Innehållsförteckning för 1059 från MoneyWeek

“ESG funds didn’t own Morrisons. Is Alphabet really superior to a good supermarket?” Poor Liontrust. You’d think you could sell pretty much anything these days if you labelled it “green”, “responsible,” “sustainable”, or anything else ESG-related (“environmental, social and governance”, if you didn’t know already). But last week the fund manager had to scrap the launch of its first investment trust – the ESG Trust. You can blame the difficulty of raising money from UK investors (a few other trusts have failed to launch recently). It may also have been lack of ambition: the trust was looking to raise just £100m – not enough to make it investible for wealth managers. But these explanations don’t hold enough water. UK investors, notes Numis Securities, invested a net £3.5bn in markets in…

Damian Hurley (pictured), Liz Hurley’s son, has been cut off from the family’s trust funds by his grandfather, Peter Bing, 90, says Laura Pullman in The Sunday Times. Hurley’s father, Steve Bing, died last year aged 55. Steve had gone to court to ensure his children would be entitled to up to $250m of the family money and succeeded in 2019, but Peter appealed on the grounds that Damian was born out of wedlock, and was granted the right to divide the fund ashe wished. His daughter’s children, aged 21 and 19, are now in line to share $1bn. Transport for London saw a£100m plunge in advertising revenue as the coronavirus pandemic kept commuters at home, says Mark Sweney in The Guardian. TfL’s “advertising estate” is one of the “largest…

Private-equity investors spy bargains in Japan, says Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. Private-equity funds invest in private companies or buy out publicly listed ones. Fund managers have been amassing a war chest. “Total assets under management in Japan-focused private equity amounted to $35bn as of September last year... double the sum at the end of 2015.” The funds have $14.9bn of cash to deploy. Corporate-governance reform is making Japan more appealing to foreign investors. Japan’s “smaller family-controlled… companies without a successor” also offer rich pickings. Cheap financing from Japanese megabanks is augmenting the trend, Kazuhiro Yamada of private-equity group Carlyle tells the Financial Times. There have been 25 private-equity deals in Japan this year, worth $8.6bn, compared with $9.5bn for the whole of 2020, say Kana Inagaki and…

“Technology was a small industry until very recently,” says Benedict Evans on ben-evans.com. When the first web browser, Netscape, launched in 1994 there were only 100 million PCs worldwide. Today 75% of all adults – four billion people – have a smartphone. In 2017, 40% of new heterosexual couples in the USA met online. “It took 75 years for seat belts [in cars] to become compulsory, but tech has gone from interesting to crucial only in the last five to ten years.” Bad regulation may follow: witness the “comforting simplicity” of calls to break up big tech. “The idea that you can solve the social issues related to the web with anti-trust intervention is like thinking” we can fix traffic congestion by “breaking up GM”.…

• Cheng Wei (pictured), the founder of ride-hailing company Didi Global, had “scarcely a moment” to revel in his firm’s $4.4bn New York listing last week, says The Economist. Within 48 hours the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced an investigation into the company, claiming that it was gathering and using personal data illegally. It ordered Didi’s mobile app to be removed from app stores in China. This effectively stops new customers from joining the service, though existing members can still hail taxis. Didi’s stock, and other Chinese tech stocks such as Tencent and Alibaba, plunged. No wonder, says Robyn Mak on Breakingviews. It’s true that Didi’s size, with 377 million active users all “feeding the app a constant stream of personal information including locations and spending”, means that a…

No one would deny that the rules governing what companies can list on the stockmarket, and on what conditions, were in need of radical reform. Over almost three decades, regulators have tightened and tightened the rules. The aim was to protect investors and make equity investment safer for ordinary people. As is so often the case with regulation, however, it has had unintended consequences. In this case, the number of listings has fallen dramatically. The safety of the graveyard The number of companies quoted on the London market has fallen by 40% since its 2008 peak. Entrepreneurs have decided to remain private, or else sell out to a venture-capital fund; existing businesses have realised it is easier to sell to a private-equity firm than struggle on with all the hassle…

Most analysts agree that the US stockmarket is overvalued on almost any measure you care to use. You can find pockets of value everywhere, and other global markets aren’t quite as expensive (notably the UK). But when it comes to the US, there’s little argument that investors are paying up for stocks in a way that we haven’t seen other than at previous pre-crash highs. Of course, there are still arguments to be had around how much this matters. You may or may not believe that there are good reasons for the apparent overvaluation. Low interest rates are one pertinent factor, and you can argue that online business models, which are far less capital-intensive than “old economy” companies, make a big difference too. And after years of hearing the same…

The big state will not save us Mark Littlewood The Daily Telegraph Getting Brexit done and the success of the vaccine rollout have carried Boris Johnson’s government thus far, says Mark Littlewood. But neither is going to matter much in the months and years to come. After coronavirus restrictions are lifted (see page 8), “normal bread-and-butter issues” will return to salience, and “the Conservative cupboard is extraordinarily bare”. “Levelling up” and “build back better” are “mere catchphrases, not serious strategies”. But they signal that the government “genuinely appears to believe that the woes of left-behind Britain have been due to the state being an insufficiently large part of people’s lives”. This ignores the fact that the richer parts of the UK are richer thanks to their thriving private-sector businesses and…

Videogame publishers resemble film studios in that a blockbuster “can make or break acompany”, says Steve Goldstein on Barron’s. Warsaw-listed CD Projekt was expected to do well with the release of Cyberpunk 2077. But the launch has been a flop. Sony hasn’t allowed its Playstation Store to stock Cyberpunk 2077 because it is riddled with bugs, and Microsoft has added a warning notice to the Xbox version for the same reason. CD Projekt’s shares have plunged by 38% this year. Activist investor Abri Advisors has taken a stake in the company and called for the resignation of CEO Adam Kicinski. It also wants the group to “address its shortcomings” and fix its image. Kicinski insists the game will be a success “in the long run”.…

conservativehome.com Who is the greatest living conservative thinker? With the death last year of Roger Scruton, and the socialist capture of academia, most people would be hard-pressed to think of any, says Adrian Lee. The main contender is Thomas Sowell, a black American born into poverty 91 years ago, and still writing today. “The breadth of his work is formidable.” Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, is the author of more than 50 books, covering areas as diverse as economics, racial inequality (he is opposed to so-called affirmative action, believing it hinders the advancement of minorities), housing and education. Sowell was born into a world that was both poor and harsh for black people, living under the “Jim Crow” segregation laws and leaving school at…

“An inflation tax is in the offing. Even the canny Warren Buffett will have trouble escaping its reach” The war on Covid-19 has proved remarkably expensive. The US federal deficit last year ran to $3.4trn. That’s nearly 95% of Washington’s total tax take. How to foot the bill? So far, President Joe Biden’s administration has only proposed tinkering with the current tax system. The White House has called for the maximum tax rates on income, corporate and capital gains to rise (capital gains tax might also become payable on estates). UK prime minister Boris Johnson is considering a reduction in the tax benefits enjoyed by pensions. Given Britain’s poor savings record, a raid on retirement plans appears ill-advised. Rich Americans are expert at avoiding income taxes. Investigative journalists at ProPublica…

• Tens of thousands of small British businesses face rising compliance costs thanks to new value-added tax (VAT) rules that came into force across the European Union on 1 July. As many as 26,000 British businesses selling into the EU – including e-commerce merchants – must for the first time be registered for VAT in the member states where they have customers. The rules abolish exemptions from VAT registration for businesses selling low-value goods to European shoppers and require companies to collect VAT from their customers at the checkout. Many businesses will want to seek professional help with meeting the new requirements, or risk having their sales blocked by tax authorities. But with set-up and ongoing fees to pay, that could set them back several thousand pounds. Some small companies…

Chinese after-school education-services provider Puxin (NYSE: NEW) has had a torrid few months. A 7% decrease in student enrolment owing to the pandemic’s effect on education saw its net revenues fall by 8.6% to $104.8m for the first quarter of 2021 compared with $116.2m in the first quarter of 2020. The company has also made a loss over the last 12 months, says Simply Wall St; the decline in sales won't bring profitability any nearer. So the 70% drop in the stock over the last year is “not unreasonable”. The group may have better days ahead but for now investors are steering clear.…

Go surfing whether the surf’s up or not That surfing is known by some as “the sport of kings” derives from the fact that Hawaiian kings made surfing their official sport. And kings shouldn’t have to depend on the waves for an excellent ride. This state-of-the-art electric surfboard by Oloboards provides “more rides, more speed, and more fun”, whatever the ocean is doing. It has a battery life of up to 50 minutes and a top speed of 52km/h. The battery is removable and can be quickly swapped for another. The LED light display lets you know how much battery remains and there is a handy glove compartment to store your valuables in. From €19,999, oloboards.com. Rise above the waves Hydrofoils are wings under the water that lift a boat’s…

• Brooklyn Beckham, 22, and his 26-year-old fiancée, actress Nicola Peltz, have snapped up their first home for a cool £7.5m, says Ulrika Jonsson in The Sun. Two things spring to mind. Firstly, don’t get married at 22. Secondly, Brooklyn (pictured) hasn’t worked many days in his life. How it can be sensible to be paying £70,000 over the asking price for his starter home is “beyond me”. What does a child learn from being handed everything on a plate? What does it teach them about the work ethic and value? “If I was a multimillionaire – and this may come as a shock to my kids – I wouldn’t set them up for life.” Warren Buffett is worth £100bn and he isn’t leaving much to his kids and nor…

French wine producers are “in a fizz” over the suggestion that Champagne can be made anywhere outside the region of the same name in France, reports The Guardian. “The term is jealously guarded and legally defended.” So when the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, signed legislation last week which requires non-Russian producers to label their products as “sparkling wine” and dictated that only locally-made Shampanskoye was worthy of the “prestigious” label, the French Champagne producers’ trade body called for the suspension of exports to Russia, arguing that the “unacceptable” legislation “deprived the people of Champagne” of their “common heritage and the apple of [their] eye”. Russia imports nearly 50 million litres of sparkling wine every year, and French Champagne represents 13% of the market. In all, France produces around 231 million…

In March last year, oil cartel Opec+ “held a disastrous meeting in which it failed miserably to reach an agreement”, says John Authers on Bloomberg. Oil prices subsequently plunged. This month “Opec+ has held another disastrous meeting in which it failed miserably to reach an agreement”. The result? Prices have risen. Brent crude oil prices have soared above $77 a barrel, the highest level since October 2018. US oil benchmark WTI briefly hit $76.98 a barrel, a seven-year high. Saudi Arabia and the UAE fall out The Opec+ cartel brings together major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The group controls 50% of global oil output, and tries to keep prices stable. Opec+ found itself “staring into the abyss” last year, says…

“It was quite a surprise last week when a well-regarded fund management group shook the [environmental and social governance, or ESG] magic-money tree... and the expected cascade of gold failed to tumble from its branches... Liontrust had a target to raise £150m... for a new ESG investment trust... But [it] failed to reach even the £100m it had sought as a minimum. The entire plan was scrapped... No one thinks “ESG fatigue” has set in. But even if it turns out to have been an aberration, the investment world has serious hurdles to overcome... Many sustainable funds have posted very strong returns in the past year [but] at some point, returns from green and other sustainable funds [will] hit a spell of underperformance. It’s then the industry will learn how…

Three to buy Entain The Sunday Times Sports betting and gambling company Entain rejected a bid from US casino giant MGM six months ago but the Americans look set to return with a better deal. Entain has performed well in recent months. Its joint venture with MGM, BetMGM, grew its net gaming revenue by 400% year-on-year between September 2020 and March 2021. Entain is also addressing its “image problem”: it will exit unregulated markets and drop the “tainted” GVC brand. Investors should place their bets now. 1,797p FedEx Investors’ Chronicle The pandemic greatly accelerated the shift towards e-commerce, and delivery companies have reaped the benefits. FedEx “has thrived” during the pandemic. Sales jumped by over a fifth to a record $84bn in the year to 31 May thanks to higher…

“You wait ages for a bidder to emerge for one of the UK’s big supermarket chains, then three turn up at once”, says Dominic O’Connell on the BBC. Having recently turned down a takeover offer from US private-equity firm Clayton, Dubillier & Rice (CDR), Wm Morrison has just “wrong-footed” the market by announcing a deal with a group of investors led by Fortress Investment. At 254p a share it represents a 42% premium to the supermarket’s pre-bid share price. And a third private-equity group, Apollo, is “considering its own offer”. The Fortress bid is certainly convenient for Wm Morrison’s board, say Nils Pratley in The Guardian. Not only did it get a better offer than CDR’s, but it also gives it the opportunity to claim the moral high ground by…

While virtually all Covid-19 rules are to be scrapped in England on 19 July, the Scottish government is taking a different approach, says Philip Sim on the BBC. With Covid-19 cases in Scotland now the highest in Europe, the Scottish government has said that it will only remove some of the rules later this month, with those around social-distancing indoors likely to remain until at least August. Even after that date it is likely that some measures, such as the wearing of face coverings, and a recommendation to work from home, will “continue for a longer period of time”. Sturgeon and the leaders of the other devolved administrations think they can go their own way, but that’s going to be harder than they think, says The Scotsman. The “great re-opening”…

Parisian chefs may be known for their creativity in the kitchen, but their “tantrums... angst [and] moments of self-doubt” are exhausting, says Adam Sage in The Times. But now a “cool, calm chef capable of hard work who will never utter an expletive” has strolled onto the scene in the form of Pazzi, a robot who can make pizzas. Pazzi costs €500,000 and its pizzas sell for between €7 and €13.60. The robot’s three automated arms roll out dough, cover it in tomato sauce, add the toppings, and cook the pizza in an oven. It works on its own, but relies on human staff to take orders and serve customers. Sébastien Roverso, Pazzi’s inventor, says it can make up to 80 pizzas an hour and ten at a time. He…

• Former prime minister Theresa May was paid £502,837 for 12 “virtual” speaking engagements from last September to June, making her the highest-earning MP last year, says The Mail on Sunday. May (pictured) had commanded a speech fee of up to £110,000 before the pandemic; rates for some speakers fell by 90% during lockdown. Still, the MP for Maidenhead held up better than most. May’s online rates were between £38,000 and £48,245, according to Parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests. • Jozsef Varadi, the chief executive of Wizz Air, stands to reap a £100m bonus if the share price of the Budapest-based low-cost airline rises from £48 to £120 over the next five years, says the Financial Times. The one-off award, one of the biggest-ever payouts from a London-listed company,…

Leverage (or “gearing”) refers to the extent to which debt rather than equity is used to fund an investment. The term can be applied to a business – which might issue bonds to help pay for the construction of a new factory or take out a mortgage to allow it to buy an office building – but equally for the use of borrowings by an investment trust or hedge fund to increase returns. Leverage is also known as gearing; the latter term ismore common in the UK, while the former is preferred in the US. The extent of a company’s leverage can be measured through ratios such asdebt/ equity. Let’s assume that a company has assets worth £100m and debt totalling £30m. Shareholders’ equity, which is equal to assets minus…

“My parents lived in Nigeria and worked hard to get to this country and put all their effort into making sure I was able to go to private school. They’ve taken out loans. Been in enormous debt. You can understand how frustrating it was when I said, ‘Nah, I want to do YouTube.’” YouTube star KSI (above), now said to be worth around £16m, quoted in The Sunday Times “There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one. The bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.” Economist Frédéric Bastiat, quoted in The Sunday Telegraph “There is no support from the government… Everyone’s going to start…

■ The number of new hedge-fund companies launched in 2021 is on track to match last year’s global total of around 60 despite “subdued” returns compared to 2020’s “big gains”, say Katherine Burton and Eric Krebs on Bloomberg. Even in the pandemic, 20% more firms launched last year than in 2019 and a few raised over $1bn. So far in 2021 at least four new firms are on track to meet or surpass the $1bn mark. Managers who used to work at Viking Global Investors continue to do especially well; Viking has “spawned some of the most notable debuts of the past few years”. Most of the start-ups will focus on equities and specialise in areas such as biotech or technology, hoping to capitalise on hedge funds’ outperformance in these…

economist.com Africa “has more than its fair share of despots”, says The Economist, yet four of the continent’s five island-states are rated “free” by Freedom House, a US think tank, says The Economist. For Africa as a whole, fewer than one in five ranks as free. How do the islands manage it? A study in the Journal of International Relations and Development argues that size and insularity “holds the key to freedom”. Because Cape Verde, the Comoros, Mauritius, São Tomé and Principe, and the Seychelles are small, politics is more personal and constituents can “pester officials to keep their promises”. It is harder too for a single party to crack down on dissidents when they are neighbours and friends. And being islands, they are spared from land borders which their…

Businesses cancelling insurance policies to reduce their costs may be making false economies – and even leaving themselves exposed to legal trouble. Research suggests that 51% of small companies stopped paying for at least one type of insurance at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is illegal to operate without certain types of insurance, and there are fines and other penalties for those who are uninsured. In particular, if your business has even one employee, it must take out employers’ liability insurance, which will pay out if a member of staff is injured at work or becomes ill as a result of their employment. In most cases, you must have at least £5m of cover. Motor insurance for businesses that use vehicles is also compulsory. They must have at…

In June 2014 I wrote an article in this magazine (moneyweek.com/503173/ boom-times-are-here-again) that made several forecasts. I claimed we were in the early stages of a cyclical economic expansion, which, following a short mid-cycle recession, would take us into a major boom in the 2020s. I forecast that this mid-cycle recession would occur at the end of the 2010s, but that the economy would quickly shrug it off and spring forward into the new decade. I said the boom would be global, leading to more wealth creation in this period than in any other in human history. So confident was I in this prediction that I declared that the FTSE 100, then still below the level it traded at the start of 2000, would go above 12,000 by the time…

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the UK had lagged behind the global economy for several years. Arguably, this was largely due to a lack of productivity growth as a result of companies' low capital expenditure. Moreover, the Brexit-induced uncertainty meant that projects companies may have had in the pipeline were put on hold. Then, when Covid arrived and rapidly spread throughout the country, the British economy contracted faster than its major counterparts. Following the rollout of a successful vaccination program, however, the UK economy has bounced back with real vigour. Sales of goods and services are picking up faster than expected and some companies are using supply shortages to push prices up. It is usually in difficult periods that companies focus on costs and become leaner as organisations. Then,…

When we were allowed to venture back into restaurants in May, the very first dinner I attended was at steak-haven Hawksmoor Seven Dials, in London, because on Monday nights it is a fiver for corkage. Feel free to check out my Instagram feed and you will see a bottle of 2004 San Leonardo sitting in a line-up of crazy bottles that my pals and I had been itching to share for over a year. I tasted the soon to be released 2016 San Leonardo a couple of weeks ago and, this time, I am itching to share it with you. Owner Marchese Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga decided that this legendary Italian red, Trentino’s finest, deserved an extended period of ageing prior to release and his decision has paid dividends. Made from…

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is worth reading. Not because his thoughts are original or provocative, but because they are not. They reflect elite, mainstream thinking. They tell us what lies ahead. His predictions are almost always amiss – making him a great contrarian indicator. More importantly, it is to Krugman that Washington’s apparatchiks, movers and shakers, politicians, and kingmakers look for guidance. He points to the mushroom. The elites eat it. And Western civilisation turns pale. “Inflation is so last week, he says.Which makes us think it must be next week” Krugman’s solution to the dotcom bubble blow-up was to blow another one, this time in housing. When that popped, he urged the Obama team to pump up another one. And when Donald Trump was elected,…

Income investors can breathe a sigh of relief – FTSE 100 dividend payments are expected to grow by 25% this year to £76.9bn, says AJ Bell. Mining giant Rio Tinto (see above) is expected to be the biggest dividend payer in the index for 2021, “well ahead of British American Tobacco, Shell, BHP Group and Unilever”. ITV may have enjoyed its most lucrative night ever after screening the Euro 2020 semi-finals on Wednesday, when it reportedly charged between £500,000 and £750,000 for 30-second ad slots during the England-Denmark game, according to The Daily Telegraph. The channel predicted an audience of around 27.5 million for the match.…

Wall Street hosted the “busiest stretch” for initial public offerings (IPOs) since 2014 last week, says Ari Levy on CNBC, with 14 companies raising at least $100m each and producing a windfall for the top investment banks. Underwriters including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan Chase generated $400m in fees for assisting with the flotations for everyone from doughnut and coffeehouse chain Krispy Kreme to Chinese vehicle-for-hire company Didi Chuxing. The flurry of IPOs highlights investors’ appetite for growth, and shows that IPOs are still the preferred route to market despite competition from direct listings, which entail “much lower” advisory fees.…

JD Group, which owns retailer JD Sports, has become the latest big company to receive a “bloody nose” over executive pay, say Sarah Butler and Jillian Ambrose in The Guardian. Last week it faced a revolt because executive chairman Peter Cowgill “was paid almost £6m in bonuses since February last year, despite the company accepting more than £100m in government support”. While shareholders ultimately approved the package, thanks to majority stakeholder Pentland Group, they did so with “lower levels of support” than usual. Smaller investors also voiced their anger by forcing out Andrew Leslie, the chair of the remuneration committee. Both investors and the public have “good reason” to be angry, says Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph. Cowgill has steered the company through a difficult period, with online sales…

Labour’s victory in Batley and Spen last week has eased pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership, which had previously been called into question. With £1,866 matched on Smarkets, the odds on him leaving in 2021 have lengthened from as short as three (33.3%) to seven (14.2%). Punters still think his stay as leader is likely to be relatively short, however: you can get 4.1 (24.3%) on him departing in 2022 and 3.9 (25.6%) in 2023. Indeed, the odds on him surviving to 2025 are still a relatively long 5.3 (18.7%). Interestingly, Smarkets also runs a separate market on whether Starmer (pictured) will survive to the start of 2024. In that case they put the odds of a departure by the end of 2023 at 1.77 (56.4%), which is slightly better than…

Barclays has followed its Wall Street rivals, including JP Morgan and Bank of America, and hiked pay for junior investment bankers, says Gillian Tan on Bloomberg. The bank will lift the base salaries of all US analysts by $15,000 and its US associates and vice-presidents by $25,000, taking first-year analyst base salaries to $100,000, according to an anonymous source. Staff based outside of the US will receive similar pay rises. Barclays’ first-year analysts will now be on the same salary as their peers at JP Morgan. Bank of America promised in April to raise the pay of its junior bankers following concerns over “burn-out” among younger staff. Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo have handed out one-off bonuses, junior bankers at Houlihan Lokey have been offered holidays, while Jefferies is providing…

“I don’t want... all of the Chinese system, but I certainly would like to have the financial part of it in my own country.” Charlie Munger, the longterm business partner of Warren Buffett, reckons the US could pick up some tips on finance sector regulation from China, he tells Becky Quick on CNBC. Discussing the collapse this year of Archegos Capital Management, which was brought down because it used too much borrowed money to buy shares, Munger, 97, contrasts the US approach with that of China. “Our own wonderful free enterprise economy is letting all these crazy people go to this gross excess,” whereas “the communist Chinese... step in preemptively to stop speculation.” He notes approvingly that when Alibaba founder Jack Ma (pictured) tried to list his financial technology company…

It is hard to think of a more contrarian investment than Russia. Not only is President Vladimir Putin the bête noir of Western governments, but hydrocarbons account for 40% of the market. As a result, Russia, according to Priyesh Parmar of Numis Securities, “is the cheapest major global equity market, trading on a historic price/earnings ratio of just 9.5 and offering a yield of around 5%”. The only investment trust specialising in Russia, the £300m JPMorgan Russian Securities (LSE: JRS), is on a 12% discount to net asset value (NAV) and yields 4.6%. Its manager, Oleg Biryulyov, is upbeat. His portfolio has a 72% overlap with the benchmark index and is priced, he says, on 7.9 times forward earnings and a price/book ratio of 1.2. The forward dividend yield is…

lrb.co.uk/blog Elon Musk claims that in ten years speech will be obsolete, says Phil Jones. Tiny chips placed in the brain will instead allow us to communicate telepathically, and Musk’s latest venture, Neuralink, has been promoting a “series of bizarre stunts”, including a video of a monkey implanted with a chip playing a video game and a pig having its neural activity tracked on a bleeping monitor. To his boosters, this is more evidence of Musk’s genius. Yet versions of the technology he is raving about have been around for 150 years. And his track record may make us doubt his claims: Tesla regularly misses production targets; his project to “blast pods of commuters around underground tunnels” faces repeated setbacks; and he remains mysteriously confident that there will be humans…

Now that fears of inflation are spreading, how can small firms protect themselves? They often lack the power to pass higher costs on to customers, so margins may come under pressure. Consider taking several steps now. For example, it may be possible to fix many of your costs, particularly your utility bills if your gas, electricity and telecoms providers offer such an option. Look at your borrowing. Do you have variable-rate facilities that may become more costly if interest rates rise in response to inflation? If so, review such arrangements. Consider your stock levels. Subject to your company’s financial position, it may make sense to increase inventories if you need to buy goods that do not have a shelf life. Bringing forward other purchases, such as equipment, may also be…

“Commute your way. Choose WFH [work-from-home] Wednesdays, choose face-to-face Fridays”, declares the National Rail website. The post-pandemic world will entail far more part-time commuting. On 28 June the government rolled out “Flexi Season” tickets, which are aimed at workers who travel two or three days each week. The new offering allows passengers to travel on any eight days in a 28-day period between two named stations. Returns are valid until 4.29am the following day to accommodate those who need to stay late at work. The days travelled do not need to be selected in advance. Tickets are paperless and are only available in England; some operators, such as London Underground and Grand Central, are not covered. The Department for Transport (DfT) says the tickets offer passengers “control over their commute,…

Dignity (LSE: DTY) is Britain's biggest listed funeral-services group. The shares plunged to a record low of £2.30 in May last year, says Ian Cowie in The Sunday Times. They have recovered to £8.51, still a long way off their £28 high of 2016. But the firm’s board was recently overhauled by activist investor Gary Channon, who has delivered “a Lazarus-like recovery” after replacing former executive chairman Clive Whiley. His arrival followed a regulatory inquiry into sales techniques. Recent plans to sell a minority stake gave the shares another fillip. They are up by 252% in 12 months.…

James Duncan was born in 1971 and went on to work in insurance and broking – his efforts there led to a cease and desist order from regulators in Iowa and Washington. He then set up Sunburst Factor Fund with Hendrix Montecastro, later renamed Pacific Wealth Management to give the appearances of an affinity with the well-known wealth-management company (which had nothing to do with the fund). The duo approached investors in Orange County, California, with a real-estate scheme, which they claimed would make “infinite returns” so long as clients agreed to follow all their instructions for at least three years, without asking any questions. What was the scam? The scheme involved investors buying properties on the recommendation of Duncan and Montecastro by taking out new mortgages in excess of…

Dangerous Ideas A Brief History of Censorship in the West, from the Ancients to Fake News Eric Berkowitz The Westbourne Press, £20 A commitment to free speech has always been considered to be one of the core principles of democracy, says Jonathan Rose in The Wall Street Journal. Concerns over “misinformation” during elections and in the Covid-19 pandemic have, however, led many to worry about the consequences of that, and there have been moves to force tech barons “to police our online reading”, by downplaying or outright banning certain ideas and types of speech. In Dangerous Ideas, journalist and lawyer Eric Berkowitz provides a global history of censorship, ranging from classical times to the present, and “identifies some recurring patterns in the suppression of free-thinking”. The book is a “captivating…

€400m How much Italian football club Juventus is planning to raise in a new share issue to offset the hit to its finances from the pandemic. The Serie-A club put the cost of the pandemic at €320m between 2019 and 2022, due to stadium closures. £16.16 How much a £100 investment by someone earning £25,000 and saving into a private employer’s pension scheme would generate for every year of retirement from age 68, according to calculations by consultancy LCP. The same £100 contribution made by NHS doctors would generate the equivalent of £51.74, teachers £49.20 and civil servants £42.67. 1.3m The value of financial assets in Danish kroner (£150,250) Danes have tucked away (on a per-capita basis and after debt), making them the wealthiest people in the European Union with…