Russ Mould is AJ Bell's Investment Director. He has a Master's degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and more than 30 years' experience of the capital markets.
He started out at Scottish Equitable in 1991 as a fund manager, where he had responsibility for the Nordic and Swiss equity markets. In 1993, Russ joined SG Warburg, now part of UBS investment bank, and worked there as an equity analyst covering the technology sectors for 12 years. He has also worked on IPOs and M&A deals. Russ was voted best analyst in the semiconductor sector in 2001 by Institutional Investor and reached the level of Managing Director in 2003 when he became head of UBS' global semiconductor research effort.
A member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (MSCI), Russ is responsible for providing written and video content for customers and clients. He also helps to build the company’s profile in print and broadcast media as part of AJ Bell's wider PR and brand team, working alongside the Investment Committee.
Russ joined Shares Magazine as technology correspondent in 2005 and took on the post of Editor in 2008. He was appointed as AJ Bell's Investment Director in 2013 following the company's acquisition of Shares' parent company, MSM Media. Russ regularly creates content across the AJ Bell website, including the Daily Market Update and Chart of the Week, and he hosts his own 'Breaking the Mould' weekly video series.
Outside of work, Russ is a qualified cricket coach, Italian speaker and avid fan of Doctor Who and NFL.
12 May 2020
Land Securities shares crumble as rents and asset values slideLand Securities’ shares are on the slide after its results and it is hard to work out what is upsetting investors more – the cancellation of the fourth quarter dividend; a £23 million provision against next year’s rental income; a drop in net tangible value per share that wipes out most of the increases seen in the previous five years or...
7 May 2020
BT shares back to 1984 levels as £3.3 billion in dividends blown awayA third dividend cut in its history means that BT is finally finding the combination of hefty debts, big pension deficit, tight regulation and stiff competition on multiple fronts, as chief executive Philip Jansen looks to prioritise the company’s spending on where it is most needed, including super-fast broadband to the home and fifth-generation...
1 May 2020
RBS rounds off a rotten week for the Big Five banksOne of the very few things that RBS’ first-quarter results have going for them is that it was the last bank of the Big Five to report, so their ability to shock or surprise was much more limited. The pattern of higher bad loan provisions, falling net interest margins and plunging profits had already been set by HSBC, Barclays, Standard Chartered...
30 April 2020
Shell shocks shareholders with a dividend cutPugnacious comments about how much cash and liquidity it had at hand in both of its March trading updates on the impact of COVID-19 on its operations had seemed to suggest that Shell, just like BP, was preparing to dig in and defend its dividend. But the combination of near-term concerns over weak oil prices and long-term worries over demand for...
29 April 2020
Product pipeline boosts AstraZeneca as drug giant seeks Covid-19 cureAstraZeneca is one of just 11 FTSE 100 firms whose shares have risen so far in 2020 and the pharmaceutical giant’s first-quarter results and full-year outlook help to explain why it is the sixth-best performer in the index so far this year. Sales rose 16% year-on-year, earnings per share handily beat forecasts on a stated and an adjusted basis and...
29 April 2020
Barclays’ investment bank does its best to prove its worthSurging loan loss provisions and plunging pre-tax profits are already losing their ability to shock investors, who are already familiar with these trends after the first quarter results from HSBC and the big US banks, so in this respect Barclays’ Q1 results feature no additional nasty surprises. Instead Barclays’ investment bank can take some...
28 April 2020
BP goes back to the future to defend its dividendBP’s $0.1050-a-share first-quarter dividend offers £1.7 billion of income to hard-pressed investors and the oil major’s cost reductions, cuts to capital investment, asset sales and higher borrowing harks back to 2015-16 when it last had to confront a major slump in prices for its products. That combination saw the company – and its dividend –...
27 April 2020
£8.4 billion in quarterly dividends from FTSE 100’s five biggest payers on the line this weekEven though the insurer’s decision to cancel its proposed 20.7p-per-share special dividend will be a blow, Admiral’s retention of its £166 million final, ordinary dividend for 2019 brings some comfort to income-seekers, especially as this means Monday is the seventh trading day in a row where the value of dividends confirmed matches or exceeds that...
24 April 2020
Asian stock markets show strength in adversityGlobal stock markets are still well down for the year, despite a big rally since late March, but two trends in the regional performance figures stand out: America’s ongoing world leadership and resilience in Asia. America’s continued outperformance may be less of a shock, given the amount of money that Congress and the US Federal Reserve are...
23 April 2020
How bad could loan losses get for the UK banks in Q1 (and beyond?)The FTSE All-Share Banks sector is down by 43% over the past year and it will be uncomfortable for holders of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered (as well as the challenger banks) to learn that this is some way worse than the 35% fall seen across the sector globally over the same time period. Just when it seemed their profits would...
