Mumbai: The introduction of specialised investment funds (SIFs) is changing the way wealth managers structure portfolios, with hybrid SIF strategies increasingly finding a place in allocations that were earlier dominated by debt mutual fund and other fixed income products.

Wealth managers are asking investors with sizeable mutual fund portfolios to allocate some money to SIFs, citing their tax efficiency and differentiated strategies.

“SIFs offer greater flexibility through strategies such as long-short investing, dynamic asset allocation, sector rotation and hedging and should be used to complement core portfolios,” says Sandeep Seth, founder & CEO, SIF360.com,

Fund houses have launched SIFs across hybrid long-short, equity long-short and equity ex-Top 100 long-short strategies. Assets under management of SIFs reached ₹23,177 crore as of July 31, with 95,000 investors and an average ticket size of ₹21 lakh. Hybrid SIFs accounted for ₹16,523 crore, or 71%, of the total assets under management.

Within SIFs, wealth managers are starting with hybrid long-short strategies, which they believe work well for conservative investors seeking tax efficiency and slightly higher returns than bank deposits or debt mutual funds over a one-to-three-year period. They prefer to wait for a track record of around a year to assess performance and consistency before recommending equity-oriented SIFs.

Some hybrid SIF strategies have negligible exposure to unhedged equity. These strategies invest through a mix of arbitrage, special situations, pair trades, covered calls, straddles, strangles and put-call parity, and could work for investors seeking tax efficiency in their fixed-income allocation.
Read more: Ventura initiates coverage on Meesho and LG India, sees up to 35% upside“Hybrid SIF strategies that are low on equity can earn 1-2% more than deposits or debt funds with high tax efficiency,” says Juzer Gabajiwala, director, Ventura Securities. Investors in hybrid SIFs who remain invested for more than 12 months are charged a long-term capital gains tax of 12.5%. In comparison, investors in fixed deposits or debt funds pay tax at their applicable slab rates, which exceed 30% in the case of high-income investors.

Fund managers, however, said investors need to understand the risks involved, as some SIFs can have a high proportion of their portfolios in unhedged equities or carry credit risk.

“Investors should look at the return, standard deviation, maximum drawdown and beta, to understand the risk that a SIF takes,” says Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO, Edelweiss Asset Management.

SYDNEY — Shares of Ramsay Health Care Ltd surged more than 14% Wednesday, closing at $50.29, up $6.27 on the day, as investors piled into Australia’s largest private hospital operator ahead of its full-year earnings release and amid growing optimism over a planned spinoff of its European business.

The rally pushed the stock to a fresh high, extending a run that has seen shares climb steadily through 2026 as the Sydney-based company works through a multiyear turnaround built around cost discipline, capacity expansion in Australia and a restructuring of its troubled international operations.

Ramsay, which operates roughly 72 private hospitals and day surgery units across Australia along with facilities in the United Kingdom, France and the Nordic region, is scheduled to release its full fiscal 2026 results this week, a report investors have been watching closely for signs the company’s recovery is gaining traction.

Momentum built through the year

Wednesday’s jump builds on a pattern investors have seen before. When Ramsay released its half-year results in February, underlying net profit after tax rose 8.1% to $171.7 million, with underlying earnings before interest and tax up 7.3%, driven largely by an 8.2% revenue increase in its core Australian hospital business. That report sent shares up more than 10% in a single session.

“After 12 months in the role, I’m pleased to report that we’re making good progress on our key priorities,” Ramsay chief executive Natalie Davis told analysts on the company’s half-year earnings call in February, according to a transcript of the call.

The company’s Australian division has been the primary engine of that progress, benefiting from higher patient activity, improved capacity utilization at its hospitals and stronger private health insurance indexation. Ramsay has also been opening new theatres and procedure rooms, part of a broader capital investment program the company has said will continue through fiscal 2026, even as it lowered its overall group capital expenditure guidance to between $755 million and $795 million for the year.

Overseas, the picture has been more mixed. Ramsay’s UK acute hospital business has been managing tighter National Health Service budget constraints, while its French and Nordic operations under Ramsay Santé have faced persistent government funding pressure and thin tariff indexation relative to cost inflation.

A European spinoff takes shape

Much of Wednesday’s enthusiasm also traces back to a restructuring plan Ramsay unveiled earlier this year. In February, the company announced a proposal to distribute its 52.79% stake in Ramsay Santé, its European healthcare arm, directly to Ramsay Health Care shareholders through an in-specie distribution, pending approval.

Ramsay Santé’s own board met Wednesday to review provisional annual results for the year ended June 30, 2026, according to a company statement, with final audited figures due for approval by its board in October. The French unit also confirmed it completed a refinancing of its senior debt in July, a move it said would strengthen its financial flexibility and support long-term strategic plans.

The proposed separation would mark a significant simplification of Ramsay’s corporate structure, allowing the Australian parent to focus more squarely on its higher-margin domestic hospital network while giving shareholders direct exposure to the European business, which has weighed on group earnings in recent years through impairments and subdued profitability.

Analysts had been positioning for a beat

Even before Wednesday’s surge, analysts had grown more constructive on the stock. A recent rating tracked by TipRanks pegged Ramsay as a “Buy” with a price target of $47.60, a level Wednesday’s close now exceeds. Separate analysis from Simply Wall St estimated the stock’s fair value near $55.12, noting shares had already risen roughly 13% over the prior 90 days heading into this week’s results.

Trading platforms had also flagged Thursday, Aug. 27, as the date for Ramsay’s full-year results release on the Australian Securities Exchange, a filing that would give investors their clearest look yet at how the turnaround strategy performed across a full 12 months, including the critical earnings contribution from the Australian business over the back half of the fiscal year.

Wall Street-style earnings estimates compiled by financial data providers had projected fiscal 2026 earnings per share of roughly 95 cents, with a further rise to $1.13 forecast for fiscal 2027, alongside expected revenue of about $13.56 billion for the current year, climbing to roughly $14.11 billion the following year.

Governance changes underway

The rally also came against a backdrop of board renewal at the company. Ramsay recently disclosed that non-executive director Claudia Süssmuth Dyckerhoff will retire effective Aug. 31 after eight years on the board, including service on its risk management committee. Chair David Thodey credited her international healthcare experience in a statement announcing the departure, while the company said ongoing board renewal remains central to its governance strategy.

What comes next

For a stock that has spent much of the past several years under pressure — weighed down by pandemic-era disruptions, UK funding constraints and impairments tied to its European mental health operations — Wednesday’s move signals renewed investor confidence that the worst may be behind the company.

Attention now turns to Thursday’s scheduled results release, where investors will look for confirmation that the momentum seen in the first half carried through the year, along with further detail on the timeline and mechanics of the Ramsay Santé distribution. The company has also flagged a full-year dividend payout ratio target of 60% to 70% of underlying net profit after tax, a figure that will be closely watched alongside the headline earnings numbers.

Ramsay Health Care has not issued a statement specifically addressing Wednesday’s share price move.

This article was written by

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LONDON — As Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, prepare to relocate to Britain after six years in California, one question has followed the couple since they first stepped back from royal duties in 2020: how do they support themselves, and what happens to that income once they are living in the U.K. again?

The short answer, according to years of financial reporting on the couple, is that their money no longer comes from the British taxpayer. It comes from entertainment deals, a growing consumer products business, book royalties, speaking fees and private wealth — a commercial operation that is expected to continue largely unchanged regardless of which country they call home.

No public funding, no working-royal income

When Harry and Meghan gave up their roles as working members of the royal family, they also gave up funding from the Sovereign Grant, the public money that supports the monarch’s official duties. They likewise lost government-funded police protection for their U.K. visits, a separate issue that has required them to rely on private security. None of that changes with a move back to Britain; the couple are returning as private citizens, not as working royals, and are not expected to receive royal income or automatic police protection.

Netflix remains the anchor deal

The single largest driver of the couple’s income has been their partnership with Netflix. The original agreement, signed through their Archewell Productions banner in 2020, was reported at the time to be worth roughly $100 million, according to multiple outlets including Euronews. The deal produced the 2022 docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” which drew more than 23 million viewers in its opening weeks, along with other titles such as “Heart of Invictus,” “Live to Lead” and “Polo.”

Not every project has landed with audiences. Meghan’s 2025 lifestyle series “With Love, Meghan” received a mixed reception, and Netflix ultimately opted not to renew the original overall agreement. The couple has since moved to a narrower, “first-look” arrangement with the streamer for future film and television projects, according to the Independent. Even so, Netflix has continued working with the Sussexes; announcing an extended multi-year agreement, chief content officer Bela Bajaria said Harry and Meghan “are influential voices whose stories resonate with audiences everywhere.”

Meghan’s As Ever brand has grown into a real business

Increasingly, the couple’s income is tilting away from streaming and toward Meghan’s consumer products company, As Ever, launched last year as a food and lifestyle brand. The label started with jam-style fruit spreads and has since expanded into wine, candles, tea and limited-edition items such as a hand-stamped leather bookmark that sold out within minutes of its launch, according to People magazine.

Reporting on the brand’s performance has varied widely. A stock inventory glitch on the company’s website suggested close to a million units of its signature fruit spread gift box had been produced, with industry estimates placing revenue from that single product line at roughly $36 million, according to Luxurylaunches. Other reporting, including from Newsweek using Similarweb data, found the brand’s website traffic fell sharply in the first half of 2026. As Ever also recently ended its distribution partnership with Netflix, with a company spokesperson saying the brand had reached a stage where it was ready “to stand on its own.” Speaking about the venture generally, Meghan has said, “As Ever is a brand that I created and poured my heart into.”

Book royalties and speaking fees add to the total

Harry’s 2023 memoir, “Spare,” became one of the fastest-selling nonfiction books in publishing history and remains a continuing source of royalty income. The couple also earns money through paid speaking engagements; Harry was reported to be paid around $50,000 for an appearance at the 2026 IAPP Global Summit in Washington, though neither he nor Meghan publicly list standard speaking fees.

Earlier ventures have also contributed to the couple’s finances over time, including a Spotify podcasting deal reported to be worth about $20 million to $25 million when it was signed in 2020, though that partnership ended in 2023.

Private wealth and real estate

Beyond entertainment and commercial deals, Harry holds private wealth tied to his family, including inheritance connected to his late mother, Princess Diana, and other royal family sources built up over decades. The couple’s primary residence, a roughly $14.65 million estate in Montecito, California, purchased in 2020, is expected to remain in the family’s hands even as they establish a base in Britain, according to the Royal Observer, alongside a holiday property in Portugal.

Estimates of the couple’s combined net worth vary considerably depending on the source and how much of Harry’s family wealth is included, ranging from tens of millions of dollars up to $60 million or more in some reporting, according to NewsNation. Because Netflix’s payment schedule, As Ever’s finances and the couple’s other holdings are private, no single verified figure has been publicly confirmed.

New costs are also part of the picture

The couple’s finances are not moving in only one direction. In August, Prince Harry and co-claimants including Elton John were ordered to pay roughly $13 million in legal costs after losing a privacy case against the Daily Mail over allegations of unlawful information-gathering, according to Parade. That financial hit has been cited by some reports as a factor in the timing of the couple’s decision to return to Britain.

Income stream, not royal funding, going forward

Taken together, the picture that emerges is of a couple whose income in Britain will look much as it has in California: a mix of media deals, a growing product business, book royalties, appearance fees and private family wealth, entirely separate from the funding structures that support working members of the royal family. Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not issued a public accounting of their finances, and neither Buckingham Palace nor Archewell has commented specifically on how the couple’s income arrangements might change now that they are relocating to the U.K.

Nvidia Corp.’s bullish sales outlook lifted US equity-index futures and technology stocks after bolstering optimism that this year’s rally in artificial intelligence shares has further to run.

Contracts for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 1.2%, while those for the S&P 500 Index added 0.6% after Nvidia signaled strong sales growth in 2028. The company’s shares rallied 4.2% in extended trading. The upbeat outlook also lifted other AI stocks, including Marvell Technology Inc. and Sandisk Corp., in after-hours trading.

The optimism helped lift MSCI’s Asia Pacific stock gauge 0.6%, with South Korea’s Kospi Index — a bellwether for AI investments — leading the gains.

Read more: Lenders may turn to OFCB route to raise more funds abroad

Elsewhere, Brent crude extended its declines, trading around $87.20 a barrel as traders weighed diplomatic progress in the Middle East against rising Russia-Ukraine tensions. Still, caution lingered in bond markets as traders boosted bets on a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike this year after a key US inflation gauge remained above the Fed’s target.

Short-dated Treasuries underperformed in the US session and the dollar rose, with money markets fully pricing an increase by December.
Nvidia’s outlook offered fresh evidence that spending on AI infrastructure remains robust, easing concerns that the investment boom is losing steam. The upbeat forecast comes as investors increasingly scrutinize whether heavy AI spending can sustain earnings growth after a volatile stretch for technology stocks.“Nvidia shares are rising without waiting for analysts to revise their forecasts following the earnings release, suggesting the market is taking a somewhat positive view of the company’s outlook,” said Takashi Ito, a senior strategist at Nomura Securities.

Nvidia expects to grow revenue by approximately 70% in fiscal 2028, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said during a post-earnings conference call. Analysts have projected an increase of about 45% for that year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

ET Intelligence Group: Lumino Industries, a power cable manufacturer and EPC contractor, plans to raise ₹500 crore through a fresh issue to repay debt and expand capacity, and ₹200 crore through offer for sale. The promoter stake will fall to 71.9% after the IPO from 100%. The company has reported strong growth in the order book. It is expected to benefit from increasing demand for wires and cables, supported by robust investments in power infrastructure and network expansion projects. However, its debt burden has increased due to capacity expansion and elongated working capital cycle. Additionally, raw-material price volatility and customer concentration remain key operational risks. Given these factors, the issue appears to be suitable for long-term investors with a higher risk tolerance.

Business

Incorporated in 2005, Lumino Industries is an integrated engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company. It manufactures and supplies conductors, power cables, electrical wires, and specialised components to the power transmission and distribution industry. Manufacturing contributed nearly 70% of revenue in FY26, while EPC accounted for the rest. The company operates two manufacturing facilities in Howrah, West Bengal, with a combined capacity of 40,000 MT. The company had a closing order book of ₹3,149.9 crore as of March 31, 2026, comprising ₹1,991.9 crore of EPC orders and ₹1,157.90 crore of manufacturing orders. The government entities accounted for 53% of FY26 revenue, posing concentration risk. It is also exposed to metal prices volatility as it uses aluminium, copper and steel as raw material.

Financials

Revenue grew 20% annually to ₹2,041.1 crore in FY26 from ₹1,407.3 crore in FY24. Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased to ₹238.9 crore from ₹145.1 crore while the Ebitda margin improved to 11.7% from 10.3% during the period. It is within the peer range of 3.5-14%. Net profit rose 36% annually to ₹160 crore in FY26 from ₹86.6 crore in FY24. Return on equity increased to 24.6% in FY26 from 21.5% in FY24 compared with peer range of 1%-15.8%. Total debt rose sharply to ₹384 crore in FY26 from ₹40.9 crore in FY24 amid higher capital expenditure and increasing working-capital requirements. Its working capital cycle widened to 86 days in FY26 from 11 days in FY24.
Read more: Tata Power loses challenge to $490 million arbitration award

Valuation

The company demands a price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 15.6 on post-IPO basis compared with a P/E of 18.9 for KEC International, 57.6 for KEI Industries and 73.1 for Apar Industries.