Speak to any Yorkshireman or woman and they will be immensely proud of their birthright.
But not all will be aware of the number of brilliant businesses in their county, or on Teesside and Tyneside – let alone invest in any.
As any proud Yorkshireman like Compo in TV’s Last Of The Summer Wine could tell you, ‘Where there’s muck, there’s brass’ and the region is bristling with business opportunity.
Northern powerhouses: The Yorkshire and North East investment trust will be hunting profits in Last of the Summer Wine country
Northern stars include Hull-based sausage-maker Cranswick, Tyneside-based baker Greggs and software giant Sage.
To encourage locals to back their homegrown businesses, a City financier is setting up a fund aimed at private investors focusing solely on firms based in Yorkshire and the North East.
Simon Hooper, former chief operating officer at Hosking Partners, is from the Midlands but his wife is from the Beverley area, near Hull.
Hooper, 44, says spending time there with her made him realise it is ‘the most wonderful county’.
He is raising £20 million to establish the Yorkshire and North East Investment Trust, which is likely to open to investors in the next 12 months and later join the London Stock Exchange.
‘It is all very well owning Google or Amazon shares but they’re too far away from you,’ Hooper said. ‘Apart from having an iPhone in your pocket you can’t relate to them. When they’re down the road you can. People will take pride in owning local company shares.’
The trust will function as any other. It will start with a pot of money that will be used to invest in a range of businesses. Private investors as well as big institutions such as pension funds will then be able to buy shares in the trust.
This gives them a small stake in local companies, but spreads the risk so they don’t have to put lots of money into one particular stock, which could end badly if that company’s share price nosedives.
As well as shares, the trust may also buy bonds from local lenders such as Skipton Building Society.
Hooper says he acted after watching two scandals in which ordinary people lost out. He worries many were put off dabbling in the stock market for life.
The first event was the collapse in 2019 of the £3.7 billion Woodford Equity Income Fund, run by star stock picker Neil Woodford. About 300,000 people lost money when the fund was frozen and millions of pounds in compensation is still owed.
The second was the rise and fall of a Yorkshire company, Sirius Minerals, which was taken over by Anglo American in early 2020 when it teetered on the brink of collapse. Sirius began developing a huge potash mine under the North York Moors national park and, at its peak, had more than 80,000 retail investors, many of them locals.
Some lost their life savings when the firm’s share price nosedived and it was bought by Anglo at a bargain price.
Hooper said: ‘There are some brilliant businesses in Yorkshire and the North East. We have the ability to help them grow.’
He said having a strong private shareholder base can make firms less vulnerable to foreign takeovers, which have become commonplace, adding: ‘It hurts when yet another London-listed company is taken over, and part of our remit is to try to avoid that as much as possible.’
Compare the best DIY investing platforms and stocks & shares Isas
Investing online is simple, cheap and can be done from your computer, tablet or phone at a time and place that suits you.
When it comes to choosing a DIY investing platform, stocks & shares Isa or a general investing account, the range of options might seem overwhelming.
Every provider has a slightly different offering, charging more or less for trading or holding shares and giving access to a different range of stocks, funds and investment trusts.
When weighing up the right one for you, it’s important to to look at the service that it offers, along with administration charges and dealing fees, plus any other extra costs.
To help you compare the best investment accounts, we’ve crunched the facts and pulled together a comprehensive guide to choosing the best and cheapest investing account for you.
We highlight the main players in the table below but would advise doing your own research and considering the points in our full guide linked here.
>> This is Money’s full guide to the best investing platforms and Isas
Platforms featured below are independently selected by This is Money’s specialist journalists. If you open an account using links which have an asterisk, This is Money will earn an affiliate commission. We do not allow this to affect our editorial independence.
| Admin charge | Charges notes | Fund dealing | Standard share, trust, ETF dealing | Regular investing | Dividend reinvestment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell* | 0.25% | Max £3.50 per month for shares, trusts, ETFs. | £1.50 | £5 | £1.50 | £1.50 per deal | More details |
| Bestinvest* | 0.40% (0.2% for ready made portfolios) | Account fee cut to 0.2% for ready made investments | Free | £4.95 | Free for funds | Free for income funds | More details |
| Charles Stanley Direct* | 0.35% | No platform fee on shares if a trade in that month and annual max of £240 | Free | £11.50 | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Fidelity* | 0.35% on funds | £7.50 per month up to £25,000 or 0.35% with regular savings plan. | Free | £7.50 | Free funds £1.50 shares, trusts ETFs | £1.50 | More details |
| Hargreaves Lansdown* | 0.45% | Capped at £45 for shares, trusts, ETFs | Free | £11.95 | £1.50 | 1% (£1 min, £10 max) | More details |
| Interactive Investor* | £4.99 per month under £50k, £11.99 above, £10 extra for Sipp | Free trade worth £3.99 per month (does not apply to £4.99 plan) | £3.99 | £3.99 | Free | £0.99 | More details |
| iWeb | £100 one-off fee (waived until Dec 2024) | £5 | £5 | n/a | 2%, max £5 | More details | |
| Accounts that have some limits but attractive offers | |||||||
| Etoro* No investment funds or Sipp | Free | Investment account offers stocks and ETFs. Beware high risk CFDs. | Not available | Free | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Trading 212* | Free | Investment account offers stocks and ETFs. Beware high risk CFDs. | Not available | Free | n/a | Free | More details |
| Freetrade* No investment funds | Basic account free, Standard with Isa £4.99, Plus £9.99 | Freetrade Plus with more investments and Sipp is £9.99/month inc. Isa fee | No funds | Free | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Vanguard Only Vanguard’s own products | 0.15% | Only Vanguard funds | Free | Free only Vanguard ETFs | Free | n/a | More details |
| (Source: ThisisMoney.co.uk July 2024. Admin % charge may be levied monthly or quarterly | |||||||
