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ShareSoc Blog

This blog gives you the latest topical news plus some informal comments on them from ShareSoc’s directors and other contributors. These are the personal comments of the authors and not necessarily the considered views of ShareSoc. The writers may hold shares in the companies mentioned. You can add your own comments on the blog posts, but note that ShareSoc reserves the right to remove or edit comments where they are inappropriate or defamatory.

There is more news given in the News page of our web site and more analysis of news is provided in our monthly newsletter for members – see the Newsletters page.

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VEIL or VNH?

  Vietnam Enterprise Investments opportunity On 13 March I listened to a very interesting webinar on Vietnam “Vietnam Enterprise Investments | Kepler Trust Intelligence Ideas for your ISA”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO694HbHyVI&t=42s . I visited Vietnam in 2019 on holiday and found it fascinating, so put a bit of money into Vietnam Holdings (VNH), which has given me a very good return of 103% so far. I bought some VEIL after the webinar. VEIL is on a discount of 20% which looks too high to me, given ...

Aviva’s Preference Share Offer: A Reasonable Offer, But Could It Be Better?

Introduction: A Second Bite at the Cherry On March 11, 2025, Aviva PLC announced a tender offer and a proposed cancellation of its 8.375% and 8.75% Cumulative Irredeemable Preference Shares. This follows a similar, and highly controversial, attempt in 2018, which was ultimately withdrawn after significant investor backlash. While this new offer is structured differently, and is undoubtedly an improvement on the 2018 proposal, it still raises important questions for individual investors, particularly those who rely on these shares for income. ShareSoc has ...

Suffering from the Disposition Effect? You Are Not Alone!

  "Run your winners and cut your losses" is one of Wall Street’s most enduring pieces of advice, championed by investment legends like Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett and consistent with academic studies of market momentum. Yet, despite the simplicity of this mantra and its undeniable economic rationality, research indicates that people often do the opposite. This tendency to sell winning investments too soon and retain losing holdings is so well-known that it has its own term – the disposition effect. The disposition ...

Last chance to join the RGL Woodford Group Litigation against Hargreaves Lansdown

30th April 2025 Deadline Announced Claims management firm RGL has announced a deadline for individuals to register their potential claims under the no-win-no-fee funding arrangement. Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Jeff Prestridge notes that the RGL claim is free to join, with RGL taking a share of the bounty only if the group claim is successful. It's time to make your mind up if you were a Hargreaves customer who invested in Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF). There are currently over 8,300 claimants on ...

SIGnet Investors Network Launches New Online National Group

SIGnet is excited to announce the launch of a new online group which Investors of all levels of experience are welcome to join. SIGnet is a national network of individual investor groups in the UK. Groups meet on a regular basis, typically monthly or every 6 weeks, to give individual investors the opportunity to socialise, discuss, and learn from each other. The main goal is to improve members' knowledge and investment decision-making processes through free discussion and mutual education. This new group will ...

Streamlining Electronic AGM Access

  In recent years, some platforms have improved the ease of shareholders attending AGMs in person, with ii and AJ Bell adopting the Broadridge service, which makes it easy to request a Letter of Representation for in-person attendance. However, gaining access to AGMs electronically is often still cumbersome for all concerned. This is particularly the case for AGMs held on the widely used Lumi platform. To gain access a code must be obtained, which is not a concept Broadridge currently supports. Codes are ...

AstraZeneca plc Information and Vote Guidance 2025

AGM: 11th April 2025 Proxy deadline: 9th April 2025 ShareSoc provide this added value voting information service for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Below are links to the: 1. Stockopedia summary report. 2. Minerva Vote recommendations for the 11th April 2025 AGM based on their standard template. 3. Minerva detailed research report for the AGM. Summary of voting issues at this year’s AGM  The Minerva report highlights various issues and recommends voting against three of the resolutions. Readers should make their own ...

SIGnet Investors Network Launches New Group in Windsor

SIGnet is excited to announce the launch of a new in-person group based in Windsor. Investors of all levels of experience are welcome to join.   SIGnet is a national network of individual investor groups in the UK. Groups meet on a regular basis, typically monthly or every 6 weeks, to give individual investors the opportunity to socialise, discuss, and learn from each other. The main goal is to improve members' knowledge and investment decision-making processes through free discussion and mutual education.  The aim ...

GUSBOURNE Case Study

Sparkling Product, Sour Investment   Gusbourne PLC (GUS), an AIM-listed producer of English sparkling wine, is a case study in how minority shareholders in small-cap companies can be severely disadvantaged. While the product itself may garner acclaim, the company's recent trajectory has left a bitter taste for many individual investors. Lord Ashcroft, Gusbourne's majority shareholder and primary debt holder, is moving to take the company private, leaving smaller shareholders with severely limited and unpalatable options. Gusbourne Share Price Performance A Precipitous Decline in Value The timeline of ...

Rio Tinto plc Information and Vote Guidance 2025

AGM: 3 April 2025 Proxy deadline: 1 April 2025 ShareSoc provide this added value voting information service for Full Members only, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Below are links to the: 1. Stockopedia summary report. 2. Minerva Vote recommendations for the 3rd April 2025 AGM based on their standard template. 3. Minerva detailed research report for the AGM. Summary of voting issues at this year’s AGM  The Minerva report highlights various issues and recommends voting against two of the resolutions. Readers should make their own voting decisions ...
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