ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC (RR.)

ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC (RR.)

Blog posts

The Death of Coal Mining and the Nuclear Alternative

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Boris Johnson has said that the Glasgow climate deal is a "game-changing agreement" which sounds "the death knell for coal power". Let us hope so. My father worked down a pit in Nottinghamshire in his early life and was all for replacing coal power stations by nuclear power. Coal mining is not just a great creator of pollution but is also positively dangerous for the ...

Epidemic Over? Unable to Trade and Chrysalis VCT Wind-Up

Pandemic News The news that the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 appears to work (at least 90% of the time) and has no negative side effects gave stock markets a good dose of euphoria yesterday (9th November). It suggests that we might be able to return to a normal life in future, but exactly when is far from clear. Actually producing and distributing the vaccine is going to be a mammoth task and it is very clear that it will only be given ...

Pearson Pay Vote Lost

Shareholders in Pearson (PSON) yesterday rejected the Remuneration Report on a vote at the company's AGM. That was by 61% opposed to 32% supporting with 6% abstaining. But they approved the Remuneration Policy. Opposition to the Report seemed to be based on the fact that CEO John Fallon achieved a 20% rise in total pay despite a record loss and several profit warnings. However the share price rose on the day substantially by 12% perhaps because of a positive first quarter trading statement ...

Rolls-Royce – Audits Investigated and AGM

Yesterday (4/5/2017) I attended the Rolls-Royce (RR.) Annual General Meeting in Derby. In former years they used to hold the meetings in London but it’s been Nottingham and Derby...

Voting Your Shares – ISAs

One of our Members has responded to our previous note on voting your shares held in nominee accounts and in particular ISAs by saying that when he requested they submit votes on his Rolls-Royce shares the Idealing company said there would be a £30 administration charge for doing so. The ISA regulations make no provision for such a charge so I have advised that he should tell them this is illegal. Below is the relevant part of the ISA Regulations which some ...

Pay Revolts and Rolls-Royce Voting Recommendations

According to a number of press reports we seem to be heading into the AGM season with another year of pay revolts. There are also rumours that Mrs May is to proceed with introducing annual pay votes. Chris Cummings, CEO of the Investment Association, writing for the Guardian said "Too many people still feel they are not sharing this country's prosperity. Companies can either act responsibly now and shape a more responsible 21st-century corporate Britain or they can carry on as before ...

Rolls-Royce Bribery Settlement – Questions Worth Asking

On the 17th January aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce announced a settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), US Department of Justice (DoJ) and Brazilian authorities over past bribery and corruption...

Rolls-Royce Accounts Adjustments – Were They Prudent?

Rolls-Royce provided a trading update today, and covered the impact of IFRS 15 which is probably a lot more important. IFRS 15 is a new accounting standard concerning revenue recognition which will come into use in 2018. It will have a major impact on the figures reported by Rolls-Royce because of their past recognition of revenue and profits from long term maintenance contracts. For example, Rolls-Royce report that when looking at the 2015 accounts the "Changes result in adverse notional adjustments to ...

Bargains You Could Not Pick Up

As I predicted might happen in an earlier blog this morning, there was a panic when the market opened as the pound was already down substantially. But if you tried to pick up some bargains, it was damn difficult. Retail service providers who provide electronic quotes to brokers seemed to stop providing them, and just logging into some retail platforms proved very difficult. Even if you managed to log in, the service was so slow that it was impossible to do ...

Rolls-Royce and Voting Procedures

I published a report on the Rolls-Royce Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the last ShareSoc newsletter and also here. I wrote to the Chairman after the meeting complaining about...

Rolls-Royce and Other AGMs

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Rolls-Royce Plc - held at 11.00 in Nottingham (at a conference centre on the University Park). Why move the venue from London where it has been held since 2004? Probably to attract a more sympathetic audience of ex-employees I suspect. Shareholders in Rolls-Royce don't need to be told that this company is going through a rough patch. Profits in the last two years have been miniscule, the dividends have been cut and even revenue ...

Does Rolls-Royce need shaking up?

Does Rolls-Royce (RR.) need shaking up? Or more to the point perhaps, will they be following the disclosure that activist fund manager ValueAct has taken a 5% stake in the company, although their agenda is as yet unclear. On the 30th July Rolls-Royce issued their half-year results. Results were disappointing as expected. The order book was up, but underlying revenue was down and underlying profit before tax down by 32%. This is basically the same story as was evident at the full ...

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 ...

Change at the top at Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce (RR.) have announced the abrupt departure of CEO John Rishton, although apparently it was his desire to retire and "have a change of lifestyle" that prompted this rather than pressure from the board or from shareholders. It would appear he may not have been enjoying the job of late. After the dismal last set of results it is not a surprise. I commented then (in February) by saying "My view: it may be a great business with great products but ...

Rolls-Royce Results and a New Director

Rolls-Royce Plc published their full year results today (13/2/2015). How does this champion of British industry and one of the FTSE mega caps (market cap £17bn) now look? Like all such large companies one could spend hours analysing the accounts because the initial "headline" data provided by the company in the announcement tends to err on the positive side. So the "highlights" are given as "Record order book of £73.7bn (that's slightly up at 3% on the prior year), underlying revenue and ...

Rolls Royce – Jam tomorrow after all

Rolls Royce announced their full year results today and they were very good - underlying profit before tax up 23% and revenue up 27%. The order book also grew by 19%. But the share price promptly dropped by 15% in morning trading. The reason for the fall was simply that the adjusted earning were below expectations, and there were some very negative comments from the CEO about the expectations for 2014. To quote: "we expect a pause in our revenue and profit ...

AGM Reports

Rolls-Royce AGM Report 2017

Yesterday I attended the Rolls-Royce (RR.) Annual General Meeting in Derby. In former years they used to hold the meetings in London but it's been Nottingham and Derby the last couple of years. As a result, from talking to a few attendees it seemed to be mainly Rolls-Royce employees and retirees attending rather than the normal private investor crowd. The choice of venue may of course be deliberate so as to achieve a more sympathetic audience. But the story promoted by the ...

Rolls-Royce (RR.) AGM Report 2016

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Rolls-Royce Plc - held at 11.00 in Nottingham (at a conference centre on the University Park). This was certainly a good venue in some respects, and I was brought up just nearby in Chilwell so could stay with my brother overnight who still lives there. But other investors may have found it less convenient of course apart from some ex Rolls-Royce employees of which I suspect there were quite a number present. I ...

Rolls‐Royce (RR.) AGM May 2015

Rolls‐Royce (RR.) held their Annual General Meeting at the QEII Conference Centre in London on the 8th May. There were about 300 shareholders present I would guess. I commented very negatively on the preliminary results when they were issued in a blog post which you can read here for some background on the company: https://sharesoc.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/rolls‐royce‐results‐and‐a‐new‐director Subsequently the CEO, John Rishton, announced he was retiring to be succeeded by non‐executive director Warren East, but the former did the talking at this meeting. On the morning of the AGM the ...

Corporate Remuneration Reports

Rolls-Royce Remuneration Report 2017

Pay Revolts and Rolls-Royce Voting Recommendations According to a number of press reports we seem to be heading into the AGM season with another year of pay revolts. There are also rumours that Mrs May is to proceed with introducing annual pay votes. Chris Cummings, CEO of the Investment Association, writing for the Guardian said "Too many people still feel they are not sharing this country's prosperity. Companies can either act responsibly now and shape a more responsible 21st-century corporate Britain or they ...