Company News

Ventus Director Changes following ShareSoc campaign

ShareSoc are pleased with the outcomes at Ventus and Ventus 2 VCTs. It appears that following difficult AGMs, the directors have listened to shareholders' concerns and have come up with a plan to address the many points raised. The campaign was led by Nick Curtis and supported by Sharesoc and seems to have had a good result. Ventus has now appointed Nick Curtis to the Board of Ventus VCT plc with effect from 1st October 2019. Chris Zeal and Lloyd Chamberlain will resign from the ...

City of London IT, Equals Interims, Paypoint CEO, Downing One VCT and Parliamentary Pandemonium

Having been away on holiday in the North of England last week, this is a catch up on news that impacted my portfolio. I received the Annual Report for...

Intercede AGM and Tech Stock Valuations

Yesterday (18th September) I attended the Annual General Meeting of Intercede Group Plc (IGP) at their offices in Lutterworth. I have held a very few shares in this company...

Open Orphan, Operation Yellowhammer and a Bridge to Ireland

Last night I attended a ShareSoc company presentation seminar. One of the companies that presented was Open Orphan (ORPH) which used to be called Venn Life Sciences but changed...

3i – Well Managed and Well Incentivised

The 8 times increase in the 3i share price in the past 10 years means that 3i is one of the largest holdings in my portfolio. So I thought...

Victoria AGM, Dunelm Results and Brexit Impacts

I attended the Annual General Meeting of Victoria (VCP) in central London yesterday. I have held a few shares in this producer of carpets and tiles since the revolution...

CentralNic, Photo-Me and Nationalisations

Firstly, lets talk about a couple of companies in which I hold no shares. CentralNic (CNIC) published interim results this morning. This company sells internet domain names and web...

D4T4 Solutions AGM

This morning (22nd August) I attended the Annual General Meeting of D4T4 Solutions Plc (D4T4) at their offices in Sunbury-on-Thames. This is an AIM-listed niche software solutions business which...

Ventus VCT AGMs – A Disappointing Result, National Grid and Sports Direct

I have mentioned previously the attempt by a shareholder in the Ventus VCTs (VEN and VEN2) to start a revolution, i.e. replace all the directors and appoint new ones. See https://tinyurl.com/y6e5fafo . Nick Curtis was the leader of the revolt but at the AGMs on the 8th August the required resolutions were narrowly defeated with one exception. This was after the boards of these companies paid a proxy advisory service £38,000 to canvas shareholders, which of course shareholders will be paying ...

Burford Capital, Goals Soccer Centres, Carillion, and Why Numbers Are Not Important

To follow on from my previous comments this morning on Burford Capital (BUR), this is a typical “shorting” attack where the shorter (Muddy Waters) and their supporters make a lot of allegations which investors are unable to verify in any useful time frame. I certainly questioned the accounting approach used by Burford and other litigation finance firms as I commented on it back in June, but disentangling the factual accusations in the Muddy Waters dossier from innuendo and comment is not ...