Blog

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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ULS Technology, Keystone Law and Collusion on IPO Pricing

Yesterday I attended an interim results presentation by ULS Technology (ULS). They have been listed on AIM for a couple of years and have grown both from organic increases in revenue and from acquisitions which is often a good formula. They operate in the legal conveyancing and estate agency market where volumes have not been great of late – it seems house prices have made it difficult for folks to move plus changes to stamp duty and buy-to-let taxes have deterred ...

A Cautionary Tale from Paul Scott

City AM published an educational story last week which is worth repeating. It covered the investment record of Paul Scott who is very well known in the small cap investment world. He writes very perceptive, and quick, analyses of announcements by smaller companies for Stockopedia with a strong emphasis on the financial accounts. He trained as an accountant and worked for a retailing company as finance director for some years. He then became a professional investor – one might say living ...

FRC study: Risk and Viability Reporting

In July of this year, UKSA and ShareSoc members received an email inviting them to participate in a survey being run by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The survey was part of a wider study being carried out by the FRC into Risk and Viability Reporting. Over 190 members responded which was an excellent result. The FRC agreed that it would provide feedback for members on the results of the survey. This article from Patrick Leach at the FRC summarises the ...

Shareholder Rights – MoneyWeek article

Shareholder rights and in particular their erosion due to the nominee system are a big problem and one that both the UK Shareholders Association and ShareSoc campaign on (see our Shareholder Rights Campaign). It is hugely disappointing that HM Government has put this on the back burner due to prioritising Brexit and the Great Repeal Act. I would like to draw your attention to this article https://moneyweek.com/small-investors-voting-rights/ which includes comment from both the UK Shareholders Association and ShareSoc. My own comment in particular, ...

Chancellor’s Budget and How It Affects You

What follows is a summary of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget speech today, and the impact of the tax changes. Private investors were particularly concerned about the impact of tax reliefs in the VCT/EIS schemes following the Patient Capital Review but these are in fact relatively minor (see end of document). This is a summary of the key points he announced: The Chancellor said we are on the brink of a technological revolution, we must embrace it. Britain is at the forefront, but ...

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies and FRC Meetings

Yesterday I attended two meetings in the City of London. Here are brief reports on each. Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust Plc (SLS) held a meeting for investors to “meet the manager” in London as their AGM was in Edinburgh this year – only about 10 people attended the latter so there were more in London. I have held this trust for some years and the manager, Harry Nimmo, who has been with the company for 33 years has been a ...

VCTs and the Budget

It looks like VCTs have escaped, but there is some tightening of the qualifications. We will need to read this in detail to see the outcome. There has however...

The belly of the beast – Con Keating and the Investment Association

I am not a great fan of the Investment Association, the trade body that represents UK investment managers. Its 200 members collectively manage over £6.9 trillion on behalf of clients in the UK and around the world. Regular readers will recall my pleasure when Chris Sier was appointed to improve the disclosure of fund manager fees, https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/an-audience-with-chris-sier-the-fcas-new-pit-bull-on-fund-fees-20170804 and my displeasure when the Investment Association were asked by HM Government to maintain the naughty register of companies with more than 20% of their ...

Halma (HLMA) and Return on Capital

Recently, I talked about Diploma (DPLM) and their calculation of adjusted return on capital. This morning Halma (HLMA) published their half year results and they also have a strong emphasis on return on capital, but in this case they call it “ROTIC” (Return On Total Invested Capital). This was down slightly at 13.4% and they define it as Adjusted Profit After Tax divided by Total Invested Capital. The latter is shareholders funds, plus retirement benefit obligations, less deferred tax assets, plus ...

Diploma (DPLM) and Return on Capital

Diploma Plc, a supplier of specialist technical products, issued its preliminary results for the year to the end of September today (20/11/2017). This company may not be a household name and hence can fall under the radar of investors. But it has demonstrated a consistent track record in recent years. Today was no exception. Adjusted earning per share were up 19%, and revenue was up 18%, although a significant proportion of the improvement was down to currency movements (they are a ...
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