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ShareSoc Blog

This blog gives you the latest topical news plus some informal comments on them from ShareSoc’s directors and other contributors. These are the personal comments of the authors and not necessarily the considered views of ShareSoc. The writers may hold shares in the companies mentioned. You can add your own comments on the blog posts, but note that ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit comments where they are inappropriate or defamatory.

There is more news given in the News page of our web site and more analysis of news is provided in our monthly newsletter for members – see the Newsletters page.

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Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update to 12 October 2021

Since June 14 (see https://www.sharesoc.org/sharesoc-news/policy-and-campaigns-progress-update-14-june-2021/  for previous update), ShareSoc's Policy and Campaigns' team have worked on:   Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day have submitted their claim. They now have 11,000 claimants and another 3,000 registered, but yet to sign their Leigh Day agreement. We held a very successful webinar on 30 Sept with 942 registrants. ShareSoc’s Woodford Campaign now has over 1,500 members, which enables us to lobby strongly for regulatory change and to hold to account those who have done wrong.  ...

Closet Indexing – Update

This is a personal blog by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight and does not necessarily represent the views of ShareSoc. I have been concerned about Closet Indexing for some time. As have many others, eg https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-are-you-paying-over-the-odds/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/general-news/closet-index-trackers-investigations-in-progress/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/closet-indexing/ I met with executives from the FCA on 26 July to discuss our concerns. I have also had several conversations with David Rankin from Punter Southall. The latest news is that Harcus Parker have now starting gathering claimants for a class action against Scottish Widows. They have said- Harcus Parker ...

Redcentric Shareholders to Get Their Day in Court

This article represents the views of its author, not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Four years after defects in the published accounts of Redcentric plc (RCN) came to light, a trial of those accused of false accounting and other offences is finally to take place. Law360 reports: ...Fraser Fisher, former chief executive of Redcentric PLC, and the company's ex-chief financial officer, Timothy Coleman, denied charges that they had falsified financial documents and lied to an auditor between 2015 and 2016 when they appeared at ...

BHP – Company Information and Vote Guidance 2021

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in BHP and have recently bought some more.  With sales of c.£50bn, their EV (Enterprise Value = market cap plus debt) of £100 bn is 2 times turnover and this looks much more reasonable than the Diageo shares I recently reviewed and sold. The BHP p/e (forecast) ratio is a very modest 7. For over 15 years BHP have met annually with shareholders ...

Woodford Campaign Update 7
7 October 2021

1. Leigh Day achieved a significant legal milestone and submitted their court proceedings against Link on 27 September. 2. 942 people registered for ShareSoc’s “Woodford: What Happens Next” webinar with 684 attending. This was our biggest webinar ever and possibly the biggest webinar of its kind. 3. Exclusive Special Offer for Campaign members (which came with free ShareSoc Associate membership). You can now Upgrade to FULL Membership, allowing you to watch recordings of Woodford webinars including “What Happens Next” and “What Went Wrong”. ...

Improved Registration for ShareSoc Events

After many months of work behind the scenes, we are delighted to announce an improved and simplified process for registering for our online events. Whereas previously two steps were required to register, first registering via our website and then with Zoom, registration is now done in a single step. After submitting your details, you will automatically be registered with Zoom for the event you wish to attend. Zoom will then email you automatically with login details for the event. We recommend that ...

City of London Investment Trust Annual Report

I have been reading the City of London Investment Trust (CTY) annual report in advance of their AGM on the 28th of October. This is one of my oldest shareholdings – first purchased in 2011 with an annual total return since of 11.5% p.a. according to Sharescope. Historically it has been a good performer, if somewhat boring. That’s OK but last year was a disappointing one. Has Job Curtis, the long-time manager, lost his touch? Last year the trust supplied a share ...

ShareSoc Woodford Legal Claim Webinar

Former ShareSoc Chair Roger Lawson attended the Woodford Webinar and gives his view below. I watched the ShareSoc webinar last night covering the legal claims over the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF). I never personally held any of the Woodford funds but from past experience of other similar big legal claims it was of some interest. With as many as 270,000 investors in WEIF affected it must be one of the most discreditable events in the financial world in ...

Woodford: What Happens Next? – Webinar Report

This is an official ShareSoc News Item written by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight. 942 registered for ShareSoc’s webinar with 684 attending. Wow! Our biggest webinar ever and possibly the biggest webinar of its kind. Also, we now have 1,465 members of our Woodford Campaign. With these sorts of numbers we can pack much more of a punch with the FCA, Government and Hargreaves Lansdown. The Campaign has socially responsible aims of making the investment world a better place. It very much fits in ...

Leigh Day issue court proceedings against Link

Leigh Day issued court proceedings against Link on Monday 27 September 2021.  This is a huge step forward in getting compensation for the many thousands of unfortunates who lost money in Woodford’s WEIF funds. Leigh Day’s issuing of proceedings is a big milestone. We are concerned, however, that roughly only 5-10% of the 270,000 or so investors seem to have joined any claim so far. We urge all WEIF investors to join a claim. We believe that Leigh Day are streets ahead of ...
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