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.

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Press Release 114 : HM Treasury’s Call for Evidence re Review of UK Listing Rules

Post Date: January 6, 2021

Press release 114 - Joint Press Release from ShareSoc & UKSA on behalf of individual investors: HM Treasury’s Callfor Evidence re Review of UK Listing Rules ShareSoc and UKSA recommend: AIM should be regulated by the FCA, not the LSE. Do not relax standards in the UK. We need to stop even more frauds, scams and scandals. Remove €8m limit in placings; and open up placings to all. The LSE has a poor track record on enforcement and is ...

Portfolio Review 2020 – Mark Bentley

Post Date: January 4, 2021

Background I have not published a portfolio review for quite a while, as it's so time consuming to do. However, 2020 was an extraordinary year, so felt I really ought to see what went wrong, what went right and whether there were any lessons to learn. Before diving into the details, I need to explain my circumstances and investment strategy. I have been a full-time investor since 2004, living off a fixed pool of capital. Therefore, capital preservation whilst generating sufficient return to ...

UKSA and ShareSoc response to the IASB’s consultation on Business Combinations

Post Date: January 1, 2021

On 31 Dec 2020 the UK Shareholders Association and ShareSoc submitted a joint response to The IASB’s Discussion Paper on Business Combinations – Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment (DP/2020/1) Our key messages are: We support the Board’s overall objective of enhancing disclosure on acquisitions and their subsequent performance. Current disclosure is extremely unsatisfactory. As a result we agree with the Board’s preliminary views set out in paragraph IN9 with the modifications and qualifications set out in this letter. We would also argue that ...

FCA Consultation
Consumer Investments Market Call for Input
ShareSoc’s response

Post Date: December 19, 2020

A ShareSoc News item by ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight In our response we highlighted: The need for the system as a whole, including regulation, to work better for consumers We welcome the clear recognition in the CFI’s Foreword that there is indeed a problem - that there are suitable and inexpensive products, but people do not use them enough. In addition, that firms are not generally keen to promote them and that progress is slower than the FCA would like. The market ...

More about Skin in the Game and Impax

Post Date: December 19, 2020

By Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc Please note that these are my personal views and not those of ShareSoc. Neither I nor ShareSoc is able to give financial advice and nothing in this blog should be construed as such. Disclosure: I hold shares in Impax but not in IGR. Back to my Portfolio and Impax I have had a busy few weeks, with the launch of the Woodford Campaign, the Sirius webinar and a massive 49 page response to the FCA’s Call for Input on ...

Seminar on Woodford Legal Case

Post Date: December 19, 2020

Yesterday evening I attended a webinar hosted by ShareSoc on a proposed legal action over the substantial losses suffered by investors in the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF). It was chaired by Mark Northway and Cliff Weight with other speakers being Boz Michaelowska from legal firm Leigh Day and David Ricketts. The latter is a financial journalist who has written a book entitled “When the Fund Stops” which covers the past events at the Woodford funds and which will be published ...

Update #13
ShareSoc Sirius Shareholders’ Group (SSSG)
SiriusClaim (www.SiriusClaim.com)
15th December 2020

Post Date: December 16, 2020

On 8th of December we (ShareSoc and Sirius Claim Group) held a webinar to provide a progress update. The event was very well attended. There were 258 registrants and over 200 attended on the night. Links to the video of the webinar are here and copies of the slides here for those who were unable to attend. There were a good number of questions and answers at the end. If we were unable to answer your question during the event we will ...

Renew Holdings Bars Individual Shareholders From Its Results Meeting

Post Date: December 8, 2020

I have held shares in Renew Holdings (AIM:RNWH) since 2006. It has been my most profitable single investment, due to opportunities to add at very low prices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Unfortunately, however, in recent years it has developed an unfortunate tendency to exclude individual investors from its results meetings. Renew published its preliminary results for Y/E September 2020 today. The announcement included an invitation to "sell-side analysts and investors" to attend a virtual meeting, with instructions to contact their ...

Strategic Equity Capital update

Post Date: December 8, 2020

by Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Director Please note the views expressed in this blog are my personal ones. I hold shares in SEC and Gresham House. Within 6 months of manager change and change of lead fund manager and break on SLA marketing JV, the largest shareholder puts stock into hands of an arb. What will happen next? The background is in my 2 previous blogs: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/investment-trust-discounts-what-to-do-about-them-and-sec-example/ https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/collective-investments/nearly-20-vote-against-strategic-equity-capitalsec-agm-resolution/ RIT recently sold its 13% holding in SEC at a discount, of 22.8% - 9.47m shares traded at 202.5p on17th ...

Invinity Open Offer, Ideagen, and AJ Bell Results

Post Date: December 3, 2020

I have recently taken a strong interest in those shares that are involved in electrification of the world. It’s not just the UK Prime Minister who wants to save the world from global warming and air pollution with Joe Biden likely to be much more environmentally conscious than Donald Trump. Those companies or trusts that are involved in alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, and systems to manage the fluctuations they impose on the grid, are of particular interest. One ...

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