Shareholder Engagement

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update 04 April 2022

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update 4 April 2022 Since our last update in November 2021 (see page 16 here), we have worked on: 1. Consultation responses and government lobbying 2. Woodford Campaign 3. Voting Guidance and Shareholder Engagement 4. Shareholder Rights/Nominees 5. SVS/ITI 6. FCA liaison 7. FRC, BEIS, etc liaison 8. Campaigns 9. AIM regulation 1. Consultation responses and government lobbying. This continues to be a major area of work, where ShareSoc represents the interests of individual investors. We have submitted responses to: • FRC Endorsement Board – Draft Endorsement Criteria ...

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update 20 Dec 2021

Since Oct 12 (see previous update here), we have worked on: Audit and Governance reform: many members have told us of their concerns about the disasters at Carillion and many others. We view the audit and governance reforms as crucial and have pressed for these to be moved forward as quickly as possible. We are concerned about lobbying to slow down this progress and co-signed a letter to the FT which was published on 12 Nov. 21. Woodford Campaign: ...

FT, 22 Oct 2021, Getting heard on climate: small investors take on big companies

Click here to read the article Alice Ross, FT Deputy Editor, has written a major article about how "Retail shareholders can get organised and can push for change if they band together". The article focusses on the successes of the pressure group ShareAction who have successfully used their AGM Army to ask questions at AGMs and lobby for change. However, Cliff Weight and ShareSoc are also quoted at some length.   One problem for retail investor engagement, however, is that the vast majority remain uninvolved. ...

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update to 12 October 2021

Since June 14 (see https://www.sharesoc.org/sharesoc-news/policy-and-campaigns-progress-update-14-june-2021/  for previous update), ShareSoc's Policy and Campaigns' team have worked on:   Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day have submitted their claim. They now have 11,000 claimants and another 3,000 registered, but yet to sign their Leigh Day agreement. We held a very successful webinar on 30 Sept with 942 registrants. ShareSoc’s Woodford Campaign now has over 1,500 members, which enables us to lobby strongly for regulatory change and to hold to account those who have done wrong.  ...

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update to 30 April 2021

In April 2021, we worked on: Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day are the only claim with insurance and funding in place. Harcus Parker have funding but do not have ATE insurance. RGL have neither insurance nor funding (other than funding for an initial step). Leigh Day (whose claim ShareSoc have endorsed) now have c 10,000 claimants registered and are the leading claim. Sirius Minerals Shareholder Group, Sirius Claim Group: A 20 page review of the evidence was finalised in April ...

FT, 7 Aug 2020, Will Digital AGMs Replace Meeting Directors Over a Prawn Sandwich?

The article https://www.ft.com/content/293817d5-4d70-44c6-bf49-148b2baff59f quoted ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee and ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight: ...For some investors, the reason to attend an AGM is in the chance to interact with a company in person, lost in a virtual world. “The value is in the margins, over coffee before and in the half-hour afterwards over a buffet lunch or another coffee,” says Lord John Lee, the private investor and FT columnist [and ShareSoc Patron]. “The board will always stay around for a period to ...

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 ...

London Investor Show Olympia

ShareSoc exhibited at the London Investor Show at Olympia on the 25th October. It proved to be a good show in terms of attracting new members and meeting existing ones even though there is substantial effort in organising and manning a stand. A photograph of the stand is shown to the right - Member Steve Holdsworth assisting at front, Director Chris Spencer-Phillips talking to a visitor. Incidentally the posters we used on the stand were printed by Printed.com – a division of ...