AGM

Northern 2 VCT AGM Report 2022 – Far From Perfect

I attended the Annual General Meeting of Northern 2 VCT (NTV) today (10/8/2022). This is a Venture Capital Trust with a decent long-term performance but last year the total return was only 0.8% after a very good prior year. I made some negative comments two years ago about how the AGM at this company was run – I called it “totally undemocratic”, and that didn’t really change this year. This was a “hybrid” AGM in that there were a few shareholders in ...

This is Money, 04 June 2022, Dividends paid by cheque to shareholders are being axed by Abrdn – in latest move towards a cashless society

ShareSoc's patron Lord Lee of Trafford commented on Abrdn's decision to stop paying dividends by cheque. "It is not just older people, but also youngsters who need to appreciate the value of money and might like to have a cheque arriving in the post when a dividend payment is due.  There is no doubt dividends paid by bank transfer are more convenient for many people, but it should not be mandatory. Investors must be given the choice.' Click here to read the article.

This is Money, 18 May 2022, We must ban AGM chauvinists for life: Campaigners demand action after Aviva chief exec Amanda Blanc faced barrage of sexist insults

The Daily Mail makes the point that misogynistic offenders at AGMs should know the likely outcome of unacceptable behaviour.. a RED card. Quoting both ShareSoc and UKSA Directors. Click here to read the article.

Laggard AGM voting farce at Go-Ahead Group

Discovery of a voting error is incredibly rare. I imagine that the fund managers who submitted the dissenting votes were on the lookout and saw something odd. Go-Ahead announced on 19 Jan 2022 that  its registrar, Equiniti,  have discovered an error in the collection of certain proxy votes submitted in relation to the resolutions put to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting ("AGM") held on 21 December 2021. Had these votes been included in the vote count, Resolution 4 to re-elect Adrian ...

Compass Group – Company Information and Vote Guidance

ShareSoc has introduced a new added value service, for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Initially we are piloting this for FTSE30 companies, plus a few others in the FTSE100. You can access all the information that ShareSoc has written on a company via clicking on the Research and Company Research buttons in the header on any ShareSoc webpage. This will take you to this page https://www.sharesoc.org/company-research/ . If you then enter the company name, ...

Imperial Brands – Company Information and Vote Guidance

ShareSoc has introduced a new added value service, for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Initially we are piloting this for FTSE30 companies, plus a few others in the FTSE100. You can access all the information that ShareSoc has written on a company via clicking on the Research and Company Research buttons in the header on any ShareSoc webpage. This will take you to this page https://www.sharesoc.org/company-research/ . If you then enter the company name, ...

ShareSoc AGM 2020 – Video recording

Please find below the recording of ShareSoc's 2020 AGM.

FRC new report on AGMs and best practices

A ShareSoc News article written by Cliff Weight, Director This is an excellent report. The FRC appear to have taken on board many of the points we raised. I particularly liked the recommendations that investors provide their email address to the company/registrar to facilitate communication; and the description of the purpose of the AGM- The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is an essential governance event for companies and their shareholders. It should provide transparency, accountability and integrity, to company governance and decision-making. It is ...

RBS Virtual Shareholder Event, Thursday 16 July 2020

I am looking forward to this virtual shareholder event and have registered. RBS had a closed AGM (due to Covid) and promised this event for retail shareholders so they could ask the questions they would have liked to have asked at the AGM. Now is your chance to listen to RBS management and ask your questions. To secure your place, please register by 10th July here if you know your SRN (shareholder registration number which you can find on your share certificate). You will then receive a confirmation ...

Applied Graphene Materials AGM on 18 December and the QCA Code

AIM-listed Applied Graphene Materials(AGM) holds its AGM on 18 December 2018. If you hold shares it might be worth attending and asking some questions. AGM share price has dropped 90% from £4, 5 years ago, to 38p now and has a market cap of less than £20million and burns £4m of cash every year. AGM has been through a number of significant changes in the past year – a new CEO was appointed in August 2018 and a new joint CFO and company secretary arrived ...

Premier Foods, stock lending, custodians, shareholder rights and nominee accounts

The background to my comments is below: KATE BURGESS in the FT on 15 July 2018 reported that accusations of empty voting — where investors borrow voting shares for short periods to swing the outcome at meetings —reverberated around the market ahead of Premier Food’s shareholder meeting next week. They were sparked when Oasis Management , the Hong Kong activist hoping to unseat Premier’s chief executive Gavin Darby, said it had increased its stake in the owner of Angel Delight from 9 to ...

Royal Mail Remuneration

I always thought that being a Chief Executive and being paid millions was a 24/7 job. I am amazed the Royal Mail could not recruit somebody from the millions of people who live in the UK. I am very angry that the details of Mr Back's £5.8million payout were buried in note 26 on page 144 of the company's annual report and not explained in the first paragraph of the Remuneration Committee Chair's statement. Hiding the pay of the new Chief ...