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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Persimmon (PSN) issued an announcement this morning saying that CEO Jeff Fairburn was stepping down at the request of the company because “the Board believes that the distraction around his remuneration from the 2012 LTIP scheme continues to have a negative impact on the reputation of the business and consequently on Jeff’s ability to continue in his role”. They are undoubtedly right there.
To remind readers, their misconceived and uncapped LTIP potentially would have meant bonus shares being awarded to Mr Fairburn ...
Earthport (EPO) is the latest AIM company to report that its past accounts are not all they should have been. Following a review by the new CEO and CFO, it seems there have been errors in reporting of forward foreign exchange transactions. This will result in fair value adjustments and a reduction of £6.3 million to £16.6 million in the net assets of the group at June 2017. Likewise adjustments are required to previous years. Reported earnings are also reduced although ...
I attended the General Meeting of Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) this morning at the ungodly time of 9.00 am – presumably chosen to deter attendance. An announcement earlier from the company will also have deterred attendance as it said no questions on past events would be answered so as not to prejudice investigations by “multiple regulators and authorities”. But there were about 20 shareholders present, including some institutional representatives.
This GM was to approve the second tranche of share placings and I expected ...
Comments on Deborah Hargreaves' new book and my conclusions thereon.
by Cliff Weight, 30 October 2018.
I read Deborah Hargreaves book "Are Chief Executives Overpaid? (The Future of Capitalism)" with great interest. It is an easy read and covers a vast amount of material which illustrates the complexity of any discussion of executive pay. I commend it to all. You can buy it on Amazon.
I was on a panel of speakers at the CSFI event on 15 October where Deborah spoke and introduced her ...
Since we began merger discussions, UKSA and ShareSoc have worked together on policy and campaigning issues. Below is a list of issues where we have made a significant input. This shows the wide number of areas where we have been active since 1st January 2017 (Updated 25th October 2018).
Date
Document
Recipient
Drafted by
Notes
December 2018 (Started Dec 2016)
RBS Shareholder committee campaign
RBS/Media
ShareSoc (CW)
Supported by UKSA
November 2018
Procurement of Audit services
(Kingman Part II)
Sir John Kingman
PP with CW
Joint submission from UKSA and SS
October 2018
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) consultation ...
UKSA and ShareSoc made a joint response to this consultation. The key points we made were:
We believe that there is competition in the market for audit services, although in the case of FTSE 100 companies, market competition is limited - wider choice and more competition would be beneficial.
Nonetheless, competition does not necessarily lead to improved quality which is the main concern about audit at present.
We believe that the main problem lies in the way in which audit services are procured. We ...
You can find full details of ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response the Competition and Markets Authority Review of the Audit Sector by clicking here
Philip Hammond’s budget today can be summarised as:
More money for the NHS.
More money for the MOD.
Money for schools.
More money to fix potholes.
More money for housing.
More money for the Universal Credit scheme.
Yes “austerity” is being relaxed. Changes to taxation are relatively minor, but there will be a new tax on “digital platforms” which is clearly aimed at large companies such as Facebook and Alphabet (Google) who generate large revenues from their operations in the UK but ...
34 fund managers are being investigated for ‘hiding’ their fees according to a story in the Sunday Times on 7 October, see https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/34-fund-managers-investigated-for-hiding-their-fees-l6kjwqhrz
An investigation has been launched into 34 pension and investment companies for failing to meet new rules that force them to disclose the true cost of their funds. This is the first time the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has taken action against firms for not adopting rules intended to make it easier for savers to assess and ...
Akers Bioscience (AKR) issued a most unusual announcement this morning: https://www.investegate.co.uk/akers-biosciences--akr-/rns/directorate-change---other-information/201810080700052072D/
Of particular interest is this statement:
finnCap Ltd, the Company's Nominated Adviser on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, gave the Company formal three months' notice of its resignation as the Company's Nominated Adviser and Broker on October 6, 2018. finnCap has also informed the Company that its resignation will be accelerated so as to take immediate effect if the whole Board of Directors does not attend an AIM Rules briefing ...
