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Witan Investment Trust - Investing terms Category: Economy and Finance > Investing and money-making Date & country: 28/02/2011, UK Words: 75

AiM
Alternative Investment Market (AiM) is the London Stock Exchange's global market for smaller, growing companies.

AIC
Association of Investment Trust Companies. This is a collective association for UK investment trust companies.

Annual General Meeting
(AGM) An annual meeting called by directors of a company that allow shareholders to stay informed and involved with company decisions and workings.

Assets
Anything owned or controlled that has value, but usually, for an investment company, it refers to equities, bonds and cash. The underlying assets of an investment company will vary depending on the company's objective.

Benchmark
A measure against which the performance of an investment company is compared or against which it sets its objective. For example, a UK invested investment company might have the FTSE All-Share Index as a benchmark and a stated objective to outperform this. See index

Bid price
Investment trust shares are sold at the bid price. This price is determined by supply and demand.

Blue-chips
The shares with the highest status as investments.

Buy-backs
Investment trusts have the ability to buy-back their shares to improve shareholder value

Capital Gains Tax
A tax charged on gains arising from the sale of assets. There is a CGT exemption limit set each tax year and any gains up to that will not be taxable.

Capital structure
The different amounts and types of stocks and shares which make up a trust's capital - the amount of ordinary and preference shares, debentures and unsecured loan stock etc, which are in issue.

Closed-ended
A company with a fixed capital structure. Variations in demand for the shares of the company are reflected in movements in their market prices and not by an increase or decrease in the number of shares in issue. Opposite of an open-ended fund, such as a unit trust.

Company objective
This is a brief description of what the trusts aim to achieve in terms of growth/income or both and what type of company/industry sector the trust can invest in.

Conventional investment company
Investment companies which issue only one class of ordinary share are commonly known as conventional investment companies.

Convertible unsecured loan stock
Unsecured debenture that entitles the holder to exchange the debenture for another security at some future date.

Corporation tax
The tax a company may have to pay on its profits for a year. Investment trust companies are exempt from corporation tax on their capital gains and also do not pay tax on any UK dividends. As they can also offset expenses against any taxable income, most investment trusts do not pay corporation tax and are therefore very tax efficient.

Crest
The system introduced in July 1996 by the securities industry through which transactions in securities are 'settled' (i.e. concluded) by the payment of cash or by the delivery of securities against payment.

Dealing
Buying and selling of shares.

Diluted Net Asset Value
A method of calculating the net asset value of a company after taking into consideration any outstanding convertible loan stock, warrants or options which are assumed to be exercised by the holders, so increasing the number of shares among which the assets are divided.

Discount
When the share price is lower than the Net Asset Value (NAV), it is referred to as trading at a discount. The discount is expressed as a percentage of the Net Asset Value.

Dividend
Income paid to shareholders by the company they invest in.

Dividend yield
The annual dividend income per share received from a company divided by its current share price. Put simply - how much income you're getting out of the company for the capital you've got locked up in it.

Emerging markets
The stock markets of countries which have a low per head income compared with the developed world but which nevertheless have functioning stock exchanges.

Equities
Shares in a company.

Ex
When a stock or dividend is issued by a company it is based upon an "on register" or "record date". However, to create a level playing field when shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange during this benefit period an "ex" date is set. Before this "ex" date if shares are sold the selling party will need to pass on the benefit or dividend to th...

Exchange
An exchange provides access to capital and facilitates securities dealing through speedy and innovative trading platforms and services. An exchange is also responsible for delivering an orderly market.

Ex-dividend
See ex

Fair value pricing
This is the manager's best estimate of the value of one or more securities at the valuation point of the fund. Fair value pricing has the intention of producing a "fairer" dealing price where there is doubt over the validity of prices.

Fixed interest securities
Securities like debenture stocks, loan stock and convertibles which carry a fixed rate of interest called a coupon.

FSA
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an independent non-governmental body, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

FTSE 100 index
An index of the 100 of the largest UK companies trading on the London Stock Exchange. Its constituents are reviewed quarterly.

FTSE All-Share index
A broadly based index covering hundreds of the largest UK industrial, commercial and financial companies, including some investment companies. Commonly used as a benchmark against which performance of some investment companies or sectors are measured.

Fund Manager
The person responsible for the day-to-day management of the investment funds.

Gearing
Gearing is an investment term for borrowing. Borrowing is permitted to buy further investments. If assets rise in value, gearing magnifies the return to ordinary shareholders. Correspondingly, if the share price falls, gearing magnifies the fall.

Geographical sector
This refers to the geographical area that the trust assets are invested in.

Hedging
A strategy employed in a futures market to reduce risk. Hedging is used to reduce the risk of loss through adverse movements in interest rates, equity markets, share prices or currency rates. It has become an accepted risk management tool.

IFA
This term stands for Independent Financial Adviser and is a person who can provide financial advice on the most suitable investment for you.

Index
This is a device that measures changes in the prices of a basket of shares. The purpose is to give investors an easy way to see the general direction of shares in the index.

Inheritance Tax
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is the tax your estate pays when you die although it can also be charged on certain lifetime gifts.

Investment trust
A pubic limited company that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It exists to invest in the equity of other companies with the aim of producing a return for its shareholders.

Investment company
A closed-ended fund which invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of the shares and securities of other companies. See Investment trust

Investment scheme
A facility to enable purchases of investment company shares to be made easily and cheaply by the investment of regular (usually monthly) sums of money or by occasional lump sum contributions. See wrapper products and pound-cost averaging.

ISA
Individual Savings Account (ISA) offers tax advantages for UK based investors. Any returns earned are free from capital gains tax and no further income tax is paid. The Witan ISA is a stocks and shares ISA. You can invest up to

ISIN
International Securities Identification Number (ISIN). International code for a listed security.

Issued capital
Issued share capital is the total number of shares subscribed to by the shareholders.

Large-cap
These are companies who typically have a cap size ranging from around

Main market
The London Stock Exchange's principal market for listed companies from the UK and overseas. The securities need to be admitted to the Official List by the UK Listing Authority (UKLA), a division of the Financial Services Authority, if they are to trade on the main market.

Management charge
The charge levied by an external investment manager for the management of a company. It is usually charged annually, and may consist of a fixed fee and/or a performance related fee.

Market capitalisation
The stock market value of a company as determined by multiplying the number of shares in issue by the price of the shares.

Market price
See Share price.

Mid-market price
A price calculated as the mid point between the bid and offer prices. See share price. The mid-market price is used to calculate the discount, yield and share price performance data on this website.

Mid-cap
These are UK companies that generally have a market value in the

NAV per share
See Net asset value.

Net asset value
Net Asset Value or NAV is the value of the total assets less liabilities of the trust divided by the number of ordinary shares in issue.

Offer price
The price at which you will deal when you buy shares. See share price.

Ordinary shares
Companies can have different types of shares, but the vast majority are 'ordinary' shares. As a holder of ordinary shares, you have bought a stake in the ownership of the company. You will be invited to attend shareholders' general meetings, including the Annual General Meeting and have the right to vote on certain major affairs of the company.

Par Value
The par value of a loan stock is its face value (also known as its nominal value).

Personal equity plans
(PEPs) PEPs were a tax free wrapper product, subsequently replaced by ISAs. For more info see ISA.

Portfolio
A group of investments. Investments can be made up of various asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities) or the same asset class (exposure to stocks across companies and industries).

Pound-cost averaging
An investment strategy by which the investor invests fixed sums over time, without specific regard to the share price at the time of purchase. The idea is that, by setting aside a fixed amount, rather than focusing on share price, you end up buying more shares when the price is low and fewer when the price is high. It can be a useful way to invest ...

Premium
When the share price is higher than the NAV (Net Asset Value) it is referred to as trading at a premium. The premium is expressed as a percentage of the NAV.

Public offer
It is a method of flotation in which a company issues shares to the public at large, including private and institutional investors.

Redemption value
The amount at which a prior charge or preference share is due to be repaid on the expiry of the loan period or on liquidation.

Registrar
An organisation responsible for maintaining a company's share register.

Return
The realised profit/loss on an investment as a percentage of capital.

Share
The authorised share capital of a company is divided into a number of equal parts. Each part is called a share. See ordinary share or securities

Share price
The share price is the value of the share at a given moment. It is determined by the balance between demand and supply on stock markets' price of a share. There are different share prices quoted in the market. Bid/Sell is the price offered in the market to buy shares from an investor, also referred to as the selling price. Offer/Buy is the price of...

Small-cap
These companies tend to exhibit higher volatility than large or medium cap companies, but can offer excellent growth potential.

Spread
The spread is the term used to describe the difference between the offer price and the bid price.

Stamp duty
A Government tax imposed on the buying of shares and property. Currently, stamp duty on share purchases applies at the rate of 0.5%. Stamp duty only applies to purchases and not to sales.

Tender offer
An offer made by a company to all shareholders to buy all or part of their holding in that security.

Total assets
The total value of all assets held, less current liabilities (short term loans used for investment purposes are not deducted), before deducting prior charges, including listed investments at their fair value price and unlisted investments at directors

Total Expense Ratio
(TER) A Total Expense Ratio (TER) represents the drag on performance caused by all annual operating costs (including administration, trustee and audit fees), not just the basic annual management charge.

Total return performance
Performance data can be calculated with income reinvested, this is defined as total return meaning that any income received through dividends is reinvested into the shares of the company on the day the shares where quoted ex dividend i.e. the day the dividends were declared and not the day they are paid. The total return will then be the gain (or l...

Volatility
A measure of the tendency of a market/share price to vary over time. There are several ways to measure volatility, but the most common method used is the standard deviation. Standard deviation measures the extent to which a value, such as the share price, has varied around its average level during a past period. The higher the volatility of the val...

Wrapper products
ISAs, savings and investment schemes, children's saving schemes and pensions are all 'wrapper products'. They are not investments in their own right, but simply different ways of holding investments; some of the wrappers have tax advantages.