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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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Government delivers a damp squib on executive pay

Press Release 97 - Joint Press Release from UKSA and ShareSoc Bizarre move to publish register of pay offenders managed by non-independent industry fund manager body the Investment Association Positive steps re Stakeholders via FRC consultation on S172 reporting Retail shareholders have been ignored again. The government's long awaited package of reforms on corporate governance was published this morning. The main components of the reforms had already been widely 'leaked' to the media. This morning's publication confirms that the proposals fall well short ...

FT Article on Small Investor Voting

On 25th August in the FTMoney supplement, FT writer Aime Williams explained how small investors could influence companies. But unfortunately some points may have misled readers. I have sent Aime the following communication: I read your article entitled “Small investors stand up and be counted” in this weekend’s FT with interest. It is good that the article shows how private investors can have an impact on companies, and it will no doubt encourage people to attend AGMs. But the comments from Richard Stone ...

How Many Stocks?

There was an interesting article in this week’s Investors Chronicle by John Rosier which discussed the number of holdings he had in his portfolio. He had attended a presentation by a well-known private investor who had 25% of his portfolio in one stock. John questioned whether he held too many stocks in his own portfolio (32 according to his portfolio list). He mused that Neil Woodford held 135 stocks in his UK Equity Income Fund but the largest 10 positions made ...

Another Financial Services Scandal: Broker Fined

A second Broker that has been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for years of committing ADR Securities Violations. This is yet another example of the unacceptable behaviour and bad culture that has pervaded far too many financial services organisations (and arguably still does). In this case Banca IMI Securities Corp issued ADRs even though it did not own the underlying shares. This made it possible for such ADRs to be used for inappropriate short selling or inappropriate profiting around dividend ...

ETFs and Index Trackers – More Dangerous Than You Think

Lots of financial pundits have encouraged investors to be “passive” investors rather than try to pick stocks, or invest in funds that do that latter (“active” funds). Even the FCA has recently criticised active funds for being more expensive and the additional management fees end up impacting negatively on overall returns over time. So persuasive writers such as John Bogle have convinced many to take the “no brainer” route of buying Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or other index tracking funds. But there ...

Telit: Warning Signs in the Remuneration Report

Today the CEO, Cats, has left Telit. Trust between shareholders and the company is fundamental. Cats lied to the company and the company failed to disclose relevant information to its shareholders. Cats was paid $3.37 million in 2016 made up of $1.63m salary and bonus of $1.74m. ShareSoc remuneration guidelines suggest £300k to £500k as a guideline for a company of this size c £250 million turnover. Cats owned 16 million shares and also has share options. So, such a large pay package ...

The Internet of Things – Telit and Tern

The Internet of Things – Telit and Tern Please note that views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily  represent those of ShareSoc. Most investors in AIM will have noted the unfolding news at Telit Communications (TCM) last week. It has culminated today with an announcement from the company that CEO Oozi Cats (a.k.a. Uzi Katz) has resigned after an independent review did indeed find that he was the subject of a US indictment 25 years ago ...

Why Institutions Cannot Control Pay

An interesting recent article in the Financial Times FTfm supplement helped to explain why pay is so out of control in public companies. In an interview with Rakhi Kumar of State Street Global Advisors, she made it plain what the problem is. State Street may not be a household name in the UK, but they are one of the world’s largest fund managers. Fourth in size behind only Blackrock, Vanguard and UBS according to Wikipedia. Last year State Street had more than ...

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...

Departures – AA and Blur

Yesterday was the start of many people’s holidays. But two company chief executives are going to be taking longer holidays than they expected. The Executive Chairman of the AA Plc (AA.) Bob Mackenzie has gone. The announcement from the company said he “has been removed by the board….for gross misconduct, with immediate effect”. According to press reports, this arose from a fracas in a bar, although there is also a suggestion that he may be suffering from a mental illness. Some newspapers ...
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