Strategic Equity Capital GM

This blog gives you the latest topical news plus some informal comments on them from ShareSoc’s directors and other contributors. These are the personal comments of the authors and not necessarily the considered views of ShareSoc. The writers may hold shares in the companies mentioned. You can add your own comments on the blog posts, but note that ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit comments where they are inappropriate or defamatory.

SEC still has a  20% discount (258p share price versus 312p NAV) and the Directors own pitifully few shares so have little skin in the game and no incentive to sort this out.

I have registered my protest vote, via interactive investors’ excellent voting platform (NOTE TO HARGREAVES LANSDOWN – you really ought to provide a better voting service to your customers). I think my vote is a protest vote as it looks likely the directors will win. Other shareholders should consider their decision carefully. I am not allowed or qualified to give advice. Do your own research!

The company view is here…..

https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/strategic_equity1/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1763&newsid=1457270

The shareholders proposal and rationale was reported here https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/news/4028507/calls-sec-trust-discontinuation-investors-aim-board

I previously wrote about SEC, see https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/investment-trust-discounts-what-to-do-about-them-and-sec-example/

Cliff Weight Director ShareSoc

DISCLOSURE: I own shares in SEC

 

One comment
  1. Cliff Weight says:

    The Board of Strategic Equity Capital scored a comfortable win in the continuation vote – At 30 March 2021 extraordinary meeting of shareholders, shareholders approved the continuation of the trust by a margin of 38.8m to 8.4m votes or 82.2% versus 17.8%. Very few other shareholders were persuaded to back the requisitionists and the 17.8% is below the 20% figure that the UK Corporate Governance Code requires companies to consult with dissenting shareholders.

    Richard Hills, chairman of Strategic Equity Capital, commented: “We are grateful for the support of a significant majority of shareholders for the continuation of the company. The company’s NAV has risen 33% since Ken Wotton was appointed as lead fund manager in September and the company’s share price is at an all-time high. Nevertheless, the board acknowledges shareholders’ frustration that the discount to NAV remains wide and we will be looking at ways to address this. We will update the market in due course.”

    Richard’s statement that they are looking at ways to address this is positive. When I met him and Henry Barlow last year the message I got was that they needed to wait until the performance improved and then the discount would sort itself out. The latest statement give me hope that they are now addressing the discount issue more broadly.

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