ShareSoc

TSCO – TESCO Information and Vote Guidance 2022

This report is by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I own shares in Tesco, having first bought in the 1980s. 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 ...

Post Date: June 3, 2022 Read more

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. ...

Post Date: June 21, 2021 Read more

Tesco Fraud Charges, Cattles and Globo

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged three former managers of Tesco in relation to the overstatement of profits that occurred over several years and which came to light in 2014. The charges are fraud and false accounting and those charged are Carl Rogberg (finance director at the time), Christopher Bush (UK Managing Director) and John Scouler (UK Commercial Director). The former Chief Executive, Philip Clarke, has not been charged but is apparently still under investigation in relation to the offences. Neither ...

Post Date: September 12, 2016 Read more

Brexit Result Impact and Tesco AGM

The result is in, and the people have spoken. We will now leave the EU, unless of course there is some more re-negotiation or other fudge which would probably require some U-turns by politicians. They are of course adept at finessing such manoeuvres so don't be surprised if the outcome is not quite as simple as it might first appear. The pound has already fallen substantially (I am writing this just before the stock market opened). Is that a disaster? Not quite ...

Post Date: June 24, 2016 Read more

Tesco Results and Elementis AGM

Tesco (TSCO) and Elementis (ELM) - two very different companies. The first announced their preliminary results this morning, and the second held their AGM today which I attended. The opening line of the Tesco announcement says it all: "It's has been a very difficult year for Tesco". Although it said like-for-like sales volumes were up for the first time in four years, the rest of the commentary was pretty negative and of course there will be no final dividend. Debts are rising, pension ...

Post Date: April 22, 2015 Read more

Tesco Legal Action – or should we just “put our hands up”?

Law firm Stewarts Law has announced that it is preparing a case against Tesco based on the losses of investors in the company from the overstatement of profits. To quote from their announcement: "The Claim will allege that directors and senior management knew or were reckless as to whether Tesco's statements to the market were untrue or misleading and/or dishonestly concealed the true position, in breach of the Financial Services and Markets Act". They don't intend to await the results of ...

Post Date: November 30, 2014 Read more

Sainsbury and Tesco (do they need a pressure group?)

Following on from the debacle at Tesco, Sainsbury produced some quite awful trading figures yesterday (1/10/2014). Here's a review of some of the news on those and other retailers. Tesco The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are undertaking an investigation into Tesco's "overstatement of expected profit". Making misleading statements to the market is potentially a criminal offence. How long that will take to reach any conclusions is anyone's guess. The result of such investigations are often reported to investors so late in the day ...

Post Date: October 2, 2014 Read more

The Tesco Board – fit for purpose?

There was a very good article in the Financial Times today by Luke Johnson. It covers the problems at Tesco and suggests that "the stewardship at Tesco has been woeful". A particular focus is on the experience of board members, of which only one is executive (recently appointed Dave Lewis). It says "Like every single other director on the main board, he has no executive experience as a retailer whatsoever". Luke suggests they might have a wide and impressive set of ...

Post Date: September 24, 2014 Read more

Barclays, Tesco and MoPowered

Barclays, Tesco and MoPowered - two big companies and one a typical new AIM company which has yet to show it can make a profit - but all three are under the weather in the last couple of days. Barclays have today (23/9/2014) been fined £38m by the Financial Conduct Authority for failing to ensure that clients money in the investment bank was kept separate from the banks own assets. When I joked in my local Barclays Bank this morning that I ...

Post Date: September 23, 2014 Read more

Tesco admits it needs a new leader

Today Tesco announced that CEO Philip Clarke is departing. The statement included a further profit warning which mentioned that the overall market is weaker and trading profit in the first half of the year is below expectations. It's surely an acceptance that Mr Clarke had been given long enough to turn around the business, but had ultimately failed (he has been in the CEO role since March 2011). The new CEO is to be Dave Lewis who joins from Unilever where he has ...

Post Date: July 21, 2014 Read more

Group description:	We are a relatively small group, but have a wide range of interests so always start every meeting with a discussion about world issues and the “investing environment” generally. We always discuss individual members market activity and any interesting opportunities on their watchlists. There is currently a lot of expertise in the small cap value area of the market within the group.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Our preference is for a physical meeting and a hotel in Meriden (Coventry) is the usual location, but we do have on-line meetings when weather and/or health issues make that the most suitable option. We rotate the chair and this is agreed at the previous meeting.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Our preference is to meet every 4 weeks on a Thursday evening, but the exact details are agreed at the previous meeting.

Group description:	The Options group has been meeting monthly for some 20+ years and new members who are either trading or interested in trading options are always welcome. Our members trade options predominately on both UK and USA shares, indices, currencies and commodities.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Prior to Covid all monthly meetings were at a west London golf club, close to an underground station, where we had a one course lunch prior to our meetings in a private room. Since Covid all meetings have been via video and some new members have joined who are too far from west London to meet face to face. However, it is intended that future meetings will be both in person and via video link.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are monthly, on the 4th Wednesday of each month, normally from 12:30 to 2:30 and sometimes run over.

Group description:	A small group whose primary interests are equity and Investment Trusts.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Currently meeting online using Skype. It is envisaged to have occasional meetings at member’s private houses in the future.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held fortnightly on Tuesday mornings using Skype.

Group description:	Most members are experienced investors. The main focus is on equity investments (single stocks or investment trusts). Other asset classes are discussed. Meetings involve presentations from members who are expected to lead discussions from time to time.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meeting quarterly, physically in Central London. Other months (8 months per year) on Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are generally held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. The Quarterly physical meetings are from 11am-4pm (with approximately 1 hour break for lunch), the Zoom meetings (during the other 8 months) tend to last up to 2 hours (11am – 12:45pm).

Group description:	A long-established group, however, we welcome new applications. Our meetings start at 10:15am with coffee and scones when members comment on their investment activities since the previous month. Generally, each member reports on a specific Company/IT/Fund e.t.c. This brings us to about 12:30pm when the meeting ends, and we have lunch.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In-person at a Golf Club in Belfast.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The group usually meets on the second Wednesday of the month, all year round, except in July and August when we have no meetings. Meetings commence at 10:15am and last 2-3 hours (including lunch).