PrimaryBid

Improve Access for Retail Shareholders

Give Growing Companies Better Access to Retail Shareholders to Boost the UK Economy ShareSoc News Item by Mike Dennis, Director A recent survey1 of ShareSoc members was undertaken in conjunction with Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) and it has revealed that many individual investors do not feel they have good, equal access to growth stocks. Key findings of the survey1 55% of individual investors polled feel they don’t have, or aren’t sure they have, good access to growth companies Over 80% of respondents feel individual ...

Investors Chronicle, 18 Dec 2020, ShareSoc mentioned in 2 articles

Investors Chronicle (read by 30,000 subscribers ) has just given us two lovely name checks. This highlights the way that ShareSoc is increasingly seen as a powerful shareholder campaigning organisation and the source of reliable information about markets. https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2020/12/18/putting-the-public-back-into-public-markets-or-at-least-trying/ https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2020/12/18/an-alternative-outlook-in-the-plague-year/ The former article comes from the hard work we did establishing links with Primary Bid, which is, some months later, being reflected in press coverage. The article, written by James Dean, CEO of Primary Bid, explains the progress with getting access to placings for ...

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 ...

Ocado Placing Does Not Respect Shareholder Rights?

Under the Companies Act 2006, pre-emption rights allow existing shareholders the ‘right of first refusal’ when new shares are issued.  According to 561(1) of the 2006 Act, shares cannot be offered to another person until an offer has been made (on the same or more favourable terms) to each existing shareholder, and any time limit given for the offer has expired. At its core, this enables such individuals to protect their existing shareholding against further dilution of their shares – but typically ...

How important is the Individual Shareholder to UK PLC in the current climate?

On Thursday 7 May 2020 The LSE and Primary Bid ran a webinar on How important is the Individual to UK PLC in the current climate? There was an impressive panel made up of: Gavin Oldham, Chairman - Share Centre Richard Wilson, CEO - interactive investor Angela Knight CBE Andy Edmond, CEO, Equity Development Marcus Stuttard, Head of UK Primary Markets and AIM - London Stock Exchange plc The Chairman was  James Deal, COO - PrimaryBid The topics  discussed were: The daily trading ...

An Urgent Call to Include Individual Shareholders in New Issues – Sign Now!

Treat all shareholders fairly. There is no need to ignore individual shareholders in raising funds. Sign the petition now https://allinvestorsmatter.co.uk The Times reported today 20 April 2020 our letter (see https://allinvestorsmatter.co.uk/) which was co-signed by Mark Northway, Chairman of ShareSoc, our Patron Lord Lee (John Lee) , PrimaryBid and an impressive list of industry heavyweights. We have been working closely with PrimaryBid on this initiative. The Times article is here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/city-chiefs-demand-fair-shares-for-equity-raises-hr9fhzzb8 This is an urgent call for UK PLCs, industry bodies, regulators, investors, ...

Investors Chronicle, 15 April 2020, Are Retail Investors Losing Out?

https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/shares/2020/04/15/are-retail-investors-losing-out-amid-the-fundraising-rush/ Companies in the current crisis are rushing to strengthen their balance sheets. This article reviews what is happening and mentions the PrimaryBid approach. It quotes ShareSoc director Cliff Weight: However, excluding retail investors from participating in fundraisings is a “snub”, said Cliff Weight, director of policy and campaigns at shareholder rights group ShareSoc, arguing that companies should not be taking a selective approach to when they require support from retail shareholders. “This is a way of the big institutions creaming off a profit ...

Fund Raises – Why and How Retail Shareholders Should be Included.

We remain absolutely focused on making sure retail investors have fair access to fund raisings. This is important, now more than ever, as many companies plan to return to the equity markets to shore up balance sheets and reposition for the future. I would not like to see the current circumstances become an excuse for extracting value from minority and small shareholders. Marcus Stuttard, Head of UK Primary Markets, London Stock Exchange is very clear: “Retail or individual investor participation, is really ...