Stock Trading and Other Things

Companies to invest in on the British stock exchange - school task?

Hi, this may seem a somewhat unusal, cheeky question. But for a school task i have been asked to choose companies listed on the british stock exchange to invest100,000 imaginary sterling in. I was wondering whether anyone could help me as im 15 and havent really got a clue who i should invest, can be upto 5 different companies.
Thanks for taking the time to read my question and look forward to hearing your responses.

Public Comments

1. microsoft plc. sony plc (due to sales of the ps3 that will go up alot after november when they lower the price) betfair plc (lots of adverts on at the moment for them so they will make more money soon) kawasaki plc (they are due to launch a 250cc bike that will really appeal to younger riders so the sales will be massive soon) and lastly leeds utd plc ( due to the fact that the price of shares at the moment is low but as they rise in divisions in the next few years they will be more expensive. BUY LOW SELL HIGH. good luck my friend. Guy below is a proper lamo

2. Don't trust the guy above, he tells lies! Microsoft is American. Sony is Japanese. Kawasaki is Japanese. Let this be a lesson not to take advice from the unqualified!

Firstly, we must look at your intentions. With £100,000 and at age 15, you are surely looking to the very long term. For this reason, we should look at mega-cap companies paying very healthy dividends (a dividend is a share of the profit a firm makes that it pays out to investors).

Over a long time, shares tend to move upwards but I would diversify. A very safe and reliable option would be the following:

Oil - BP
Retail - Tesco
Pharmaceuticals - Glaxo
Financial - Royal Bank of Scotland
Consumer goods - Unilever

These firms are all positioned for growth, give your portfolio good diversification and all pay healthy dividends, and should be easy to justify as part of your project. Make a point of not looking for short term gains - the long term is everything with investments - anything else is gambling!

Good luck!