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Abcam to Delist from AIM and Victoria Webinar

Post Date: July 22, 2022

The views expressed in this article are those of its author and don't necessarily reflect those of ShareSoc. Abcam Delisting from AIM Biotechnology company Abcam (ABC) is one of the largest AIM listed companies (market cap £2.7 billion). Yesterday (20/7/2022) they included in a trading update a statement that they are planning to cancel the admission of their shares on AIM. They previously moved to list their shares also on Nasdaq so they are currently dual-listed. This means they have already lost the ...

Victoria and Downing One VCT Annual Reports, and Rio Tinto Mea Culpa

Post Date: August 24, 2020

With it being all quiet on the financial front, with a lot of people on holiday, I had the time to read a couple of Annual Reports over the weekend. First came Victoria (VCP), a producer of flooring products (carpets and tiles) in which I have a relatively small holding. Chairman Geoff Wilding always has some interesting things to say and their Annual Report is an exemplary model of shareholder enlightenment. He commences with this statement: “There is an old Yiddish adage ...

De La Rue, Excessive Debt, Victoria and Link’s Debt Monitor

Post Date: November 29, 2019

Link Asset Services have issued a note pointing out that De La Rue (DLAR) has net debt that now exceeds its market cap. The high debt in the company...

Victoria AGM, Dunelm Results and Brexit Impacts

Post Date: September 4, 2019

I attended the Annual General Meeting of Victoria (VCP) in central London yesterday. I have held a few shares in this producer of carpets and tiles since the revolution...

Brexit, Abcam, Victoria and the Beaufort Case

Post Date: September 11, 2018

Another bad day for my portfolio yesterday after a week of bad days last week when I was on holiday. Some of the problems relate to the rise in the pound based on suggestions by Michel Barnier that there might actually be a settlement of Brexit along the lines proposed by Theresa May. This has hit all the companies with lots of exports and investment trusts with big holdings in dollar investments that comprise much of my portfolio. But a really ...

Kentz, Victoria, AstraZeneca, and SSE

Post Date: June 23, 2014

A number of companies on which ShareSoc has commented recently were in the news today (23/6/2014) or over the preceding weekend. Let's cover each in turn: Kentz Kentz received a cash offer for the company of 935p from SNC-Lavalin this morning. That's a premium of 33% to the recent share price. With such a premium and the stated support for the offer from the directors, it looks likely to succeed. This will avoid the directors of Kentz having to deal with the ...

Victoria AGM Report Summary – Chickens home to roost

Post Date: September 25, 2013

After last year’s battles for control of this company, yesterday’s Annual General Meeting was a tepid affair (see past ShareSoc press releases and AGM Forum reports for more information on the past fights). Apart from the depressed state of the retail carpet sector, the wholly unnecessary exceptional costs incurred in that battle, and the subsequent restructuring of the business (which was long overdue in my opinion) resulted in an overall loss of £2.7m for the year ending March 2013. Revenue fell from ...

AGM Reports

Victoria (VCP) AGM Report 2013

Post Date: September 25, 2013

I attended the Annual General Meeting of Victoria yesterday in Kidderminster. This carpet manufacturer was the scene of a battle last year between major shareholders who wanted to change the board, and the “old guard”. The former eventually won after a series of general meetings. You can read the full story in various press releases that ShareSoc issued at the time, plus reports on previous meetings on this page. Apart from the depressed state of the retail carpet sector, the wholly unnecessary ...

AGM Date: September 24, 2013 Author: Roger Lawson Read more

Victoria General Meeting (VCP) 2012 – A decisive victory for the concert party

Post Date: October 4, 2012

This is an expanded version of the initial ShareSoc blog report on the Victoria General Meeting held on the 3rd October. The Victoria General Meeting in Birmingham would have been livelier but for the fact that the votes received before the meeting were displayed on a screen as the meeting commenced (not best practice of course, as it tends to affect the vote subsequently taken, but the poll results were even more explicit). This made it clear that the outcome was a ...

AGM Date: October 3, 2012 Author: Roger Lawson Read more

Victoria (VCT) AGM Report 2012 – an activist shareholder concert party in motion

Post Date: September 1, 2012

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Victoria Plc. Bearing in mind the recent events at this company, I expected it to be a lively affair and so it turned out to be. With another General Meeting having been requisitioned to remove some of the directors and add others which will take place probably in early October, one could perceive this meeting to be simply a preamble to the main fight. But the arguments were well rehearsed at this one. Background It’s best to give some ...

AGM Date: August 31, 2012 Author: Roger Lawson Read more

ShareSoc News

ShareSoc Issues New Recommendations for voting at the prospective Victoria Plc General Meeting

Post Date: September 18, 2012

PRESS RELEASE 35 (18/09/2012) On the 28th August, ShareSoc issued voting recommendations for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Victoria Plc on the 31st August. We suggested shareholders should support the existing board based on what the company had stated concerning the past proposals from the “Concert Party” of Alexander Anton, Geoff Wilding, New Fortress Finance and other members of the Anton family. But a number of directors were removed at the AGM as more votes were submitted against their re-election than ...

ShareSoc Recommends Shareholders Support the Existing Board at Victoria

Post Date: August 28, 2012

PRESS RELEASE 34 (28/08/2012) Bearing in mind the dispute between shareholders at Victoria Plc, ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”), has considered the issues raised and recommends that shareholders support the stance of the existing board of directors and vote accordingly at the forthcoming General Meetings. According to the announcement made by the company on the 23rd August, the latest dispute has arisen because the “Former Directors” (Geoff Wilding, Alexander Anton and Sir Bryan Nicholson), who were all non-executive directors, proposed that an ...

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