ShareSoc Blog

The ShareSoc blog provides news and informal commentary from directors, members and other contributors. Entries reflect the personal views of the authors, which do not necessarily reflect ShareSoc’s formal position. Contributors may hold shares in the companies mentioned. Nothing in this blog should be viewed as financial advice. You may submit comments on blog posts, but ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit inappropriate or defamatory submissions.

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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Austin Review of Capital Raising and Dematerialisation

Post Date: August 4, 2022

This article represents the views of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. It’s the mid-summer doldrums in the stock market and with investors having more time on their hands, what better time to issue a 265 page document entitled “UK Secondary Capital Raising Review” (see link below). This document covers a number of very important issues to investors after a review by Mark Austin as Chair of a committee that has looked at the way the UK stock market operates ...

ShareSoc/UKSA Joint response to IFRS Foundation International Sustainability Standards Board Consultation

Post Date: August 2, 2022

In a joint UKSA/ShareSoc response on 29 July 2022, we said We support the creation of the International Sustainability Standards Board and wish to see it succeed in its mission of developing high-quality global standards for sustainability reporting by companies, which should lead to mitigate against the confusion of the complex web of sustainability standards that currently exists. In order to succeed as global standards, the IFRS Sustainability Standards need to be adopted by the local authorities of countries and regions ...

Prospectus Publishers off the Hook

Post Date: August 2, 2022

This article represents the views of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. The Government has published how it proposes to reform the Prospectus Regime. Among the welcome changes are the ability to omit a prospectus when shares are being issued to those who already hold equity securities in the offering company, subject to certain conditions, including that the offer is made pro-rata to a person's existing holding. The need for a prospectus introduced a costly barrier to the issue of shares ...

ShareSoc Woodford Campaign Webinar 19th July – Report

Post Date: July 31, 2022

We received very strongly positive feedback from the 832 registrants to this webinar. A recording of the webinar is available here. The Missing 90% The webinar highlighted the Enigma of the missing 90% of claimants. We think up to 270,000 investors have yet to claim and we plan to issue a press release highlighting this and some of the points below: Nearly 300,000 investors lost money in the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF)and now have an opportunity to claim compensation, but so far ...

Abcam to Delist from AIM and Victoria Webinar

Post Date: July 22, 2022

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and don't necessarily reflect those of ShareSoc. Abcam Delisting from AIM Biotechnology company Abcam (ABC) is one of the largest AIM listed companies (market cap £2.7 billion). Yesterday (20/7/2022) they included in a trading update a statement that they are planning to cancel the admission of their shares on AIM. They previously moved to list their shares also on Nasdaq so they are currently dual-listed. This means they have already lost the ...

Press Release 122:
UK shareholders welcome and support Treasury Report on Secondary Market Placings

Post Date: July 20, 2022

ShareSoc and the UK Shareholders’ Association, who represent individual investors in the UK, welcome the Treasury Report on Secondary Market Placings. The recommendations, when implemented, will help to create a more level playing field for individual investors. The report also highlights the problems of disenfranchisement faced by retail shareholders in nominee accounts and proposes new systems which will allow retail investors to participate on fair terms in placings and fund raisings. The UK Shareholders' Association said: “The UK Shareholders' Association fully supports ...

Big Miners and How Far Ahead Do You Look?

Post Date: July 9, 2022

This article represents the views of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. The last couple of days have seen a jump in the share prices of big miners such as Rio Tinto (RIO) and BHP (BHP). They have risen as much as 5% over the last two days, after falling substantially from their peaks at the start of June. The price of BHP shares has been affected however by the free distribution of shares in Woodside Energy (WDS) on the ...

Comments on GB Group and Voting Considerations

Post Date: July 5, 2022

This article represents the view of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. GB Group (GBG) is a provider of digital location, identity verification and fraud prevention systems. Because of the need to identify people quickly and at low cost in the digital world, it has been a great success in the last few years and has become one of the largest AIM companies. Revenue has grown from £87m to £242m in the last 5 years although profits have been less ...

Baroness Altmann Announced as Keynote Speaker for ShareSoc Woodford Webinar – 19th July

Post Date: July 1, 2022

Baroness Altmann, Consumer Finance champion, Member of the House of Lords and ex-Pensions Minister to speak at ShareSoc Woodford Webinar “The Cavalry is Coming” on 19 July at 4.30pm. Law firms Leigh Day and Harcus Parker joined forces and merged their claims via a Group Litigation Order (GLO*), announced on 15 June 2022. ShareSoc’s webinar on 19 July 2022 provides updates on progress, why the GLO is a big step forward and the impending deadline for joining a legal claim. ...

Representing Individual Investors: proposed sustainability standards webinar on Thursday 30 June, 12:30 – 14:00

Post Date: June 27, 2022

One of ShareSoc's primary functions is to represent individual investors. we do this by lobbying Government and Regulators about individual investor needs, and by campaigning for change from government, regulators, financial service providers. Alongside this we network, inform and educate investors though events, company presentations, SIGnet groups, educational content, newsletter, blogs, tweets and emails. These elements combine to make the investing experience better for our members. ShareSoc has been working hard for many years to improve its relationships, networking and influence with ...

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