Company News

Pay at WPP

ShareSoc has issued a press release advising investors to vote against the Remuneration Report at WPP Plc. In particular we think the pay of CEO Sir Martin Sorrell is excessive (£70 million in 2015). See https://www.sharesoc.org/pr79-wpp-remuneration.html for the full press release. This is one of several advisory notices on pay we have issued to ShareSoc Members recently. The previous ones were on Reckitt Benckiser, Anglo American and BP. It is very clear that the reforms to tackle excessive pay introduced by Vince ...

The Restaurant Group AGM Report (RTN)

Today I attended the Annual General Meeting of The Restaurant Group for the first time - held in the City of London at 10.00 am. There were about 50 shareholders present which I was told was slightly more than normal, perhaps because the company seems to be in some turmoil after recent profit warnings and the abrupt departure of the finance director. From being one of those stock market growth stocks on high valuations (share price peaking at over 700p in ...

Alliance Trust AGM

I was unfortunately unable to travel to the Alliance Trust AGM in Dundee as I hoped to do because of a medical problem, but here is a report from Jim Cook: Alliance Trust 2016 AGM, Dundee, 6th May 2016 The AGM was well attended with around 300 shareholders represented. In his opening remarks Lord Smith explained why he had accepted the Chairmanship. Firstly, the company faced challenges.  Secondly, what needed to be done had been identified.  Thirdly, a plan was in place.  Lord ...

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 ...

Pay at Weir, Reckitt-Benckiser and WPP

Yesterday saw Weir Group Plc defeated on pay. Both the Remuneration Report and Remuneration Policy resolutions were lost with 73% and 70% of votes AGAINST them respectively. This is a very damning blow to this FTSE-250 company which makes pumps for the mining and oil markets. The company subsequently issued a grovelling apologia for the proposals they had tried to implement which included a "stock awards" scheme that was based on share price performance rather than more direct performance criteria (such as ...

ShareSoc slams LSE over AIM failures

ShareSoc slams London Stock Exchange over AIM failures - that was the title of a press release which ShareSoc has issued after the LSE Group's AGM which was held today - see https://www.sharesoc.org/pr76lseaim.html ShareSoc Director Mark Bentley spoke at the AGM and suggested that "AIM is full of dubious businesses led by dubious people". He asked them to do something about it. Perhaps the merger with the German Deutsche Boerse will mean the introduction of a more disciplined approach to some of ...

Atlantis Japan Growth Fund – Requisition to Restructure or Liquidate

Atlantis Japan Growth Fund (AJG) is a closed end investment company (i.e. like an investment trust) focussed on small Japanese companies. It has had disappointing performance in recent years, is trading on a significant discount to asset value, has low liquidity, and is now relatively small in size. Indeed the current market capitalisation is only £54 million which many people would consider unviable, as a result it has relatively high costs (2.47% On-Going Charge according to the AIC). The fund has ...

Sprue Aegis (SPRP) Business Review

The directors of Sprue Aegis have agreed to answer ShareSoc Members questions on Wednesday the 27th April following the recent trading statement (profit warning) and after the results announcement on the previous day. This event will commence at 6.00 pm and last approximately one hour. It will be at the office of Tavistock Communications at: 131 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1NT. If you plan to attend please tell us by using the ShareSoc Contact page here: Contact - mention “Sprue Aegis ...

Anglo American and Pay

Following ShareSoc's recommendation to vote against the Remuneration Report at Anglo American, yesterday the company received 42% of shareholders votes AGAINST it. Other advisory bodies also recommended opposition and this is a significant snub to the board which they will have to do something about. The ShareSoc press release we issued is here: https://www.sharesoc.org/pr74angloamercian.html The Investment Association which represents institutional investors has published a report which suggests that pay in public companies is "not fit for purpose" and needs reform. This has ...

Lakehouse, Stock Spirits and Sprue Aegis

I commented on the affairs of Lakehouse and Stock Spirits in the last ShareSoc newsletter. Both companies had been attacked by unhappy shareholders who had submitted requisitions to change certain directors, a process that seems to be becoming more common of late. Both situations have now to been resolved to a great extent. At Lakehouse the Chairman Chris Geoghegan is departing forthwith, with the three new directors proposed by the requistioners being appointed to the board as non-executive directors including founder Steve ...

Vote Against Remuneration at RELX

ShareSoc is advising its Members to vote against the Remuneration Report resolution at the RELX Annual General Meeting on 21 April 2016. ShareSoc consider the pay of the CEO...

Persimmon AGM and Remuneration

On the same day as BP held its Annual General Meeting (AGM), and got snubbed by shareholders over its Remuneration Report, house building company Persimmon held its AGM in York. One might have expected that Persimmon would also have been attacked for its remuneration scheme, for the reasons explained below, but in reality it passed with only 9% of votes against. Indeed there was more opposition to the election of a new non-executive director, Nigel Mills, who only passed with 53% ...