General News

New Year Angel Competition

Post Date: January 25, 2018

In light of the popularity of our Fat Santa and Scrooge competitions at Christmas time, we thought we would redress the balance and celebrate the beginning of a whole new year...

A Christmas Parable and Productivity

Post Date: December 24, 2017

No this is not an examination of how Santa Claus gets around the whole world in one night. But as my last post before Christmas, let me explain how I have automated the sending of Christmas cards over the last thirty years. I am by nature a lazy person, so handwriting and addressing the family’s Christmas cards was a task I chose to tackle with some automation many years ago. The first step was to put friends, family and business contacts ...

South African Politics, Pan African Resources and Mondi

Post Date: December 21, 2017

The election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the President of the ANC suggests that the country may be taking a positive step forwards. Under Jacob Zuma South Africa has become riddled with corruption and “state capture” where assets are sold off to favoured parties. Whether Cyril Ramaphosa can become President of the country in due course remains to be seen but it is worth looking at his background. He has a legal qualification and became a trade union activist. After being active in ...

Persimmon Directors, IDOX Profit Warning and Transplants

Post Date: December 15, 2017

This morning house building company Persimmon announced that Chairman Nicholas Wrigley and Non-Exec Director Jonathan Davie were departing. The company says that both of them recognise that the 2012 LTIP “could have included a cap” and “in recognition of this omission” they have tendered their resignations. Holders of Persimmon shares like me, or indeed anyone who has followed the debate on excessive executive pay, will be aware of the outrageous pay that has resulted at this and other companies because of the ...

Christmas Contests With Prizes

Post Date: December 12, 2017

This month, we’re running two competitions, asking for your nominations. Fat Santa Award: This award will be given to the Chief Executive with the greediest LTIP award, making him...

Should You Invest In Art?

Post Date: November 17, 2017

Following the sale of a Leonardo da Vinci painting for $450 million, those readers who like to speculate might think that investing in art may be worth trying. This was a painting that sold for only £58 in 1958, perhaps because its authenticity was doubted and it had been “overpainted” in some areas. It’s now been restored but it’s far from perfect even so. It is now the most expensive painting ever sold. Back in 1987, the most expensive painting ever sold ...

Why I Still Won’t Invest in Banks

Post Date: October 26, 2017

I do not hold any bank shares at present, and have no plans to change that policy. But I thought it would be worthwhile to look at the results announced by Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) yesterday for the third quarter. That particularly is so now that the revelations about the HBOS takeover are coming out on a daily basis. The announced results were positive. The prospective dividend yield on Lloyds is now near 6% and the p/e is about 9, which is ...

ShareSoc and the GDPR: help wanted!

Post Date: October 20, 2017

As the director with responsibility for ShareSoc's IT systems, our board has asked me to look into the implications for ShareSoc of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This regulation comes into force in May 2018, and there are severe penalties for non-compliance. GDPR completely overhauls the current Data Protection Act. I have had a preliminary look at the requirements for compliance and they seem rather onerous, even for a small organisation like ShareSoc. Considerable work is required to audit, document ...

Obituary – Steve Marshall

Post Date: October 10, 2017

The Daily Telegraph ran a lengthy obituary on Steve Marshall today, who died recently at the young age of 60. It covered his financial career in a not particularly complimentary way although some might say he took on a lot of difficult positions. He first came to public prominence when he became CEO of Railtrack after Gerald Corbett was forced to resign, despite having minimal experience of the railway industry. Railtrack was part of the former British Rail that had been privatised ...

ETFs and Index Trackers – More Dangerous Than You Think

Post Date: August 14, 2017

Lots of financial pundits have encouraged investors to be “passive” investors rather than try to pick stocks, or invest in funds that do that latter (“active” funds). Even the FCA has recently criticised active funds for being more expensive and the additional management fees end up impacting negatively on overall returns over time. So persuasive writers such as John Bogle have convinced many to take the “no brainer” route of buying Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or other index tracking funds. But there ...

RBS Shareholder event hijacked by other stakeholder groups

Post Date: August 4, 2017

RBS announced excellent results today (4/8/17) and their share price soared 4% to £2.67 in early trading. For detailed commentary see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/08/04/rbs-posts-rare-half-year-profit-eyes-amsterdam-move-staff/ . Things are looking better. The RBS...

RBS Shareholder Event on 31 July

Post Date: July 26, 2017

I am looking forward to the RBS Shareholder Event on Monday 31 July in London. RBS had dropped regular shareholder briefings, but, following our shareholder committee campaign, have now reinstated...

General News

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