Minerva

IMB – Imperial Brands Company Information and Vote Guidance 2022

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. ShareSoc  introduced this new added value voting information service, for Full Members only in 2021, 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. We have decided to continue the pilot in 2022 and are looking at ways to improve our services to members. I do not own shares in ...

BHP – Company Information and Vote Guidance 2021

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in BHP and have recently bought some more.  With sales of c.£50bn, their EV (Enterprise Value = market cap plus debt) of £100 bn is 2 times turnover and this looks much more reasonable than the Diageo shares I recently reviewed and sold. The BHP p/e (forecast) ratio is a very modest 7. For over 15 years BHP have met annually with shareholders ...

DGE : Diageo – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I do not own shares in Diageo, but my wife does, in her ISA. She bought in 1998 at £7.16 and they are now £35. With sales of £12.7bn, their EV (Enterprise Value = market cap plus debt) of £95 bn is > six  times turnover and I don't see great barriers to entry at the global level or from supermarkets going direct to wine ...

TSCO – TESCO Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I am not qualified to give financial advice and nothing in this blog should be construed as such. I own shares in TESCO. It is one of my largest holdings and I have owned Tesco shares since the 1980's. Tesco performed very well in the 1980's and 1990's gaining market share and growing fast and its out of/ edge of town superstores were a winning formula. ...

RKT : Reckitt Benckiser – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I do not own shares in Reckitt, because their EV (Enterprise Value) is four times turnover and I don't see great barriers to entry. Summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 28th, 2021. The share price over 20 years is wonderful, as the Stockopedia data shows. I have attended several of the company's AGMs, because (i) DSW, the German equivalent of ShareSoc asked me to ...

HSBA – HSBC Holdings Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in HSBC. HSBC summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 28th, 2021. HSBC has gone back to its roots and now focuses on the Far East. The Stockopedia graph shows the lack of long term growth over the past 20 years and the volatility of the share price which lost two thirds in the Covid Bear Market. It has now recovered to ...

OCDO : OCADO – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I do not own shares in Ocado, but wish I had! Ocado summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 13th, 2021. The share price is worth a recap. The Stocko data shows the graph since IPO, which I think was around 160p. It looked like Ocado was overpriced as its share price collapsed to 80p, on Guy Fawkes' day Nov 5, 2012. If you had ...

PRU : Prudential – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in Prudential and M&G. PRU summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 13th, 2021. The Pru demerged M&G in Oct 2019, and now focuses on the Far East. The Stockopedia graph shows the modest share price increase since demerger and the (good) long term growth. However, Stockopedia now labels Pru as a "momentum trap". The Minerva report highlights various issues: Remuneration Report: Benefit concerns. High bonus ...

RDSA : Royal Dutch Shell – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in Shell and have done so for 30+ years. Shell summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 13th, 2021. The share price is up nearly >50% from its ludicrously low £9.00 on 28 Oct 2020 (I should have bought then!) and is now £14.30 (@7/5/21). In 2018, Shell was £27 a share. The share price fluctuates wildly, sort of correlated with oil ...

LLOY : Lloyds Banking Group – Company Information and Vote Guidance

by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in Lloyds. Lloyds summary of voting issues The AGM is on May 20th, 2021. The share price is up nearly 100% from its recent nadir of 24p  (22 Sep 2020) and is now 46p (@7/5/21). Like the other UK banks, Lloyds has performed woefully over 20 years, as the Stockopedia data shows. The best US banks (JP Morgan, Goldmans) have a different trajectory. Government ...