centers on the analysis of data in a variety of services such as user identification, customer on-boarding, and employee screening. GB Group has performed well for investors in the past, achieving a 120% return for investors since 2016. In this blog, I explore why I think the business is positioned to continue to provide superior returns in the long run. BIG DATA I recently spoke about the growing importance of big data in today’s society, with the ...

Due to lower coverage versus larger market cap stocks like FTSE 100 giants Hargreaves Lansdown and Experian, investing in AIM stocks can be hard. Especially when you are trying to come up with new companies that you know little about or have never heard of before. Here I discuss my tips for how to start the process of creating a pool of stock ideas to look further into, conducting your own analysis to further examine them. For example, looking at valuation metrics such as operating margin and return on capital employed, and identifying areas that will make the business profitable for years to come such as trends and clients. PAST PERFORMANCE When investing I like to look for companies that have a track record of robust performance. Though past performance is not an indicator of future returns, I believe that it does highlight that sentiment towards the business is improving which generally occurs from improving valuation metrics and the business being able to continuously beat m...