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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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Abcam, Voting and Non-Executives

I am a long-standing holder of Abcam (ABC) and have been very happy with my investment – a compound annual return of 33% p.a. since I first purchased the shares in 2006 according to ShareScope. But the notice of this year’s AGM (to be held in Cambridge as normal) has made me unhappy for other reasons. Firstly, I tried to vote. Rather than use the paper proxy voting form (I am on the register so I get one) I thought it would ...

A 6% Yield & Money Back in 2023, What’s Not to Like?

The answer to the question, in short, is "plenty" IMO. In this era of low interest rates, an investment offering a "guaranteed" 6% yield and return of capital after 6 years may seem appealing, superficially. Investors, however, need to dig a little deeper and examine the strength of that guarantee. This particular investment, being issued on behalf of Select Property Group, came to my attention as it is being offered by one of my brokers, YouInvest (and several other "intermediaries", including Saga Share ...

Performance Related Pay – Does it work? It Depends

Evidence from Compass-Capita-Comparison shows performance related pay can work - when measured over the long term. Since 2009, Compass has paid Richard Cousins, its CEO, £43m and Capita paid CEO Andy Parker £15m. According to my rough sums (which ignore the impact of the numbers of shares in issue and dividends and capital distributions), Compass added value of £19bn and Capita lost £1.2bn. They started at similar size £6bn and £5bn respectively. The FT story Richard Cousins steps down as Compass chief executive ...

Dual class share structures: threat or opportunity?

I was interested to read this article in the FT today. It reports that the Hong Kong stock exchange is once more contemplating whether to permit listed companies to have dual class share structures. The exchange has considered this topic several times previously and has historically rejected it and not permitted such structures. In the UK, there isn't an absolute ban but the practice is deprecated and very few companies have such structures, Schroders (SDR/SDRC) being a notable exception. OTOH in ...

ShareSoc’s Response to Patient Capital Review

  On 1st August 2017 H.M. Treasury launched a consultation on the subject of financing growth in innovative firms (a.k.a. The Patient Capital Review), which can be found here. ShareSoc and UKSA submitted a joint response to this consultation on 22nd September: ShareSoc -UKSA Patient Capital Patient Capital Review - FINAL VERSION 20170924 Our response included the following comments: Individual shareholders are the archetypal long-term investors. They tend to invest for retirement, to fund care in later life and to pass on wealth to ...

Response to Financing Growth Review

The Government is currently consulting on “Financing Growth in Innovative Firms” (otherwise known as the Patient Capital Review). It covers the perceived problems in building world-beating companies from a small size in the UK, and the ways the Government provides support to early stage companies. That typically means the VCT, EIS and SEIS schemes with their associated tax reliefs and other possible “support” programmes where the Government funds them directly. Anyone who invests in this area, directly or indirectly, should respond to ...

Foresight 4 VCT – Big Changes Needed at the AGM

ShareSoc recommends that shareholders vote against the re-election of Raymond Abbott and Michael Gray and against the re-appointment of KPMG. (NOTE: If you have already voted in favour, its not too late to change your vote and resend your proxies. Additional form(s) of proxy may be obtained by contacting Computershare Investor Services plc on 0870 703 6385.) BACKGROUND OF FAILURE Foresight 4 VCT has a litany of past failures in investment performance and corporate governance. It made major £30m errors in several reserves in its accounts ...

Barclays Stockbroking Complaints

Several newspapers and on-line news services have reported this week on the debacle at Barclays. They launched a new “Smart Investor” site to replace their Barclayshare share trading service. The complaints range from failure to advise new account log-in details, support service uncontactable, old features missing (or perhaps simply moved elsewhere and not easily found in some cases), higher charges (fees restructured), to some account types or share holdings being no longer permitted. Barclays have integrated it with their on-line bank account ...

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the LSE’s AIM Rules Review

ShareSoc and UKSA’s joint response to the LSE’s AIM Notice 46 Click here for our response
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