ShareSoc Policies and Position Statements

The framework for investment

Successful and profitable investment relies on an appropriate regulatory and legal framework.

The Companies Act 2006 was the largest parliamentary bill ever published. There are further layers of government regulations and rules from other bodies and policies on top of that.

Some of these issues can seem very esoteric to the novice investor, or boring or of little account to those who simply want to make money. But they are the key to achieving investment profits.

Unfortunately, there are still many things wrong with the UK investment environment. Individual investors are discriminated against in many ways because policies have been influenced to a large extent by institutional investors, issuers, financial intermediaries and politicians.

ShareSoc actively promotes the views and interests of individual investors, trying to change the regulatory environment and practices where appropriate. We respond to public consultations so that your voice is heard.

The three key areas in which we would like to see reform are:

1. Proper enfranchisement of shareholders (nominee accounts to be discouraged) so that shareholder democracy is restored.

2. Improved corporate governance so that shareholders control companies and not the management.

3. Changes in legislation to protect shareholders rights and enable shareholders to pursue errant companies and directors when necessary.

Our policies on those and other matters have been summarised in our Manifesto. These are the main points:

The oversight of companies should be restored to their owners.
Shareholder democracy should be improved and shareholder rights strengthened.
The legal framework for companies should be changed to improve accountability.
The taxation of investment profits should be reformed to make it more equitable and reduce complexity.
Excessive director pay needs to be restrained.
Direct share ownership should be encouraged.
Investment education needs to be improved.
Information flow to shareholders should be improved, with all shareholders receiving the same information.
Insolvency law should be reformed.
Stock market regulation and enforcement should be improved, especially for the AIM Market.

See the box to the right for how to obtain the full Manifesto document.

CONTRIBUTE

Policy is always under development and can also be changed.

Please let us know if you have suggestions for new policies, or comments on existing ones.

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TRANSPARENCY
Researching and monitoring companies should not involve looking through a glass darkly.

THE SHARESOC MANIFESTO

In June 2011 we published our Manifesto that summarises our policies, explains why they are needed and provides more details on specific proposals.

It is contained in this pdf document: Manifesto (click on link to open).

SHAREHOLDER COMMITTEES

In September 2011 we published a note which explains how we suggest shareholder democracy should be improved, specifically in regards to the appointment of directors and their remuneration.

This is contained in this pdf document: Shareholder Committees (click on link to open).

DEMATERIALISATION, NOMINEE ACCOUNTS AND SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS

A key plank of ShareSoc’s advocacy relates to the defence of Shareholders’ Rights. You can read more about tour Shareholder Rights Campaign here.

The problems that arise from the disenfranchisement of shareholders and the undermining of shareholder democracy through the pervasive use of nominee holding companies are a key part of our manifesto.

The “dematerialisation” of paper share certificates is a major development in this area. The Digitisation Taskforce, led by Sir Douglas Flint and Mark Austin, has produced recommendations which will effectively result in all shares being held via nominees.

The recommendations will be amplified by the Dematerialisation Maret Action Taskforce (DEMAT), to be led by Mark Austin. ShareSoc has applied to participate in DEMAT.

COERCIVE DELISTINGS

The flow of recent shareholder-unfriendly delistings underlines serious issues with UK valuations, with the cost of maintaining a public listing or quotation, with the takeover code and with the protection of minority interests after going private.

The AIM market, it seems, is becoming a hunting ground for opportunistic actors to sweep up good businesses on the cheap. The driver is the chronic undervaluation of UK small-caps, leading to coercive takeovers and delistings that force long-term individual shareholders out at a lowball valuation.

ShareSoc strongly opposes coercive delistings and has consistently campaigned against practices that disenfranchise minority shareholders during such events.

ShareSoc advocates for:

Stronger regulatory oversight of delisting processes
Revisions to the Takeover Code in relation to “voluntary” insider offers
Preservation of shareholder rights and voting power
Mandatory liquidity solutions post-delisting
Clear restitution pathways for trapped investors

DIRECTOR REMUNERATION GUIDELINES

In August 2018 we published updated guidelines for the remuneration of public company directors, which you can find here. They attempt to tackle the excessive pay that has become common in public companies, with separate guidelines now for larger and smaller companies, recognising the differences between those categories. They enable ShareSoc Members to check easily whether the pay of directors is within reasonable parameters.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GUIDELINES

The importance of having active and competent Non-Executive Directors (including Chairmen) in public companies cannot be over-emphasised. They make all the difference between the long term success or failure of a business and are essential for protecting the interests of shareholders. In late 2012 we published, in conjunction with First Flight, a document entitled “Chair & Non-Executive Guidelines” which gives recommendations for the recruitment and remuneration of Non-Executive Directors with the objective of improving their quality and performance. It is present in this file: Non_Execs_Code.

IMPROVING THE AIM MARKET

In June 2016 we launched a campaign to improve the AIM stock market following widespread criticism of the way it operates and the quality of companies that have listed on it (with many subsequently delisting as a result). We give some specific suggestions for reform here: Improving-AIM

In early 2025 we responded

to a consultation by LSEG, looking at initiatives to improve and enhance the AIM market. This was followed by a meeting to flesh out our comments.

A brief summary of our responses follows:

Investor confidence & market Integrity

ShareSoc calls for stronger enforcement of AIM rules, especially around misleading RNS disclosures and NOMAD accountability.
Criticises the conflicted role of NOMADs, especially in smaller companies, and proposes independent regulatory oversight.
Opposes removing AIM Rule 13 protections for director remuneration — calling it a “window on the soul” of company ethics.

Retail investor empowerment

Advocates for greater individual investor participation to boost liquidity and free float.
Supports equity ownership for non-executive directors, with enforceable sunset clauses on dual-class shares.
Urges restoration of shareholder rights for nominee holders, especially in digitalisation reforms.

Fiscal incentives & tax reform

Criticises the halving of Business Property Relief (BPR) as counterproductive to AIM investment.
Recommends:
- Increasing VCT limits.
- Reversing 2016 age limits for VCTs.
- Eliminating double taxation on pension pots.
- Abolishing stamp duty on share transactions.

Liquidity & market structure

Proposes maximum spread and minimum quote size rules for AIM market makers.
Supports index inclusion for larger AIM constituents.
Warns against UK market fragmentation (AIM, Aquis, Cboe, Turquoise) and the liquidity drain from dark pools and CFDs.

Admission document reform

Supports incorporation by reference with strict retention of linked documents.
Opposes boilerplate-heavy templates; prefers best practice examples.
Endorses simplified working capital disclosures for companies with 3 years of clean audited accounts.

Governance & regulation

Endorses the QCA Code for smaller companies; rejects further governance code options as unnecessary.
Supports a prescribed list of accounting standards (e.g. EU IFRS, US GAAP, Canadian GAAP) based on IAS equivalence.
Opposes removing shareholder votes on acquisitions that materially alter risk or control, even if not a fundamental change.

These responses are underpinned by ShareSoc’s roadmap for revitalising UK Capital Markets:

Group description:	Our group discuss a wide range of income generating instruments. Quoted dividend paying companies are usually the biggest topic for discussion; but we also discuss dividend paying Investment Trusts (including REITs) and ETFs, bonds (government and corporate), and preference shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online via Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 1st Tuesday of the month, from 6:30pm.

Group description:	The aim of this group is to share our investing ideas and experiences across all equity markets, brokers, websites and software to the benefit of us all. We do not discuss sums of money invested but may mention percentages gained and lost. We will rotate the chairperson who is responsible for creating, with member’s help, suitable agendas. We also rotate members to deliver a presentation, lasting between 15 and 45 minutes, on a topic of their choosing.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online via video conferencing.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, from 2-4pm.

Group description:	We welcome anyone interested in investments regardless of their level of knowledge and experience.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held in a function room of a pub in Beaconsfield New Town.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6pm.

Group description:	Investors of all levels of experience are welcome to join the Farnham (Surrey) group. Convened by David Stredder, who will be known to many as the founder of Mello, organiser of in person investment conferences and virtual Mello Mondays. David is also a director at ShareSoc and has been investing in quoted shares since the 1980s, with a focus on UK small caps. He has an extensive knowledge of UK companies and network of contacts in the investing universe.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held at a pub near to the railway station in Farnham, GU9.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 3pm with a break for lunch.

Group description:	Our Group considers both US Small Caps (up to $2bn Market Cap) and Mid Caps (up to $10bn market Cap). Meetings include discussions around buys / sells / watchlists, a short Macro discussion and discussions led by group members on companies or topics of their choice.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of the month from 7pm.

Group description:	Our group is interested in sustainable investing and our goal is to identify and evaluate businesses that will thrive through innovation and their transition to a ‘One Planet Economy’. By leveraging the skills of group members, we aim to deeply understand these businesses, particularly focusing on how they develop long-term valuable benefits for their customers. Each year, we plan to evaluate around seven businesses to identify opportunities where our valuation exceeds the market price. A successful outcome is defined as achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR), including dividends, of 10% over a decade.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a pub near to Waterloo station in London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are bi-monthly on a Monday from 10:45am to 4:30pm. Members are expected to also pay for their own lunch which secures the group free use of a private room in the pub. The cost is expected to be £35-40 per person, per meeting, in addition to your SIGnet membership fee.

Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Open to all investors / people with an interest in investing. Typical meeting will involve members talking about recent purchases, successes, failures and possible future purchases. Also with occasional visiting speakers or members making presentations on a topic of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We aim to meet on the last Tuesday of each month in a private room at a pub in Playhatch. Start time 7pm with members encouraged to meet up around 6pm for a bite to eat / drink before hand, if their diaries allow.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	7pm on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings likely to last about two hours but with informal ‘overspill’ before / after.