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RBS General Meeting – Voting Considerations

Post Date: January 22, 2019
RBS has called a General Meeting for 6th February to consider a Special Resolution giving the group the authority to make off-market purchases of up to 4.99% of the outstanding shares from HM Treasury. In effect this is an authority to effect a capital reduction, which will partially reduce the overhang of government held shares. The timing is pretty poor, coming just three months prior to the AGM and without the benefit of full year financial reports. But it seems to signal ...
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Market Bouncing Up or Down – Sophos, Greggs, Apple and Fundsmith

Post Date: January 10, 2019
After a dire market performance before Xmas, we seem to be back to the good times in the last 3 days. Is it time to get back into the market for those who moved into cash as the market fell down and down and down in the autumn? Rather early to generalise I suggest although I have been picking up some shares recently. One which I purchased a small holding in was Softcat (SCT). Yesterday it issued a trading update simply saying ...
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Market Trends, Interest Rates, Glaxo and Yu Group Accounts

Post Date: December 20, 2018
Yesterday was another dismal day in the markets. The US fell significantly allegedly caused by the rise in interest rates announced by the Federal Reserve and the UK market followed it down this morning. The US rate rise was widely expected although perhaps slightly lower estimates for US economic growth had an impact. But when the markets are in a bear mood, excuses for selling abound. Meanwhile the Bank of England has announced today that their base rate will remain at ...
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It’s Not Just Blood on the High Street – ASOS et al

Post Date: December 17, 2018
The trading statement this morning (17/12/2018) from ASOS (ASC) has caused the share price to fall by 40% at the time of writing. Other internet retailers such as Boohoo (BOO) fell in sympathy. ASOS reported that revenue was up by 14% over the previous year, but warned that they “experienced a significant deterioration in the important trading month of November and conditions remain challenging. As a result, we have reduced our expectations for the current financial year”. In effect the previous forecast sales ...
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Big Audit Firm Break-Up and Northern VCT AGM

Post Date: December 16, 2018
A report commissioned by the Labour Party has advocated the break-up of the big four audit firms that dominate the audits of FTSE-350 firms. The report, co-authored by Prof. Prem Sikka et al, even goes so far as to suggest that their share of that market should be limited to 50% and that joint audits be promoted. In addition it argues that audit firms should be banned from doing non-audit work for the same company, and an independent body to appoint audit ...
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Blancco AGM and Regulatory Landscape

Post Date: December 16, 2018
Today I attended the Annual General Meeting of Blancco Technology Group (BLTG). This technology company is now focused on the data erasure market which is surely a growing one. I have commented on this company before (see links below), particularly as the company, and its shareholders, seemed to be a victim of false accounting – an issue that is way too prevalent of late. The legal framework under which companies, their directors and the regulatory bodies operate just seems to be too ...
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Applied Graphene Materials AGM on 18 December and the QCA Code

Post Date: December 16, 2018
AIM-listed Applied Graphene Materials(AGM) holds its AGM on 18 December 2018. If you hold shares it might be worth attending and asking some questions. AGM share price has dropped 90% from £4, 5 years ago, to 38p now and has a market cap of less than £20million and burns £4m of cash every year. AGM has been through a number of significant changes in the past year – a new CEO was appointed in August 2018 and a new joint CFO and company secretary arrived ...
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Acquittals Over Tesco Fraud

Post Date: December 15, 2018
Yesterday (6/12/2018) was another sad day for those who would like to stop false accounts being published by public companies. Two former executives of Tesco who had been charged with their involvement in the inflating of Tesco’s profits by including supplier credits were discharged by the court on the basis that they had no case to answer. The judge, Sir John Royce, said the case was so weak that it should not be put to a jury. It appears that the problem ...
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Banks Claims Group Limited, FCA and RBS

Post Date: December 7, 2018
Neil Mitchell, who ran Torex Retail before he blew the whistle on an earlier fraud at the software company and RBS’s Global Restructuring Group took control of the business, has applied for a judicial review of a UK Financial Conduct Authority decision in July that its options for taking action were “limited”. Neil, who claims to represent 530 complainants affected by alleged wrongdoing at GRG, alleges in his judicial review application that the FCA has been “unlawfully refusing or failing” to ...
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Bellway AGM for Early Risers Only

Post Date: December 7, 2018
Should Annual General Meetings of companies be held at reasonably convenient locations and on convenient dates and times so that as many shareholders as possible can attend? Most private shareholders certainly think so. But Bellway (BWY) seem to be taking the opposite approach. Their 2016 AGM was at the very sensible and easily achievable time of 2pm in the afternoon so all shareholders hoping to attend could actually meet the directors and ask questions. They could travel from all over the country ...
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Autonomy, FRC Meeting, Retailers and Brexit Legal Advice

Post Date: December 7, 2018
The big news last Friday (30/11/2018) was that former CEO Mike Lynch has been charged with fraud in the USA over the accounts of Autonomy. That company was purchased by Hewlett Packard who promptly proceeded to write off most of the cost – see this blog post for more information: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/regulations-and-law/belated-action-by-frc-re-autonomy/. As this was a UK company, are we anywhere nearer a hearing in the UK over the alleged “creative accounting” that took place at the company and the failure of the ...
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EMIS Investor Event

Post Date: December 4, 2018
On Thursday (29/11/2018) I attended the EMIS Group (EMIS) Capital Markets Day at the London Stock Exchange. Having held shares in the company since 2011, this was a great opportunity to get an update on the situation of the company and its future plans. First some background. EMIS is best known as the provider of software that general practitioners use – EMIS Web (primary care). That has more than 50% of the UK GP market. But the company also has many other ...
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