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Virgin Money (VMUK) struck a somewhat sombre tone when it released its full-year figures in November. The nominally favourable backdrop provided by rising interest rates had been clouded by persistent inflation and squeezed lending margins. The digital bank did placate shareholders with a £150mn share buyback, but it also prudently set aside another £309mn in expectation of a sizeable increase in loan defaults. Unduly pessimistic, perhaps, but we shall see.The provision added ballast to the view that 14 successive rate hikes by the Bank of England (BoE) were finally dampening...

You can sum up the difference between the US and UK stock markets over the last decade in two simple words: gross margins.A company’s gross profit is what is left over after the cost of goods sold (including raw materials, energy and some wages) are subtracted. Take this as per cent of total revenue and that is the gross margin. The S&P 500's average gross margin is around 33 per cent, while the FTSE 250’s is just 23 per cent. The US stock market gross margin is almost 50 per cent higher...

St James’s Place faces a short-term revenue and profit drop, says GergelPolitically boring UK is good for investorsMid-cap valuations look especially attractive Many investors will be familiar with the concept of sunk-cost fallacy, holding on to an asset because of how much money you invested in it in the past, not because of how well you believe it is going to perform in the future. Private investors and professional fund managers alike need a rigorous approach if they want to steer clear of this common mistake.Simon Gergel, portfolio manager of...