Meetings for Investors

Private Investor Dialogue with the FRC

Following the success of the last year's FRC event (photo below) a date of 26th November 2018 has been agreed for a Private Investor Dialogue with the FRC. Please put the date in your diaries. More details will follow later in the year.   Click here to see the feedback survey results of last year’s event. The FRC were very pleased with the event and the feedback research. We continue to have regular meetings with the FRC and are increasingly being invited to ...

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies and FRC Meetings

Yesterday I attended two meetings in the City of London. Here are brief reports on each. Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust Plc (SLS) held a meeting for investors to “meet the manager” in London as their AGM was in Edinburgh this year – only about 10 people attended the latter so there were more in London. I have held this trust for some years and the manager, Harry Nimmo, who has been with the company for 33 years has been a ...

Abcam AGM, Cambridge Cognition, Ultra Electronics, Wey Education and IDOX

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Abcam (ABC) in Cambridge as I often do as I have held the stock since 2006. Share price then (adjusted for consolidation) was about 50p and it’s now about 950p so I, like most investors in the company, am happy. Alex Lawson has done a full write-up of the meeting for ShareSoc, which is available to our full members here, so I will only cover a few points herein. One shareholder expressed concern about ...

Round up on recent FRC and FCA developments

Our event at the FRC on 21 November, when the FRC will explain what they do and listen to members’ feedback, is a sellout and we are now operating a waiting list. Below is a roundup of recent FRC and FCA developments, to inform attendees and help guide questioning. FRC says corporate reporting could still be improved In its annual review of corporate reporting, the FRC said disclosures by large listed UK companies are generally good but detailed explanations and clarity could still ...

National Grid, Johnston Press, Crown Place VCT, Lloyds Bank and LoopUp

I had a busy day yesterday, but let me first comment on the news today. National Grid (NG.) published their half year results this morning. They reported “Adjusted operating profit, excluding timing up 4%....” but statutory earnings per share were down by 12%. What exactly does “adjusted for timing” mean? I have no idea because the announcement does not explain it in any sensible way. For example, it says under “UK Timing”: “Revenues will be impacted by timing of recoveries including ...

On-Line AGMs and City of London IT

I mentioned in a previous article the growing concerns about the use of “virtual” Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in the USA. There are not many on-line AGMs yet in the UK but yesterday there was a good example at the City of London Investment Trust (CTY). I actually had to complain to the company last year about the defects when I attempted to attend it on-line rather than in person – it did not work on the day, plus a later ...

Lloyds Case Impressions, Ideagen AGM and Return on Capital

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Ideagen (IDEA) at 12.00 noon in the City of London – see below – and afterwards spent an hour in the High Court listening to one of the witnesses being cross-examined in the Lloyds Banking Group case. What follows is just an impression of the scene because the whole case is running for months so in no way can this be considered a comprehensive report. I have covered some more details of the ...

Lloyds Litigation, Collective Redress, and CLIG AGM

I went to the High Court in London this morning to hear the grilling of witnesses in the case brought by shareholders over the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds. But I was disappointed to find when I got there that the first session was to be held in private – presumably the judge wants to discuss some legal issues with counsel for both sides. So I went to the AGM of City of London Investment Group (CLIG) instead where I hold ...

Interesting AGMs, or not – Rosslyn and Dunelm

This morning I attended the AGM of Rosslyn Data Technologies (RDT) for the first time. I picked up some shares in a deeply discounted placing that qualified for EIS relief a few months back. One has limited time to research a company on offer when a placing comes up. It looked sound enough at the time although the historic financials did not impress. Prospects looked better after an acquisition although this company has been around a long time without becoming a ...

RBS Shareholder event hijacked by other stakeholder groups

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...