Business

The average Brit moves house 5.5 times over the course of their lifetime. And while moves come with their own stresses related to organising mortgages, arranging surveys, packing and unpacking, there is also an additional type of stress many ignore: high costs. Here’s a look at the costs involved and what you can do to reduce them.

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Moving isn’t cheap

According to MoneySuperMarket, Brits spend an average of £748 each time they move house. For those moving the average 5.5 times, that means £4,116 in costs that include buying new furniture (55%), purchasing new household items, such as bedding and kitchen utensils (53%), paying for the post to be re-directed (42%), and changing bill providers (36%). This is 12% more expensive than it was last year when lifetime moving costs averaged £3,417. 

The research also shows that there could be costs to consider when moving house than many … Read more

The Deliveroo (LSE: ROO) share price has been having a rough time of late. It’s down almost 30% over three months, and has fallen 20% at the start of December alone.

The company listed on the London Stock Exchange via an initial public offering (IPO) back in March. However, the first trading day was one to forget as the shares plunged over 26%. It’s safe to say the share price has been rather volatile ever since.

Has the recent price fall created a buying opportunity for me? Let’s take a look at the potential investment.

The bull case

The first thing I like about Deliveroo is its network of partner restaurants and users on its online food delivery platform. This is operated through its 150,000 riders who deliver the food. Network effects can be a very powerful economic moat for a business as it stops competitors from taking market share. … Read more

IAG (LSE: IAG) shares have been up and down in the past 30 days. The resurgence of pandemic concerns seems to be a key driver behind this. The announcement of the Omicron variant on 25 November sent the share price tumbling almost 15% by the time markets closed. This trend spanned the whole industry with competitors easyJet and TUI both seeing double-digit drops too.

While IAG shares have fallen almost 12% in a year and 20% in the past 30 days, they jumped 8% last Monday. This was largely due to the Omicron virus concerns abating. These up and down price moves made me wonder whether now might be a good time to add IAG shares to my portfolio.

IAG valuation

First, looking at valuations, IAG shares actually look quite cheap to me right now. The firm’s pre-pandemic share price was well over 400p. Currently sitting at 142p, it’s trading … Read more

I’m focusing on penny stocks today and the first one I’m looking at is ULS Technology (LSE: ULS). The share price is 72p as I write, but I think this could rise considerably from here.

The company provides software and services in the property, legal and financial industries. Its flagship offering is eConveyancer, which is an online comparison tool for residential conveyancing quotations. It also owns DigitalMove, another online platform that centralises and streamlines the conveyancing process.

It released its half-year report last week that showed revenue growing 48% to £10.2m. The gross margin also improved, reaching 40% and up from 38.8% in the same period one year ago. However, the business remains loss-making. The underlying loss before tax was £1.48m, which increased from £0.64m and does make this penny stock higher-risk.

The firm said this was due to continued investment in eConveyancer and DigitalMove. I think this is … Read more

As a veteran value investor, I’m always looking out for cheap stocks and shares. In particular, I try to track down shares that pay generous dividends to shareholders. Dividends are regular cash payments paid to shareholders by companies, usually half-yearly or quarterly. For me, share dividends are the closest thing to free money I’ve ever had. And as American business tycoon John D Rockefeller once remarked: “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.” What’s more, reinvested dividends can account for roughly half of the long-term returns from UK shares. Here are 10 FTSE 100 shares that pay bumper cash dividends to patient shareholders.

10 huge FTSE 100 dividends

On Friday, the FTSE 100 closed at 7,122.32 points. At this level, the index has a forecast dividend yield of 4.1% for 2021. However, at least 12 FTSE 100 stocks don’t … Read more