Blogs

Latest Blogs

Integrity and independence in the judiciary and the financial services industry: a comparative study

Post Date: April 2, 2018

My thanks go to ShareSoc member Tony Johnson - for bringing to my attention, a recent lecture given to the Banking Standards Board by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales. In the lecture, Sir Geoffrey considers the present state of integrity of our financial institutions and our judiciary. For those with plenty of time, you can read the full script of his lecture here - https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/chc-speech-banking-standards-board-lecture.pdf For those with less time, I summarise below : Sir Geoffrey is well-qualified ...

GKN – Melrose and the Sage of Omaha

Post Date: March 29, 2018

A number of ShareSoc members have asked the ShareSoc Board for their recommendations for the GKN offer from Melrose. ShareSoc is not FCA registered and cannot give advice - and neither can I. Why have fund managers, who should be talking a long-term view, sold 25% of GKN to short-term opportunists? Why are 11% of Melrose shares shorted? Why has the Melrose share price not dropped hugely in the face of this short selling? The final offer is for 81p plus 1.69 Melrose ...

Analyst Presentations: the Unlevel Playing Field

Post Date: March 23, 2018

A core aim for ShareSoc is to seek to level the playing field for individual shareholders. One aspect of this is addressing the cosy chats that companies have with analysts and favoured institutional investors, which individual investors usually cannot gain access to. A typical example of this was contained in ScS's recent interim results announcement: https://www.investegate.co.uk/scs-group-plc--scs-/rns/interim-results/201803210700033530I/ Investor and Analyst Meeting A meeting for analysts will be held at the office of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN on 21 March 2018 commencing at 9.30am. ScS ...

Sustainable Finance Action Plan

Post Date: March 23, 2018

ShareSoc welcomes the actions proposed by the European Commission which should bring about more transparency for investors and favour sustainable long-term value creation for end-investors and savers. ShareSoc is...

Aviva Preference Shares: Write to your MP!

Post Date: March 21, 2018

Please write to your MP requesting that a Parliamentary Select Committee investigate Aviva’s action. The Financial Times published a joint letter from Peter Parry of UKSA and Cliff Weight of ShareSoc, highlighting our concerns. The suggested wording of a letter/email to your MP is as follows "Dear xxxx, A Parliamentary Select Committee should investigate Aviva’s actions which have sullied the reputation of the London Stock Exchange and may cause financial losses running into billions for many individuals. The issues are highlighted in a joint ...