BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS (THE) PLC (BKG)

BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS (THE) PLC (BKG)

Blog posts

Berkeley Group Interims, and Pay

House builder Berkeley Group issued their Interim Results this morning (2/12/2016). It was generally positive about the future so the share price has perked up somewhat today. But the...

Please Vote Against Berkeley Remuneration

ShareSoc has advised investors to vote against the Remuneration Report at Berkeley Group. Is a total pay figure of £21 million in 2015/16 for Executive Chairman Tony Pidgley justifiable on any grounds at all? It has surely arisen as the result of an over generous LTIP scheme which shareholders voted for without realising the possible consequences. LTIP schemes have been one source of the ever growing pay of public company directors and if we are to reign in pay levels we ...

Pay of FTSE-100 CEOs, and Berkeley Group

The High Pay Centre have just published their latest analysis of the pay of FTSE-100 CEOs. Their average pay is now £5.5 million and it grew by over 10% from the previous year. Stefan Stern of the High Pay Centre said "There is apparently no end yet in sight to the rise and rise of FTSE100 CEO pay packages. In spite of the occasional flurry from more active shareholders, boards continue to award ever larger amounts of pay to their most senior ...

Berkeley Results, Pay, Brexit and AIM

We are now definitely in the usual summer doldrums in the market, compounded by the uncertainty over Brexit. It is obvious that private investors have been taking their money...

What’s Spooking the Commercial Property Market?

There was an interesting article in the Financial Times yesterday (12/2/2016) by Vanessa Houlder on the possibility that deduction of interest costs against profits will be disallowed by the Chancellor in his next budget. Is this is what has recently spooked the commercial property market? The British Land share price is down 25% since last November, Land Securities is down a similar percentage, and even well diversified property investment trusts such as TR Property are down 16%. Surely property companies should ...

Amlin and Glencore – Market surprises, but not at Berkeley

This morning a takeover bid for insurer Amlin was announced by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. A cash offer of 670p which represents a premium of 34.5% to last nights closing price. With Amlin having been warning for some time about increased competition in the catastrophe insurance sector, this is surely a done deal assuming they can get over any regulatory hurdles. I was going to write that unlike many mega deals the news seemed not to have leaked out in advance, but it's ...

The Budget – How Will It Affect Private Investors?

George Osborne announced the Government's Budget yesterday (8/7/2015). These were the main changes that might affect individual investors: - Personal income tax allowance will rise from £10,600 to £11,000 in 2016-17. The Higher Rate Threshold will increase to £42,385 in 2015-16 with further increases in subsequent years. - Dividend taxation will be substantially changed. Dividend tax credits will be abolished and be replaced by a new Dividend Tax Allowance of £5,000 with tax rates on dividend income above that at 7.5% for basic ...

Who are the Election Winners and Losers?

Who are the General Election winners and losers? Well most investors have benefited because the market as a whole has risen today after the election results gave the Conservatives an unexpected victory. Specific sectors that benefited were house builders and utility companies. House builders were generally up at the time of writing this note, with Berkeley Group in particular up 10% - no doubt investors being relieved there would be no mansion tax affecting expensive properties in London.  Utility companies were ...

Berkeley Group and British Country Inns

I attended the Annual General Meeting of housebuilders Berkeley Group today. Lots of questions from shareholders this year (apparently there were none last year), and a request for there to be a presentation in future. That I supported as it is also ShareSoc's policy.  A full report is also available to full members. Some of the comments from Chairman Tony Pidgeley were most interesting. It included his solution to how to solve the housing crisis in London and the South East, but ...

Berkeley Group and Housebuilders

Berkeley Group issued their preliminary results this morning (18/6/2014). For those holding housebuilders shares (like this writer), they are worth commenting on perhaps as investors in such companies seem to be getting twitchy. With Mr Carney hinting that interest rates may rise sooner than expected, house price inflation powering ahead while general inflation remains low, and politicians criticising the Government "Help to Buy" scheme, one can understand why the share prices of many builders have fallen back from their peak. For example ...

AGM Reports

Berkeley Group (BKG) AGM 2016

On the 6th september I attended the Annual General Meeting of Berkeley Group Holdings Plc at the Woodlands Park Hotel in Cobham, Surrey. The location seemed to be popular with investors (5 minutes from junction 9 on the M25) with 50 or so turning up, including Sharesoc Director Cliff Weight who has authored the Directors Remuneration Handbook and has 30 years as a remuneration consultant. Sharesoc had issued a press release detailing the excessive remuneration at Berkeley, with an excerpt below (a ...

Berkeley Group (BKG) AGM Report – Plus ca change

I attended the Berkeley Group (BKG) Annual General Meeting this morning in deepest Surrey - no complaints this year about the location which somewhat surprised me. There was a good turn-out at about 30 shareholders even so. Some background first: This is of course a housebuilding company and like others in the sector has been doing well of late. But it gives the impression in terms of share price movements that investors might be getting nervous about the housing market. As the ...

Berkeley Group (BKG) AGM Report 2014

I attended the Annual General Meeting of housebuilders Berkeley Group today. This was at a hotel near the company's head office in deepest Surrey which did not please everyone it transpired but to which I had no objections. There were about 15 shareholders present and more questions than last year, when there were none apparently. The company issued an Interim Management Statement on the morning of the AGM, which the Chairman, Tony Pidgley, proceeded to read out in full. Here are just ...

ShareSoc News

Persimmon Voting Recommendations

PRESS RELEASE 92 27/03/2017 ShareSoc is opposed to the Remuneration Policy of Persimmon Plc. We therefore recommend VOTING AGAINST the Persimmon AGM resolutions as follows: Remuneration Policy (Resolution No. 2), Remuneration Report (No. 3), Remuneration Committee Chair Jonathan Davie (No. 8) and the 2017 Performance Share Plan (No. 14). How can the Remuneration Report almost completely ignore the existing LTIP awards? There is no mention of the £100 million share scheme for Persimmon CEO Fairburn in the new remuneration policy, other than to ...

ShareSoc Advises Investors to Vote Against Berkeley Remuneration Report

PRESS RELEASE 82 23/08/2016 ShareSoc (the UK Individual Shareholders Society) is advising its Members to vote against the Remuneration Report resolution at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of Berkeley Group Holdings Plc. ShareSoc considers: - The 2011 LTIP plan total payouts are likely to be more than £400 million and are excessive. The plan dilutes shareholders by 14%, even though awards were made towards the bottom of the cycle. The dilution should have been half of what was agreed. This is an unnecessary transfer ...

Corporate Remuneration Reports

Berkeley Remuneration Report

ShareSoc issued a press release advising members to vote against the remuneration report resolution at Berkeley . http://www.sharesoc.org/pr82-berkeley-remuneration.html Only 13% of shareholders voted against the remuneration report at the AGM. Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Director, attended the AGM and talked to the remuneration committee chairman Glyn Barker after the meeting. Cliff reports “ I explained ShareSoc point of view, that the 14% dilution is excessive and should have been half of this amount. Glyn Barker was appointed as a non-executive director in 2012 after ...