In the autumn of 1399, Tamerlane, the Mongol warlord, had just returned to Samarkand flush with the spoils of his recent ransack of Delhi. While the elephants he had brought from India were hauling stone for a magnificent new mosque, he charged south-west to defeat the Ottoman sultan. In signature style, his soldiers stacked up the heads of 90,000 victims in 120 towers around modern Baghdad....

Raymond is one of the finest Indian brands. It spends huge amounts of money to publicise its premium fabrics. It is also the world’s largest manufacturer of worsted suitings. But, as we keep repeating, there is no correlation between the brand or size and shareholder value. Companies with the best of brands can be value destroyers. Often, investors lose sight of this and go for companies with...

Most of the momentum stocks were up in this erratic market. This fortnight we downgrade eight A-grade stocks and add three

Gainers
Dhanalakshmi Bank emerged as the top performer among our A-grade stocks last fortnight, up 9%. Bank stocks have done well recently as fears about inflation have abated a bit but Dhanalakshmi Bank has done better than several leading bank stocks. Bombay Rayon...