General News

London Stock Exchange – Deutsche Börse Merger, and Brexit

More details were announced this morning of the proposed merger between the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Börse. Is this really a "merger of equals", as it is being promoted, because such things are very rare in practice? Deutsche Börse has a larger market capitalisation and their shareholders will end up with 54.4% of the combined group. We now learn the group will be domiciled in London but will have headquarters in both London and Frankfurt with listings on both the ...

The Non-Financial Reporting Directive

While the debate over the EU and its bureaucracy is so topical, it's worth taking a look at the latest public consultation on an EU Directive that needs to be implemented into UK law. This goes under the snappy title of "The Non-Financial Reporting Directive". It's primarily about how companies report information to their investors and to the wider public on their strategy and operations - typically in their Annual Reports at present. There is already a requirement in UK company law to ...

Commercial Property and Brexit

In a previous article I discussed what might be spooking the commercial property market. Share prices of companies such as British Land and Land Securities are down by as much as 25% since last November. Was this due to the threat of changes to the tax allowances for debt finance? I surmised not. But there is one very good reason that has become apparent - namely the alleged threat of Britain's exit from the EU (Brexit). Capital Economics LLP have published a ...

What’s Spooking the Commercial Property Market?

There was an interesting article in the Financial Times yesterday (12/2/2016) by Vanessa Houlder on the possibility that deduction of interest costs against profits will be disallowed by the Chancellor in his next budget. Is this is what has recently spooked the commercial property market? The British Land share price is down 25% since last November, Land Securities is down a similar percentage, and even well diversified property investment trusts such as TR Property are down 16%. Surely property companies should ...

Brexit and the Impact on Your Investments

There has been a lot of public debate on the issue of whether Britain should remain in the EU, or depart. And whether David Cameron has negotiated a good enough deal to keep us in. I have written an editorial on this subject for the latest ShareSoc Newsletter. It's rather too long for this blog but if anyone would like a free copy of the newsletter (as a pdf document) please request it on our Contact page here: www.sharesoc.org/contact-us/ One of the ...

Company Presentation and Supper in Richmond (Surrey)

We are pleased to announce we are launching the very first ShareSoc Supper in the UK and it will be taking place in Richmond in South West London on the 1st March. This is a response to feedback from our member survey telling us they want more events; it will be starting in Richmond but others will follow if our members like it (another one is already scheduled for the 3rd May). The purpose of the suppers is to bring interesting companies ...

TD Direct Being Sold?

TD Direct, a favourite execution-only stockbroker among private investors, is likely to be sold according to a report by Sky News. There are a number of suggested bidders but one of them is Barclays Bank who run a similar platform under the name Barclays Stockbrokers. With TD Direct having £13 billion of assets under management, a merger of those platforms would still leave the combination somewhat smaller than Hargreaves Lansdown, the market leader. Mergers and restructurings are the name of the game ...

What to do with your NS&I 65+ Bond

  Many readers might have taken out the Government's offering of NS&I 65+ Guaranteed Growth Bonds a year ago when they were made available. They offered a very attractive rate of interest of 2.80% gross on the one year version, but these are now about to mature so investors have to decide what to do with them. What are the options? You can cash them in. Or you can re-invest the proceeds in another one year term bond at 1.45%, and that's not ...

A Warning – 1875 Finance

Several ShareSoc directors have been called recently by someone claiming to represent "1875 Finance". To prove their bona-fides they even quote your own log-in information for a well known financial web site - yes they will even tell you the password which to any sensible person should immediately arise suspicion. 1875 Finance is an financial organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland. But they are not registered with the FCA to do business in the UK and have no connection with the aforementioned financial ...

Jim Slater – Obituary

Well known stock market investor and "asset stripper" Jim Slater has died aged 86. He first made a big name for himself as co-founder of Slater-Walker Securities in the 1960s - an investment company that specialised in rapid deal making. By acquiring companies, reorganising them and then disposing of them the company grew rapidly but built a reputation for "asset stripping" (a derogatory term for taking out the good parts of a business and dismantling the rest leaving workers out of ...

The HBOS Report – It’s Finally Here

The Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Bank of England today published the report of the inquiry into the failure of HBOS Plc. Those who were investors in the company at the time, or who suffered as a consequence of the bail-out of the company via a merger with LloydsTSB, will not need to be told what happened and why. This report does not add a lot to the story as the defects in the management of the HBOS are now well ...

Better Finance Press Release on Shareholder Rights Directive

The following press release has just been issued by Better Finance - an organisation that represents private investor associations: PRESS RELEASE A CAPITAL MARKETS UNION WITHOUT A SINGLE MARKET FOR EU-WIDE SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Brussels, 9 November 2015 – The Commission’s proposal for the review of the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD), aimed at countering wide-spread short-termism in favour of a long-term perspective in the governance of listed companies by stimulating stronger shareholder engagement, was presented to the European Parliament (EP) and Council. Whereas the EP ...