This podcast isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure what’s right for you, seek advice. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on personal circumstances.
This podcast isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure what’s right for you, seek advice. Investments rise and fall in value, so investors could make a loss. Tax rules can change and any benefits depend on your personal circumstances.
Susannah Streeter: Hello and welcome to Switch Your Money On with me, Susannah Streeter – Head of Money and Markets.
Sarah Coles: And me, Sarah Coles – Head of Personal Finance – and we’re taking a bit of a gamble with the podcast this week, because we’re bringing up Christmas – more than a month before the big day!
Susannah Streeter: I know some shoot daggers at any sign of Christmas before December 1st – but, in my house, the decoration box is already out of the loft and I’ve already started wrapping presents.
Sarah Coles: Wow – that is early. Are you one of those types who starts Christmas shopping in January?
Susannah Streeter: I usually start in July – I know far too early – but, if you saw the ocean of gift-giving I’ve managed to become stranded in, I think you’d understand why I have to start many months earlier.
Sarah Coles: Yes – we’re actually fairly deep into what’s known as ‘The Golden Quarter’ for retail. That’s the last three months of the year, where Christmas typically drives a boom on the high street and online – plus we’re on the cusp of Black Friday, which has grown dramatically over the years.
Susannah Streeter: But, this year, there are real pressures on the high street – from recent Budget announcements to consumer confidence.
Sarah Coles: So, we’ll take a look at the state of the retail sector right now, in an episode we’re calling ‘Retail Therapy.’ We’ll be speaking to Paul Reader, the Commercial Director of Toymaster – a group of independent toy shops – and exploring how the festive season’s shaping up.
So, Paul, how are things looking at the moment?
Paul Reader: We start to see an uplift, post-Halloween, post-Bonfire Night. The high street right here, right now is in a very vibrant promotional mode, but the next four weeks – five weeks – are so important to our business.
Susannah Streeter: Matt Britzman – Senior Equity Analyst here at Hargreaves Lansdown – will also be here talking about what the season holds in store for listed retailers. And Emma Wall – our Head of Platform Investments – will take us through the fund manager view. Plus, we’ll hear from Helen Morrissey – Head of Retirement Analysis – who has a different view of what we could be spending our money on this Christmas.
Sarah Coles: But, first, let’s go back briefly to the Budget – because the employer National Insurance hike has been called out by a number of retailers, warning that it could mean price rises in the stores.
Sainsbury’s said NI, in particular, would add £140m to its wage bill – and it wasn’t the only measure adding to the cost of retailers. Gail’s – the bakery chain – warned the rise in the minimum wage would affect retailers too – who typically employ large numbers of people on lower wages. It could mean more pressure on prices.
Susannah Streeter: Plus, all the uncertainty in the lead up to the Budget – with so many rumours circulating – means there was a slowdown in spending too. The British Retail Consortium said that, in October, spending in shops grew at its slowest pace since July – and Barclaycard also said spending softened during the month.
They said people were worried about the Budget – so were waiting for the dust to settle – so they knew how their spending would be impacted. The drop in enthusiasm for spending ahead of the Budget has been dubbed a vibe session.
Sarah Coles: But it’s not all doom and gloom. Deloitte’s consumer confidence index showed confidence at its highest level in five years in the third quarter of this year – and that was driven higher by the roll out of free childcare for younger children and some strength in the jobs market.
While confidence in the UK economy was still struggling, it’s better than it was this time last year. As a result, while essential spending was down, discretionary spending was up for the first time since 2021 – and it’s this that the retailers will have a close eye on during the final quarter of the year.
Susannah Streeter: And then there’s the impact of what Trump’s planned tariffs might have on Christmasses still to come. Although this festive season will escape Trump #2 at the White House – as the inauguration isn’t until January, of course – it could have implications for the price of goods for US consumers, in particular, next year – if duties do go up sharply on Chinese manufactured goods, for example.
American businessman, Mark Cuban – famous in the US for being one of the sharks on ‘Shark Tank’ – which is the US equivalent of ‘Dragons Den’ – has accused Trump of being ‘The Grinch who stole Christmas’ because of how his tariff plan could put up prices and potentially put small retailers out of business.
Sarah Coles: This year, though, small retailers are already having to cope with the huge competition that Black Friday represents, with big retail players unleashing huge price promotions to win custom.
Deloitte’s Christmas analysis showed that shoppers were waiting for Black Friday before making major purchases, in the hope of getting a better deal. Black Friday this year falls on 29th November.
Susannah Streeter: Black Friday is a mixed blessing for retailers. It’s a huge shopping day – and, last year in the UK, we spent £13.3bn just on the day.
However, around three-quarters of people will actually put off spending in the run up to the day. On the day itself, it also means selling at a discount – which means a smaller profit margin at a time when they’re already being squeezed by rising staff costs. It also puts pressure on their distribution chains, which can cause problems for their reputation if they run into difficulties.
Sarah Coles: So, a good Black Friday for sales doesn’t necessarily translate into a good quarter for sales.
For Christmas itself, there’s some early positive signs. Our latest Opinium Survey in September showed that we expect to spend £611 each this Christmas – that’s compared to £569 a year earlier. It seems there may be some people with more wiggle room in their budgets for festive shopping.
Susannah Streeter: We’ve covered a lot of what’s happening on the high street, but it’s easy to look at the figures from a safe distance. How does it actually feel at the tills? For a closer look, we can speak to Paul Reader – the Commercial Director of Toymaster.
So, Paul – how important is Christmas to your shop owners?
Paul Reader: It is the most important period for us – it shapes out next year. It’s important, especially on the independent toy shop – I suppose any retailer... the festive period is crucial to moving forward – and we’re busy hoping that the sales will improve. The pattern over the last few years has been a serious challenge. Consumers appear to be waiting longer – the last two weeks of December – and even the post-Christmas week is huge for independents.
Sarah Coles: Are they looking for those last-minute Christmas bargains, or is it just that people are trying not to spend their money – and then eventually giving up and going for it?
Paul Reader: You’re right – consumers are waiting to see what those offers are – but, our little ones now at Christmas... they tend to be changing their minds more often than they used to. TikTok, YouTube – the exposure to different brands – is more and more prevalent to youngsters these days. And parents... they have to shop savvy – the choice is phenomenal.
Susannah Streeter: What are the big-hitters this Christmas?
Paul Reader: It is a wide variety. We’ve just recently launched ‘Dream Toys’ – the top 20 must-have toys this Christmas. It varies from pre-school properties – like ‘Bluey’ and ‘Paw Patrol’ to interactive toys – ‘Peanut The Monkey,’ and ‘Ducks Waddle,’ and ‘Mama Surprise’ – to the classics that you’ve got with ‘Littlest Pet Shop’ – and you’ve got with ‘Hot Wheels’ – to games like ‘Uno.’
Everybody’s got ‘Uno,’ but the ‘Uno No Mercy’ is a brutal family game – really good fun, but it’s brutal. LEGO’s still immensely popular – classic movie-related products. If I was to say to you that one of the most popular lines is a ‘Despicable Me Fart Blaster’ – it’s one of the must-have toys this Christmas!
Susannah Streeter: It’s early days, but have you noticed any change in shopping habits for this Christmas?
Paul Reader: Manufacturers, suppliers are very conscious of the disposable income. Whereas, in the past, you might be looking at toys at £90, £100, £120... you’re looking at playsets now – good playsets at £30, £40, £50 – and there’s also a lot of collectable-size pocket money price points. ‘What is pocket money these days?’ In my days, it used to be 99p, but it’s anything up to £10 – so there is a really broad spectrum of price points.
Sarah Coles: One of the things that we hear a lot of is people waiting for things like Black Friday – in order to make their big purchases, so they can make their money go a bit further. From a retailer’s perspective, do things like Black Friday help, or do they do more harm than good in the end?
Paul Reader: That’s a great question. Sometimes, when I look at it from our point of view – for the independents – it puts a lot of pressure on us to have promotional offers in store. There’s no doubt that Black Friday – which appears to now be ‘Black November’ – ignites the frenzy of consumers thinking, ‘Oh, there’s offers around.’ But consumers are very smart – they’re very savvy, these days. When you’re marking up to mark down – they get it – so they’re looking for genuine offers, rather than make-believe offers.
Black Friday plays a significant role – and more and more retailers are forced to be part of that kind of mix.
Sarah Coles: Does that put their profits under pressure? Presumably, they’re having to pay for these bargains themselves?
Paul Reader: Of course. This year, there’s been lots of increasing costs. If you’re gonna do promotions – genuine promotions – it’s gonna eat into your profit margins. At the end of the day, everybody needs to make a sustainable profit to be able to move forward – and move the toy business and any retail business in the right direction.
Sarah Coles: You mentioned the other side of the coin – and their rising costs. Are they affected by things like the announcement, for example, of the rise in the minimum wage. Are there are host of rising costs that retailers are having to take on the chin?
Paul Reader: Absolutely. The retail sector employs an awful lot of people – and we want to employ people because they’re so important in educating the consumers – and working with the consumers. We don’t wanna be robots sitting there – that you press a few buttons, and you pay your money, and away you go.
The challenge that any retailer – and we look after independent retailers – but the big, multiple retailers face the same challenges – with staff costs, with increase in rent and rates – and just getting the products from the source to the shelf adds more to our costs. Where we can, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers are absorbing as much of those costs – but it becomes a fine line and, at some point, something’s got to give.
Sarah Coles: I hate to focus on the negative. One of the things that we’re talking about a lot at the moment is that, on top of all of these rising costs, there is now a concern about the possibility of trade wars – particularly after the American elections. Is that something that you’re concerned about – that your retailers are concerned about?
Paul Reader: The American administration are gonna do what they do best – and the US absorbs more toy products than any other nation on earth – and, if they decide to put tariffs, it will be a downward spiral that will affect what we do here in Europe.
Sarah Coles: Moving away from the negatives – ‘cause there’s lots of challenges at the moment – looking more on the positive side, there must be some consumers who are much more resilient to rising costs. Would you say that the ‘Kidult’ trend is something that has helped support that?
Paul Reader: In the toy business – and especially at the independents – we’re so adaptable – and we have to adapt – ‘cause nobody can move quicker than the independents . We’re seeing now, a lot more of the business goes to the adult market.
There was a phrase, ‘Kigoy’ – ‘Kids getting older younger’ – where the children, when they got to 8, 9, 10, were moving out of toys into more tech. Equally, now, what we’re seeing is the market place for 18+... it’s becoming more desirable for adults to play games – to meet up and do things – to have hobbies. So, it’s a significant player in our market – probably equates to nearly 30% of the toy business – is what you can now define as ‘Kidult.’ And that brings additional consumers into our stores, which we very much welcome – especially in these challenging times.
Susannah Streeter: Thanks, Paul – I know it’s going to be a busy time.
Paul Reader: No problem – thank you.
Susannah Streeter: Now, retailers across the spectrum are all focusing on the festive period, so this is a good time to bring in Matt Britzman – to look at some of those listed retailers.
So, Matt, who are you starting with?
Matt Britzman: I’m gonna start today with Card Factory – which specialises in greeting cards and gifts – with around 1,000 stores.
There’s a compelling value proposition here – because, by making most of their cards in-house, Card Factory is able to offer high-quality products at lower prices.
Sarah Coles: And I imagine they’re gearing up for a big Christmas?
Matt Britzman: Absolutely – the second half of the financial year usually accounts for most of its profit. This year, it’s even more significant since the shares have been under pressure lately, but it has expanded the product range – and worked on its labour model – which could be good news for the Christmas rush.
Susannah Streeter: You mentioned the shares have been under pressure – can you tell us more about that?
Matt Britzman: Exactly. Profits did fall in the half-year results – and valuation took a hit afterwards – but it’s key that there’s been no change in the full-year guidance – ‘cause management are confident that Christmas will deliver.
Sarah Coles: So, why is the management still so confident?
Matt Britzman: There’s a few reasons. Its average cards sell for just £1.21 – that’s well below the market average. That puts them in a leadership position on price – plus there’s other growth opportunities. For example, in the UK, Card Factory has less than a 4% share of the £13.4bn market – so there’s room to grow locally. But the real growth story lies internationally – and it’s exploring promising markets like the US – but, taking a step back, the business took a hit during the pandemic, but its recovery has been impressive – with a strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to distributions.
The key risks are competition – especially online. The UK card market itself is also mature – so they need to either gain market share or expand overseas to drive growth.
Susannah Streeter: Thanks, Matt. Next up, we’re moving into the traditional retail arena with M&S.
Matt Britzman: That’s right. M&S is entering the festive season with a lot of positive momentum. The group smashed the first-half profit expectations – largely thanks to strong volume growth in its food business and continued cost-cutting efforts – but the Christmas period is pivotal for M&S.
Sarah Coles: What about Clothing and Home?
Matt Britzman: It’s made significant strides. Sales growth reflects improved customer perceptions of value, quality, and style – but what’s really impressive is that over 80% of M&S’s clothing has sold at full price – which is much higher than most of its rivals.
While profitability dipped slightly in the first half – due to investment in digital platforms – we see this as a positive for the future.
Susannah Streeter: And let’s focus now on the food business – it’s still quite a bright spot, isn’t it?
Matt Britzman: It definitely is. Demand for M&S food remains strong. Operational changes are also helping M&S save on costs – which means they can keep food prices competitive, attracting more families.
Sarah Coles: So, what’s the outlook for M&S, overall?
Matt Britzman: Overall, M&S is in the best shape it’s been for a while. Improved cash generation and a strong balance sheet have enabled a continued reduction in net debt – and dividends, while never guaranteed, have been restored.
The Christmas trading period will be a real test – but M&S has the right ingredients in place to have a good one.
Susannah Streeter: Thanks, Matt. So, let’s delve into the world of games – with Warhammer creator, Games Workshop.
Starting with the basics, what exactly does Games Workshop do?
Matt Britzman: Games Workshop is a global leader in tabletop miniature gaming – primarily for its Warhammer franchise. It owns all its intellectual property – which it uses not just in physical products, but also in licensing deals – notably with video game developers.
The business model is unique in that Games Workshop handles everything from product design and manufacturing to distribution and retail – which helps them control costs, maintain quality, and drive high margins.
Susannah Streeter: And Warhammer has had a big year – right?
Matt Britzman: Yeah – it really has. They recently launched the 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000, which drove record revenue. Its popularity is also growing through video game licensing, which has become a significant profit contributor. In fact, Warhammer licensing income was a major boost – delivering a huge 87% operating margin.
Susannah Streeter: How does that licensing push fit into their growth strategy?
Matt Britzman: It’s already a big part of the strategy now – and it’s not just limited to games. There’s an agreement with Amazon to explore adaptations of the Warhammer universe into films or series.
Susannah Streeter: With all the recent success, what are the expectations for next year?
Matt Britzman: Management’s been cautious about the coming year because it’s up against a record year just gone – but, financially, it’s strong. It’s debt-free – it has a decent cash hoard – which gives a lot of flexibility.
Susannah Streeter: And what about the risks? Are there any specific challenges on the horizon?
Matt Britzman: Certainly, there are a few. One key risk is the cyclical nature of the product releases. There’s also licensing unpredictability – and, while it’s highly profitable, it can be tough to forecast accurately.
Susannah Streeter: Thanks, Matt – it is gonna be really interesting to see how things shape up for these retailers.
Sarah Coles: Of course, how things go this Christmas is something fund managers will have an eye on too. So, this feels like a good time to bring in Emma Wall – Head of Platform Investments at HL – who’s been speaking to Nick Kirrage from Schroder’s.
Emma Wall: Hi, Nick – we’re here today to talk about retail. Perhaps we could take a little time to talk about the context – because lots of parts of the market were hit by the pandemic and then inflation – but retail, in particular, has been at the pointy end of that, hasn’t it?
Nick Kirrage: It really has. I always talk about retail and say, ‘If things are good, that’s good for retail.’ If things are bad – that’s not necessarily bad for retail – they just want to know how bad it’s gonna be so they can cut their cloth accordingly.
You can still make money in a falling sales environment, but the thing about COVID was... it was absolutely awful, and then it was absolutely amazing – and then they gave a load of that back, and now we’re back to a more steady state. That’s a horrific environment to try and manage a business! – with very high fixed overheads – and you just can’t move it that quickly – these are supertankers.
Emma Wall: One of the things that we have seen out of a challenging environment is actually the winners keep on winning. Is that something that you’ve seen – those that did survive have managed to cut their cloth accordingly?
Nick Kirrage: We definitely hold to that. The phrase that we always say is, ‘Don’t waste a good crisis.’
In normal economic times, it’s very hard to make the deep restructurings that need to go on to make businesses fit for the future – and we all know, with retail, there’s some huge structural shifts – particularly to online – and the distribution around that – and how much physical space you need. Many of these businesses just haven’t been able to make the changes they need to because of the nature of their labour forces – unionisation.
There’s a cohort of businesses that have sailed through a bit because they’re just amazing operators. Next is probably in that kind of category – and there’s a cohort that this might be the end of the world for them.
But then, there are other businesses, where potentially they’ve used this opportunity to make some really important, long-term strategic moves. Marks and Spencer’s, I’d probably put into that kind of category – possibly Curry’s – but some of these businesses where they have made the kind of changes that will put their businesses on a robust footing for the next five, 10 years.
Emma Wall: But ecommerce is not a new trend. How much are you thinking about ecommerce trends when you’re analysing the businesses that you’ve got in the income portfolio – or does something like Curry’s... people still want to go and see white goods?
Nick Kirrage: There’s a truth in that. I used to rather glibly say to people, ‘It’s quite hard to post you a sofa.’
There is an element here of these larger white goods electronic stores – particularly with those high technology components... So, there’s an element here where physical retail isn’t going away. The difficulty with COVID was digital penetration went nuts overnight. Suddenly, it was up at 40%, 50% for businesses – and, whilst that’s probably the long-term direction of travel, in the short-term, penetration rates are more like 25%, 30%, 35% - and we’ve reverted to those, plus a bit – and you’ve gone back to that long-term, ‘Yes, it’s increasing trend,’ But having a huge force – you’ve had huge swings – so you’ve had to gone from moving your whole distribution network to doing it digital overnight – to then saying, ‘Well, actually – no, that’s probably about 15 years’ worth of digital growth gone in there – we need to come back and do it a bit differently’ – and these are physical assets behind these distribution centres, warehouses, drivers, people, stores.
Emma Wall: Going from a very much global tend to a much more UK-centric one – in recent weeks, we’ve had the UK Budget, which announced a higher minimum wage – and also an increase on the NICs employers will pay. How have you analysed that new landscape for the businesses in your portfolio?
Nick Kirrage: This is quite difficult – and we talk a lot about how you translate a macro trend into a [s.l. stopped 21:34] specific driver – and then ultimately into a share price implicational move.
The truth is that these are businesses that are disproportionately affected by consumer confidence. And Labour understands – to give them credit – that they’re not going to be able to tax and spend their way out of this problem. The only thing that really sets the UK ship back on its right course is growth.
Growth makes it easier to pay our liabilities, our debt, to pay people, rising standards of living, rising wages – but in a controlled rather than hyper-inflationary way. This leads to a virtuous circle that we haven’t had for probably best part of 15, 17 years now. That virtuous circle – that virtuous flywheel is very positive for retailers, consumers, high street. There’s lots of factors that are included in that – the housing market’s a very important piece of that puzzle.
So, in the short-term, we do a very good job of talking ourselves down. A lot of what the Chancellor has done is economically rational – and quite sensible. In the short-term, there are winners and losers. For me, it’s not a shell game – in terms of moving things around – but it is just one small part of a bigger picture, where more levers need to be pulled – and we need to do everything we can, as a country, to get growth back into the economy. Because, if we don’t, it does have quite negative implications for the consumer and domestic businesses. So, not just retailers, but housebuilders – more domestic construction – even elements of our manufacturing base.
So, really important – I think jury’s out on what we’ll see. As always, we place a lot of stock in what the companies say. So, with the full-year results in March from a lot of companies... fascinated to see what they think this is gonna mean for their businesses.
Emma Wall: We’ll watch this space – thank you, Nick.
Sarah Coles: That was Emma Wall speaking to Nick Kirrage from Schroeder’s. And please bear in mind that these are the views of the fund manager and are not individual stock recommendations.
To round off this episode of the podcast, we wanted to bring in Helen Morrissey – our Head of Retirement Analysis – who has a slightly different view of what we could be doing with our cash at Christmas.
So, Helen – are you looking forward to Christmas?
Helen Morrissey: We’re still a few weeks out, but I am already full of festive spirit – I absolutely love this time of year!
Sarah Coles: Wonderful as Christmas is, we know that buying gifts for loved ones – as well as the food and drink – can really squeeze our budgets. And I know, for you, everything is about pensions – so we should ask whether there’s a chance that could lead people raiding their savings, or even cutting back on pension contributions as a result?
Helen Morrissey: You are right – the costs can really add up, and I do think there is a chance that this could happen. What I would say is that, if you are thinking of cutting back – or even stopping pension contributions – you do need to think carefully. You’re not just losing your own money – you’re also losing the tax relief top-up that you would get from the Government too.
If you’re part of a workplace scheme, then you would also lose out on your employer contribution as well – so, over time, that can work out as a big chunk of change that could be going towards your retirement that isn’t.
However, I’m not gonna be the Christmas Grinch here – and I know that this year has been exceptionally hard for many people. If you are ever in a position where you really must cut your pension contributions because you are struggling, then make a note to check back every few months, so that you’re able to start back up again as soon as things get better.
The thing you want to avoid is stopping contributions and then forgetting to start them up again. Under auto-enrolment, you will get re-enrolled again after three years – but, ideally, you don’t want to spend that much time out of the market.
Susannah Streeter: That is very wise advice there, Helen. I know you also have a view on what we should be spending our present-buying budget on for kids. We could be making it work a bit harder, couldn’t we?
Helen Morrissey: Definitely. You can actually get their savings journey off to a flying start by either contributing to a Junior ISA or a Junior SIPP – and really put that money to good use.
So, you can contribute up to £9,000 per year to a Junior ISA. The child can’t access the money until they hit 18 – so, if they are young, that’s a lot of time for it to grow – and, by the time they hit 18, they could have a nest egg that they can use to help with a house deposit, a car, or even university. Even relatively small amounts invested over time really can add up.
Sarah Coles: I like to think it can also work as an early lesson in investment for a child. You can show them how the JISA’s performing – and what they’re investing in – and really try and engage them, so they feel more comfortable doing it themselves when they’re older. Like any investment, it can rise and fall in value, so there are no guarantees.
Helen Morrissey: I completely agree with you.
Susannah Streeter: And, Helen – you mentioned there about contributing to a Junior SIPP as well. D’you think that this is something people actually know about?
Helen Morrissey: I don’t think a lot of people are aware that you can contribute to the SIPP of another person. So, with a Junior SIPP, you can contribute up to £2,880 per year and get tax relief top-up to £3,600. They can’t access the money until retirement age – this is currently 55, but will be higher by the time they get there – but it can give them a real head start in terms of retirement planning.
They could have tens of thousands of pounds in their SIPP by the age of 22, when most people are being auto-enrolled into their first pension. It’s a gift with a difference that will outlast any toy that you could give them.
Sarah Coles: Of course, the challenge will always be to convince them that it’s just as exciting as a gift on the day!
Helen Morrissey: Although there will always be the hope that they won’t notice one fewer box to unwrap, but they will notice the difference it makes in the long run – so they will be grateful for your present in the end.
Susannah Streeter: Thank you, Helen – as always, you’ve given us food for thought for anyone buying for children this year.
You’re listening to Switch Your Money On from Hargreaves Lansdown – and, before we go, there’s time for a quick fact of the week.
I want to know where you think the tradition came of hanging stockings by the fire for Santa for fill.
Was it because St Nicholas is the patron saint of hosiery – so it’s a Bavarian tradition to decorate the house with socks in his honour?
Was it because St Nicholas helped out a poor man by throwing a purse of coins down a chimney and they fell into a stocking drying by the fire?
Ot is it because of a mis-translation of the original Turkish story, when people would hold out their hats for St Nicholas to place coins into at Christmas?
Sarah Coles: I like all of them – and I really like the idea that socks have their own patron saint – but I’m gonna go with the last one: that he filled hats.
Susannah Streeter: No, I’m sorry – it was the purse thrown down the chimney – which, of course, is where we also get the idea of Santa coming down the chimney at Christmas.
Bizarrely, it was actually a gift so he could afford the dowry for his daughters to marry. So, it was a kind of ancient Turkish Pride and Prejudice!
Sarah Coles: As I’m sure Helen would say – if only he’d started a JISA.
Susannah Streeter: [Laughs] Very good! That’s all from us for this time – but, before we go, we do need to remind you that this was recorded on 18th November 2024 and all information was correct at the time of recording.
Sarah Coles: Nothing in this podcast is personal advice – you should seek advice if you’re not sure what’s right for you. Investments and any income they produce can rise and fall in value, so you could get back less than you invest, and past performance is not a guide to the future. Tax rules can change, and benefits depend on individual circumstances.
Susannah Streeter: Yes – this is not advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any investment. No view is given on the present or future value or price of any investment, and investors should form their own view on any proposed investment.
Sarah Coles: And this hasn’t been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is considered a marketing communication.
Susanah Streeter: Non-independent research is not subject to FCA rules prohibiting dealing ahead of research – however, HL has put controls in place (including dealing restrictions, physical and information barriers) to manage potential conflicts of interest presented by such dealing.
Sarah Coles: You can see our full non-independent research disclosure on our website for more information.
So, all that’s left is for us to thank our guests: Helen, Matt, Paul, Nick, Emma, and our Producer, Elizabeth Hotson.
Susannah Streeter: Thank you very much for listening. We’ll be back again soon – goodbye!