ShareSoc

LEADERS AND LAGGARDS

This page lists “leader” awards that ShareSoc considers companies have earned by exemplifying good practice in corporate governance and individual shareholder engagement; and “laggard” awards for those who’s behaviour falls short and we want to call out for poor practice.

Examples of good practice are responding to shareholder requests and concerns; good engagement with individual shareholders, as well as with analysts and institutions; good remuneration practices.

Examples of poor practice are holding general meetings at times and locations that make it difficult for many shareholders to attend; presenting exclusively to analysts and institutions and not offering the same opportunities to engage with individual shareholders; excessive executive remuneration.

Please contact us if you would like to nominate a company for a “leader” or “laggards” award.

ShareSoc has formed its views of these companies at the time recorded and using member recommendations and publicly available information. Companies are commended or criticised for the behaviour described. ShareSoc does not claim that the company is a leader or laggard in other aspects of its operations or that its behaviour is the best or worst example available. We describe it as “a” leader/laggard not “the” leader/laggard. If you feel that this assessment is based on inaccurate information at the time of writing or should be reconsidered subsequently, please contact us with further details.

Leaders

LeaderL&G AGM Directors not afraid of shareholders

    Legal & General’s directors are a beacon of hope and hopefully a bellwether for others. L&G is facilitating shareholder engagement in person and on line. This is...

LeaderPress Release – Baillie Gifford partners with ShareSoc to back individual investors

Baillie Gifford is joining ShareSoc’s Corporate Supporter Scheme, underlining the importance it places on individual investors. Baillie Gifford is an independent global asset manager, headquartered in Edinburgh. With £197bn of assets under management, of which £22bn sits within its popular range of 12 investment trusts. These trusts attract a large individual investor base. ShareSoc is the leading not-for-profit organisation dedicated to representing and supporting UK individual investors. It is a fervent campaigner for fair treatment of individual investors with a heavy focus on ...

LeaderLaw Debenture encouraging increased AGM attendance

Shareholders are encouraged to invite a guest so they can experience an AGM Law Debenture Corporation (LWDB) will hold its AGM on 11th April at the Peel Hunt offices in London. ShareSoc is pleased to see that not only is Law Debenture holding a hybrid AGM, allowing in-person or online attendance, but they are also encouraging shareholders to invite a guest, to allow them to experience what an AGM is like. A great initiative, which is part of Law Debenture's financial education ...

LeaderPress Release – ShareSoc & Edison join forces

Edison and ShareSoc join forces to improve access to investment information Investor Relations expert Edison has joined forces with ShareSoc, the UK’s premier membership organisation for individual investors to improve access to listed company information via innovative delivery channels. ShareSoc has been a fervent campaigner for improved individual investor access to information and research on listed companies, to facilitate more informed investment decisions, to exercise shareholders’ rights and to promote stewardship at the individual shareholder level. Edison is a leading provider of Research and ...

LeaderITV Offers Access to All Investors on Results Call

Kudos to ITV plc for making this morning's results call fully accessible to all investors. They did this by 1) making their results presentation available on their website; 2) offering a Zoom webinar at 9am to all investors in which participants could ask questions live, orally. I didn't try to ask any questions myself so cannot confirm whether individual investors questions would have been taken in the same manner as the many analyst questions. Everyone was able to use the Zoom "raise ...

Laggards

Laggard Hugely Disappointing That ImmuPharma Excludes Individuals From Placing

I have been an investor, supporter and follower of ImmuPharma. So I was appalled to read that ImmuPharma (LSE:IMM) has raised £6.5 million, before expenses, via an oversubscribed placing of 59,090,909 new ordinary shares at a price of 11p per share. There was no Primary Bid offer and no notification to investors who hold their shares via nominee of this placing nor any invitation for them to share in the spoils. The placing was at 11p and the share price this morning ...

Laggard Laggard: Another example of Show of Hands without attendance at Forterra plc AGM

Forterra plc held their meeting on 14 May 2020 and resolutions were passed by way of a show of hands, and yet, the provisions for the meeting were as follows: “As a result, shareholders are not permitted to attend the AGM in person and will not be admitted.  Questions can be submitted to your Board by e-mail to investors@forterra.co.ukand it is our intention to arrange a conference call with our Chief Executive and Chief Financial officers once the current crisis has passed.” So that ...

Laggard Biffa: A Token Retail Offering is Not Good Enough

It was initially pleasing to see FTSE250 company, Biffa plc, recognise its retail shareholders, by making an offer though PrimaryBid alongside its recent institutional placing. As ever, the Prospectus Regulation meant that the retail offer was limited to €8m (otherwise a costly prospectus would have to be issued to make a larger offer to retail investors). Pretty paltry compared to the £100m institutional placing. I applied for the retail offer and was disappointed that my application was scaled back by nearly 50%. Disappointment ...

Laggard Laggards? AJ Bell Directors/PDMRs’ share sales, Numis, Invesco and the FCA

On Friday, 22nd May 2020 at 16:16 an RNS announced that Fergus Lyons (a Managing Director at AJ Bell) had sold 1.25 million shares at 448.637p and his wife another 25,000. Michael Summersgill (CFO) sold 5,000 shares and his wife sold 420,00o on 21 May 2020 at the same price. However, a day earlier on Thursday 21 May at 16.51, AJ Bell announced in an RNS that Invesco "has today indicated its intention to sell up to approx 31 million shares" in a placing, organised ...

Laggard Direct Line Group: How Not to Do Covid-19 Affected AGMs

In common with many other companies, Direct Line Group has "taken the easy way out" of handling its AGM when shareholders cannot attend in person due to Covid-19 restrictions. In this announcement of 21st April, Direct Line confirms that shareholders will not be able to physically access their AGM. Only proxy votes may be submitted. Direct line also say: Shareholders may send any questions about the business of the AGM to the Company Secretary at the Company's registered office or by email to ...