General News

Chancellors Autumn Statement – How Does It Affect Investors?

Post Date: November 24, 2016

The Chancellors Autumn Statement yesterday was effectively a cold shower for those who might be positive about the economy. Government debt is going to be allowed to rise so...

FCA Study of Asset Management – Interesting Interim Results

Post Date: November 18, 2016

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an interim report on its Asset Management Market Study. Some of the results are not that surprising, but others are. For example, it reports that around half of retail investors were not aware that they were paying fund charges. Needless to point out perhaps that can be linked to another conclusion. Namely that there is weak price competition. How can investors be expected to compare prices when they are not even aware of the charges? Indeed ...

Trump Victory – What’s the Impact for Investors?

Post Date: November 9, 2016

With Donald Trump being elected President of the USA, what is the impact for investors? Will he create "high anxiety" as the unexpected head of that great democracy in the same way as the Brexit vote has in the UK? In other words, uncertainty about the future which tends to spook markets. But readers should bear in mind that the President has limited powers (much less than a UK Prime Minister). There are numerous checks and balances in the US constitution. Indeed ...

FRC Lab Report on Business Model Disclosure

Post Date: October 31, 2016

Do you ever have difficulty understanding how a company really makes its money? If so it's worth noting that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have recently published a report on the work of their "Lab" into Business Model Reporting which may be of interest. ShareSoc participated in the work of this Lab where various stakeholders discussed what improvements were necessary. To quote from the FRC's press release, the Lab found: Business model information is fundamental to investors’ analysis and understanding of a company ...

WH Ireland Stop Offering Personal Crest Accounts

Post Date: October 23, 2016

I have been advised that stockbroker W.H. Ireland are to stop offering Personal Crest Accounts. Existing clients using such accounts will have to move into a nominee account, or transfer to another broker which I can imagine a number doing. As ShareSoc Members have been told repeatedly, there are great advantages in terms of legal security and in retaining your shareholder rights by using such accounts rather than pooled nominee accounts offered by most brokers. Your name is on the share ...

When in a Panic, Call Lord Pannick

Post Date: October 18, 2016

The name of Lord Pannick has cropped up twice recently. He is one of the leading QCs on public and commercial law. So it was not surprising perhaps that...

TD Direct Acquired by Interactive Investor

Post Date: October 16, 2016

Interactive Investor Plc has agreed to buy TD Direct Investing from TD Bank Group (its European direct investing business) in a deal financed by private equity group J.C.Flowers ....

Charles Stanley Direct Raise Charges

Post Date: October 4, 2016

Charles Stanley Direct, one of the more popular execution only on-line trading platforms for retail investors, have announced they are revising their charges. This follows on from a similar announcement by AJ Bell Youinvest a few weeks ago. For share dealing, the transaction charge will rise from £10 to £11.50. In addition there will be a "platform" charge of 0.25% per annum on the value of the portfolio holdings, charged monthly although these will be capped at £240 per annum. In addition, ...

AIM – Is Enough Being Done to Protect Investors?

Post Date: September 28, 2016

Last night (27/9/2016) BBC Radio covered the topic of the AIM market and asked whether enough was being done to protect investors. See File on Four www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wby0z . Here's a brief summary of the contents with some comments. The BBC visited Hotel Chocolat, a recent AIM listing, and spoke to Angus Thirlwell, the CEO. He indicated they wanted "light touch regulation" so as to avoid a lot of paperwork and said it was one of the attractions of AIM. Comment: it seems ...

BBC Radio Programme on AIM

Post Date: September 26, 2016

Are British investors being ripped off by unscrupulous businesses exploiting the AIM market? This is one of the questions being tackled on the BBC tomorrow night (27/9/2016) in a File on Four radio programme - BBC R4 at 8.00 pm - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wby0z It should make for interesting listening. It certainly came up as a topic of conversation in our meeting with LSE management today where we discussed the problems of AIM. More on that later and I hope to write a report ...

Autumn Mists, and Profit Warnings

Post Date: September 21, 2016

Autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness to quote Keats, or in the case of small cap stocks the season for profit warnings it seems. As many companies have a December year end, this is the time of year when management come to realise that given the first half figures and current trading, they are not going to meet the optimistic plans they gave out at the start of the year. Here's just a few that have issued warnings or where ...

Tesco Fraud Charges, Cattles and Globo

Post Date: September 12, 2016

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged three former managers of Tesco in relation to the overstatement of profits that occurred over several years and which came to light in 2014. The charges are fraud and false accounting and those charged are Carl Rogberg (finance director at the time), Christopher Bush (UK Managing Director) and John Scouler (UK Commercial Director). The former Chief Executive, Philip Clarke, has not been charged but is apparently still under investigation in relation to the offences. Neither ...

General News

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