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ShareSoc comments on the Barclays LIBOR rate manipulation debacle and Diamond’s pay.

Post Date: July 4, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 28 (04/07/2012) Sharesoc, the UK Individual Shareholders Society, believes the announcement by Chancellor George Osborne of an inquiry into Barclays Bank and other banks’ LIBOR rate manipulation to be chaired by Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee is a step in the right direction. However, the Society contends that this rigging of the market is but a small part of the ongoing banking fiasco, the seeds of which were first sown some twenty or more years ago. David Blundell, Chairman ...
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ShareSoc’s submission to the Parliamentary Committee considering the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Post Date: June 25, 2012
ShareSoc’s submission to the Parliamentary Committee considering the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which will encompass the changes to Company Law to enforce a binding vote on pay is contained in this document: ERR_Submission
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Cable’s Pay Reforms – A step in the right direction

Post Date: June 20, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 27 (20/06/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) welcomes the publication by Vince Cable of more details on how he intends to reform the pay of company directors. In our view this is a worthwhile step toward ensuring that remuneration policies are more reasonable in future. ShareSoc Chairman Roger Lawson had this to say: “It is clear that the pay of senior executives has got out of control and no longer bears any relationship to the growth in company profits in ...
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Faroe Petroleum Responds to ShareSoc’s Concerns

Post Date: May 25, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 26 (25/05/2012) At yesterday’s AGM, Faroe Petroleum withdrew a resolution authorising large performance incentive payments to its executives. John Bentley, Faroe Chairman said: “Since the publication of the Notice of Annual General Meeting in April 2012, the Company has been in further dialogue with its larger shareholders. Following those discussions, the Company intends to make a number of changes to the proposed Faroe Petroleum Exceptional Performance Incentive Plan ("EPIP") and consequently Resolution 7 has been withdrawn.” On 2nd May, ShareSoc issued a ...
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ShareSoc’s submission to the Parlimentary Treasury Select Committee inquiry into Corporate Governance and Remuneration

Post Date: May 23, 2012
Our submission to the Parlimentary Treasury Select Committee inquiry into Corporate Governance and Remuneration in systemically important financial institutions is contained in this document: TSC_Submission
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ShareSoc blasts £4m CEO pay at mid-cap oil company Premier Oil at today’s AGM

Post Date: May 18, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 25 (18/05/2012) Premier Oil shareholder, and ShareSoc Director, Mark Bentley posed the following question at today’s Premier Oil AGM: “Firstly, I would like congratulate the remuneration committee on presenting a clear exposition of total director remuneration on page 73 of the annual report, despite needing 20 pages to explain director remuneration. However, I am concerned to observe that total pay for the 5 executive directors in 2011 was an extraordinary £13.2m, with the CEO receiving a package worth 183x the median ...
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ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against the Changes Proposed to the Edinburgh US Tracker Trust

Post Date: May 9, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 24 (09/05/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) is urging shareholders in Edinburgh US Tracker Trust to vote against the directors’ proposal to change this company from a tracker fund to an actively-managed fund, as it appears to be against the interests of the investors in this company. Edinburgh US is an investment trust that has been successfully tracking the American stock market (the US S&P 500 index) since 1997 at very low cost (total expenses of 0.38% a year*), and ...
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ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against the “Exceptional Performance Incentive Plan” at Faroe Petroleum

Post Date: May 2, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 23 (02/05/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) suggests that shareholders in Faroe Petroleum should vote against the new management incentive scheme. This scheme which is entitled the Exceptional Performance Incentive Plan (EPIP) will permit substantial grants of nil-cost options to senior executives, subject to certain performance conditions. The details of the performance conditions are complex but the prime requirement for full vesting is total shareholder return of 25% per annum over 3 years. ShareSoc suggests that a performance incentive scheme ...
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ShareSoc suggests shareholders should consider very carefully the Offer for Lees Foods

Post Date: April 27, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 22 (27/04/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) advises shareholders to look very carefully at the offer for Lees Foods. Lees Foods is proposing a recommended management buy-out of the company for a total of £5.6m via a scheme of arrangement. But many shareholders are displeased with the level of the offer. ShareSoc director David Stredder, a holder of shares in this company, was quoted extensively in the Scottish Herald and the Scotsman newspapers on this subject (Lees Foods is a ...
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An additional response to The Kay Review

Post Date: April 22, 2012
An additional response to the Kay Review covering the specific issues of shareholder enfranchisement and the AIM market has been submitted - see Kay Review 2. See below for our main response to the Kay Review.
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ShareSoc’s Response to the “Shareholder Voting Rights” Consultation

Post Date: April 22, 2012
Our response to the Shareholder Voting Rights Consultation is contained in this document: Shareholder_Voting_Rights. In summary we support the main proposals, would like to see binding votes on pay being "special" resolutions (I.e requiring a 75% majority in favour) and would like to see AIM companies covered by these regulations as well.
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ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against Barclays Remuneration Report

Post Date: April 9, 2012
PRESS RELEASE 21 (09/04/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) welcomes the call by PIRC (“Pensions Investments Research Consultants”) for shareholders to vote against the Remuneration Report at Barclays. We agree that the bonus and other pay arrangements for the CEO, Bob Diamond, and of the other senior executives are inappropriate. We therefore advise our members to vote against the Remuneration Report. Our stance is that the aggressive bonus arrangements at all banks should be restrained as they were one cause of the ...
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