Asset manager Ashmore Group opens Qatar office
The office will also provide input on the $200 million Ashmore Qatar Equity Fund (AQEF), which was set in 2024 with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state's $500 billion sovereign wealth fund, by re-allocating shares in listed Qatari companies.
The QIA's broader asset management initiative aims to establish partnerships with global asset managers which have a Gulf focus, like Ashmore, and local asset managers which meet the considerations for a QIA investment.
"Since inception to end April 2025, AQEF has delivered a cumulative gross USD return of 18.5% and has outperformed its benchmark index by 345 basis points," Ashmore said in a statement.
Qatar is one of the world's top exporters of liquefied natural gas. Like other Gulf oil and gas exporters, it is trying to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons, and attract increased foreign investment.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Man Utd tour diary: Ratcliffe seeks funding for £2bn stadium and players trialling cooling jackets
Manchester United have been busy exploring potential investment opportunities in the US for their new £2bn stadium project. United want to knock down Old Trafford and build a new 100,000 capacity stadium on surrounding land that co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe hopes will become a landmark to rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Ratcliffe is hoping to drum up private investment in the ambitious plan and executives from the club attended a sports investment conference in New York on Friday afternoon. A variety of Wall Street investment banks, pension funds and other US investors in infrastructure were at the Rockefeller Plaza to hear Lord Coe and United chief operating officer Collette Roche spell out the club's vision for a new world leading stadium as the centrepiece of one the UK's biggest ever regeneration projects. Coe, who headed up the Old Trafford regeneration taskforce at Ratcliffe's request and is now chair-designate of the newly established Mayoral Development Corporation for the project, gave a short address at the conference hosted by the British Consulate-General in New York. Roche was a guest speaker during a 40 minute discussion dubbed 'Beyond the Stadium: Placemaking & the Power of Sport in Urban Regeneration' that also involved Everton chief executive Angus Kinnear. Everton have just moved into a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. The Placemaking: Investing in Sports Real Estate in the UK conference also featured addresses from Stacy Sonnenberg, head of global sports finance at Goldman Sachs, David J. Adelman, a partner at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and executive vice president and COO of Delaware North Amy Latimer, and opportunities to network. United have drawn inspiration from a number of major US sporting project, including the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park development in Los Angeles and the Chicago Bears NFL outfit's Burnham Park project. Old Trafford executives are due to meet with counterparts from the Bears later next week before the squad fly to Atlanta for the final leg of their US tour. United remain in discussions with Freightliner about purchasing land adjacent to Old Trafford to unlock the full potential of the site they intend to redevelop. Cooling jacket innovation United are using their US tour to trial new high tech cooling jackets that are expected to be in widespread use at next summer's World Cup. The club's performance department have teamed up with kit suppliers Adidas to test the eye-catching cooling strategy. United's players will wear the silver spaceman style adidas CLIMACOOL system jackets, which insulate the cold inside, after the warm up and at half time of games on their US tour to help them keep cool. Extreme temperatures were a significant concern at the recent Club World Cup in the US and are likely to remain an issue at next summer's World Cup finals in the country. Ways are being explored to protect players from the heat and maximise performance and there is an expectation of the cooling jackets becoming widely utilised at the 48-team tournament where a number of games are likely to kick off in the middle of the day when temperatures are at their highest. They have already been trialled in cycling and Formula 1. United's lead physical performance coach Charlie Owen and head of physical performance Ed Leng showed off the jackets and explained their benefit to the players at the start of their training session at Chicago's Soldier Field on Friday. A heatwave in Chicago saw temperatures exceed 100F in midweek. Adidas said: 'The adidas CLIMACOOL System has been designed to help support athlete endurance and performance in hot conditions. 'After bringing the innovation to elite motorsport earlier this year we will provide the jackets to our key partners in football.' United are due to face West Ham at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium – which will host next summer's World Cup final – on Sunday before returning to Chicago where they are set to face Bournemouth. Temperatures for both games are expected to be high. Their final game of the Premier League Summer Series is against Everton in Atlanta but that will be played at the indoor air-conditioned Mercedes Benz Stadium. Cunha's Cantona vibes It was Omar Berrada, the United chief executive, who suggested there was an air of Eric Cantona, the club's legendary former France forward, about Matheus Cunha. 'He's a player that I think fans are going to love,' Berrada told the United We Stand fanzine last month. 'I think he's going to lift people off their seats. He's got a bit of a swagger about him that people are going to really like. Dare I say, [Eric] Cantona-esque.' Some players cannot cope with the Old Trafford pressure cooker, others thrive off it and if the early impressions of Cunha are anything to go by, the Brazilian appears to have found the right home. The £62.5m signing from Wolves looked non-plussed when asked about the pressure and scrutiny he may face, insisting pressure was a 'privilege' and that he welcomes it. Having the responsibility for helping to 'put the club in the perfect times again' was, Cunha said, 'a challenge that I want to do for my career.' Revamped Carrington has its own barbers United are set to hold an opening ceremony for their newly revamped Carrington training ground on August 8, a week before they kick off the new Premier League season at home to Arsenal. The £50m project has taken a year to complete with the training centre remodelled to maximise the performance environment. There has been a huge emphasis on improving the so-called 'flows' but the facility also includes a barbers. 25 not not for United cameramen Two of United's popular camera operators Noel Grice and Keith Rheade celebrated 25 years of working for the club on Friday. The pair, who both started in the same week in 2000, the year after the club's historic Treble success, have been busy working on the US tour.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How being an accidental landlord could land you with a surprise tax bill when you sell
Britons could face a large tax bill if they opt to keep a former home as an investment. Some people, particularly those moving in with a partner or spouse, decide to keep a property rather than selling it when they move - becoming an 'accidental landlord'. While it can seem like a good investment given the prospect of rental income and potential house price growth, it could inadvertently end up costing people when they do eventually come to sell in the future. This is because those who sell their main home, rather than letting it, are entitled to full Private Residence Relief (PRR), which will shield them from capital gains tax (CGT). But once they let out their property, they forfeit their right to full PRR when they sell. 'PRR is essentially your protection against capital gains tax, and while you're living in your home as your main residence, any increase in its value is completely tax-free when you sell,' says Eamon Shahir, founder of self-assessment platform Taxd. 'Here's the crucial difference: if you sell your home while it is still your main residence, you don't pay capital gains tax no matter how much it has increased in value. 'However, if you decide to start renting to tenants, you don't immediately lose all that tax protection. 'His Majesty's Revenue and Customs apportions the gain based on how long you lived there versus how long you rented it out.' What it could mean for you On residential property, capital gains tax is currently charged at 18 per cent for basic rate taxpayers, and 24 per cent for higher rate taxpayers – but with any significant gain, people are likely to pay most of it at the higher rate. This is because a capital gain is added to a person's normal income to decide the tax rate. 'A lot of homeowners think their main home is always tax-free,' said Andy Wood, international advisor at Tax Natives. 'And it is, until you move out and rent it. 'That can mean a sizeable CGT bill, sometimes tens of thousands of pounds, which often comes as a nasty surprise if you weren't expecting it.' Plenty of people choose to rent their homes out for a while, rather than sell, according to Wood. 'Maybe they've moved in with a partner, taken a job elsewhere, or just don't think it's the right time to sell,' he adds. 'It often feels like a short-term, low-risk choice. But once you move out, the tax position shifts. 'You start losing the relief you get for living there, and the longer it's rented, the more of the gain becomes taxable.' Can capital gains tax wipe out rental profit? Ask a buy-to-let investor what has made them more money over past decades: rent or house price growth? The answer will invariably be house prices. Take a city like Manchester for example. Property prices there have almost doubled over the past 10 years, rising from £131,000 in May 2015 to £257,000 in May this year, according Land Registry figures. This means the average property in Manchester has risen in value by £12,600 a year on average over the past decade. Meanwhile average rents, which were £815 a month in the city in 2015 are now £1,143 per month, according to Zoopla's data. This means the average property has gone from making £9,780 a year to £13,716 a year in rent - but that's before tax, letting agent fees and any upkeep costs. Capital gains tax can be charged on any profit made on an asset that has increased in value, when someone comes to sell. It is the gain that is taxed, not the total amount of money they receive. For example, someone who doubles their house price from £131,000 to £257,000 will pay 24 per cent CGT on the £126,000 gain, though there is a £3,000 tax free annual allowance. While the CGT bill is unlikely to wipe out all rental profits, there are situations where it might - particularly if house prices suddenly take off in an area. For example, someone who purchased in London in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, but moved in with a partner and kept their home to rent may have found themselves in this predicament. Between May 2009 and May and May 2016, average London prices rose from £321,000 to £627,000. That's a £306,000 gain over a seven-year period averaging out at £43,715 a year. Someone in this situation selling in May 2016 would have faced a 28 per cent CGT bill at that time, albeit with a £11,100 annual allowance. That means in such a scenario they would have potentially incurred a £82,572 CGT bill on the sale. 'This catches more people out than you might think,' says Andy Wood of Tax Natives. 'If your rental income's been fairly low, but the property's gone up in value, you could still face a large CGT bill when you sell. 'We've seen cases where landlords earned £3,000 a year in rent but paid £30,000 or more in tax when they sold. That's enough to wipe out all the rental gains – and then some. 'Lettings relief used to help with this, but it was heavily cut back in 2020. Now, most of the gain will be taxed at 18 per cent or 24 per cent, depending on your income. 'That's a big hit for something that might have started off as a more of a stopgap solution.' However, it's worth pointing out that when someone moves out of their main home, they won't forfeit all their CGT relief. They will lose it for the years the property is let out, so when they sell they'll need to work out the proportion of time they lived in the home compared to the years it was let out. PRR also applies in full for the last nine months of ownership, whether or not someone lives at the property - provided the property was their main residence at some point. For example, if someone bought a property in 2010 and sold it in 2025, that's 15 years or 180 months in total. If they lived there for 10 years (120 months), they'd get PRR relief for 129 months (the 120 they lived there plus nine bonus months). That means 71 per cent of any gain would be completely tax-free. If they decided not to sell the property and rent it out, then only the remaining 29 per cent of the gain, representing the rental period, would be subject to capital gains tax. Eamon Shahir, founder of the online accountancy service Taxd Can it still make sense to let out your previous home? Ultimately, avoiding a potential CGT bill should not be the main reason for making a decision about whether to keep a property, rather than selling it. If someone could benefit from the rental income and feel the home will increase in value in the future, then there is arguably a strong reason to keep it as an investment. 'CGT is not necessarily a deal-breaker,' says Shahir of Taxd. 'It really depends on each person's specific situation, and once you understand how CGT works, keeping a property as a rental can still make perfect financial sense. 'And, with CGT, you're only ever taxed on the gain in the property's value, so you're never actually worse off for having owned it. 'The question is whether the rental income plus remaining capital growth makes it worthwhile. He adds: 'It often works well to let your property if you expect continued property price growth, rental yield after tax looks attractive, or you bought the property years ago and have already banked significant tax-free gains having lived there. 'On the other hand, it might not work if your property has already seen most of its gains and values are now stagnant or rental yields are poor.' There are also certain rule quirks that will benefit some people more than others, according to Shahir. 'Expats have a major advantage as CGT is only calculated on gains since 2015, which can make huge savings,' he says. 'And, if you move abroad for work, and then come back to live in your property - you will still qualify for PRR. 'For most people it depends on the long term goal. Holding the property and letting it out can be good as additional rental income, and potential CGT or PRR relief is available. Each individual should analyse, evaluate or seek tax support.' Best mortgage rates and how to find them Mortgage rates have risen substantially over recent years, meaning that those remortgaging or buying a home face higher costs. That makes it even more important to search out the best possible rate for you and get good mortgage advice, whether you are a first-time buyer, home owner or buy-to-let landlord. > Mortgage rates calculator > Find the right mortgage for you To help our readers find the best mortgage, This is Money has partnered with the UK's leading fee-free broker L&C. This is Money and L&C's mortgage calculator can let you compare deals to see which ones suit your home's value and level of deposit. You can compare fixed rate lengths, from two-year fixes, to five-year fixes and ten-year fixes. If you're ready to find your next mortgage, why not use This is Money and L&C's online Mortgage Finder. It will search 1,000's of deals from more than 90 different lenders to discover the best deal for you.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Investing in AI: Is it time to back software after the hardware boom?
Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent each year building the infrastructure necessary for the age of artificial intelligence. The bulk of spending by national governments and global tech giants has so far primarily focused on physical infrastructure, such as production capacity for powerful new chips and vast, power-guzzling data centres. But companies of all kinds, from retailers to advertising and recruitment firms, are now starting to embrace AI in efforts to slash costs, boost efficiency and ready themselves for the future. And new companies and products are constantly emerging to meet the demand, creating fresh opportunities for investors hoping to cash in on the AI gold rush. 'Our bullish view is that investors are still not fully appreciating the tidal wave of growth on the horizon from the $2trillion of spending over the next three years coming from enterprise and government around AI technology and use cases,' analysts at Wedbush wrote in a recent note. The broker has backed industry stalwarts Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, Palantir and Tesla to continue to be the key beneficiaries in the second half of 2025. Retail investors seem to largely agree, with Tesla, Palantir and Nvidia all among the 10 most-bought stocks held by Robinhood users by the end of the last quarter. AI data centre and cloud firm Applied Digital also featured as the second-most bought. But Wedbush sees a change of focus ahead. 'Now the time has come for the broader software space to get in on the AI revolution,' it wrote, citing growing corporate adoption, more proven use cases and new large language models,' it says. '[The] true adoption of generative AI will be a major catalyst for the software sector and key players to benefit from this once-in-a-generation, fourth Industrial Revolution set to benefit the tech space. '2025 so far has been an inflection year within enterprise generative AI as true adoption has begun by going from idea to scale as more companies are looking to invest into AI to decrease costs/increase productivity.' The comments chime with analysis from Goldman Sachs, which estimates the total addressable market for the broader software industry will expand by 'at least' 20 per cent over the next four years as so-called hyperscalers prepare to spend $1trillion per year on AI. Britain's AI trailblazers The UK currently ranks as the world's third-largest AI market, behind the US and China. The Government has been keen to talk up Britain's prospects as an AI destination though spending pledges, new policy initiatives and efforts to held build global regulatory standards. And Britain is now home to AI unicorns, such as StabilityAI, Tractable and Quantexa, though none of these is currently listed on the stock exchange. 'For investors, this creates a compelling backdrop: a mature, innovation-rich environment with global influence, analysts at Shore Capital wrote in a note. The broker has drawn up a list of UK 'trailblazers' in AI, which includes companies in a variety of sectors from retail to hospitality. But the analysts favour companies 'in the picks and shovels category of AI beneficiaries' or those where AI offers the potential 'to enhance an already positive investment'. 'These include Craneware, Eagle Eye, Kainos, Softcat and Trainline,' Shore Capital said. But is it too early for software? Research analyst for BlackRock Fundamental Equities Rowan Palmour sees the transition as part of a three-phase progress. He explains: 'Phase one is the buildout – the race to build AI's infrastructure needs. Phase two is adoption – with AI packaged into different apps and software. Phase three is transformation – where AI adoption potentially boosts productivity, creating new business models and industries.' However, Palmour believes the industry is still in 'phase one' with hyperscalers 'sticking with increased capital spending – and being rewarded for it' with bumper earnings and share price gains. He said: 'We still like the hardware makers and those sectors benefitting from the buildout. 'Utilities are key AI beneficiaries, with AI mentions in earnings calls far outpacing the S&P 500 average. 'We see this interest persisting as data centres drive soaring power demand and a greater need for flexible, reliable supply.' Goldman Sachs estimates the total addressable market for the broader software industry will expand by 'at least' 20% over the next four years Matt Ward, co-manager of the £1.2illion AXA Framlington Global Technology fund, said growing numbers of companies are starting to embrace AI to ensure their systems are prepared to handle and process 'an explosion of complexity' and growing volumes of data. However, the AI software solutions bought by firms remain largely 'niche and focused on solving specific problems at this stage', according to Ward, and there is little evidence of 'mature, horizontally applicable software that can be taken on board by large customers and deliver consistent return on investment'. He said: 'Frankly we haven't seen a singular product that is scalable in the billions of dollars of revenues. We're some way away from that.' AXA Framlington Global Technology currently allocates 32.44 per cent of its assets to semiconductor and semiconductor equipment, while software makes up 25.23 per cent, according to FE Fundinfo data. US-based cloud companies Snowflake and Datadog, and supply chain platform JFrog are among the firm's software holdings. Ward added: 'If you look at Salesforce, for example, pure AI revenues are a drop in the ocean in terms of their overall business. 'But you look at Microsoft, it's a material number now - it's not a drop in the ocean. 'It isn't a concern for us - we just think we're very early here. 'We see the money coming through and being spent, and the forecast only going up.' Gerrit Smit, head of global equity management at Stonehage Fleming Investment Management UK, says it is difficult to have 'full confidence' in much of the sector, which remains volatile and often unprofitable. His firm's focus has been on physical infrastructure names like Amphenol, which cables and connectors for data centres, as well as more established software names like Amsterdam-listed Tencent shareholder Prosus. Smit said: 'The benefits of AI are starting to be realised in different forms. Corporate AI uptake is very strong, so there's no reservation about that. 'We see it in many company presentations now, they will make a point of the difference that AI is going to make for them.'
