Everyone knows the UK equity market is cheap and unloved, but is anyone buying it yet?
Most institutional investors have been selling down over the past decade or more and now the UK is a mere pimple on the face of global equities. In fact, it is only companies buying their own shares that seemingly want the UK today.
If you look at the daily Regulatory News Service announcements from the London Stock Exchange, a large percentage are companies announcing new buybacks or stating how many shares they had bought the previous day.
According to Janus Henderson, a total of $64.2bn was spent on share buybacks in 2023, marginally lower than in 2022, but still accounting for $1 in every $17 spent globally — do not forget the UK is about 4 per cent of the MSCI World Index, so as a proportion of global buybacks the UK is punching above its weight.
Great opportunity
A few months back I sat down with the sharply attired Jupiter Income manager…
