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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Unsatisfactory Avast AGM, and Designated Accounts

I “attended” the Avast (AVST) Annual General Meeting today. This was of course held on-line using Zoom with only one director in physical attendance (Warren Finegold) who chaired the meeting. Zoom seems to be becoming the de facto standard for on-line meetings. The Chairman of the company, John Schwarz, gave a brief presentation backed up by some slides. To summarise, it was another strong year of growth and profitability. A new CEO is now in place. EBITDA was up 8% with strong ...

Fund Charges – and Discounts

by Alan Reeder, ShareSoc member The thorny subject of Fund charges and discounts has been much discussed in the Press recently – along with the pros and cons of investing in Investment Trusts versus Funds. Amid all the discussions of where to invest, a factor often overlooked is the difference in Annual Management Charge (AMC) levied by the Fund Manager.  It is important to bear in mind that although this AMC can vary from one broking House to another – it is the ...

Press release 113 – Burford v London Stock Exchange legal case judgement implications

Press release 113 - Burford v London Stock Exchange legal case judgement implications ShareSoc: Regrets both the judgement and the basis for it as set out by the judge, and Laments the further erosion of confidence it will cause. Share Soc Director, Paul De Gruchy, said "Our survey highlighted the lack of confidence of individual investors of the AIM market and the way it is regulated by the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Ultra short term investors are extracting rent, risk free, from long term ...

Slave to the Algorithm: Burford and the Importance of Maintaining Confidence in a Broken System

On 1 October 2019 I wrote an article about Burford in which I said that their application to obtain, from the LSE, details of how trades in their shares were placed and then apparently cancelled last August was a rare opportunity to discover whether market manipulation is endemic on the LSE. It is important to highlight that this case is not about Burford, which has become a divisive company. It is nothing to do with whether the claims made by Muddy ...

Property Shares Spooked by Land Securities and Pets at Home Accounts Attacked

Land Securities Group (LAND) published their annual results yesterday. I don’t hold the stock but what they said seems to have spooked the whole property sector. The company is a large holder of both retail and office property. For retail property, only 38% of rents due were collected within 10 days of the due date in March. For offices it was better at 89% but that is still down from the prior year at the same time. What possibly really scared people ...

Investing for Income – More Than Just Seeking a High Yield

Vanishing Dividends Every week brings news of a major company cutting or suspending its dividend: this week, it was BT. For investors who rely upon dividends for income, the search for a reliable, sustainable dividend becomes ever harder. There are no shortage of commentators who believe that most companies should be putting dividends on hold now. Certainly, the story of Easyjet paying out significant dividends on the same day as it requested a bail out from the government struck many as irresponsible. When ...

How important is the Individual Shareholder to UK PLC in the current climate?

On Thursday 7 May 2020 The LSE and Primary Bid ran a webinar on How important is the Individual to UK PLC in the current climate? There was an impressive panel made up of: Gavin Oldham, Chairman - Share Centre Richard Wilson, CEO - interactive investor Angela Knight CBE Andy Edmond, CEO, Equity Development Marcus Stuttard, Head of UK Primary Markets and AIM - London Stock Exchange plc The Chairman was  James Deal, COO - PrimaryBid The topics  discussed were: The daily trading ...

Ocado Trading Update, Coronavius Apps, EMIS AGM, IDOX Pay, Segro Dividends

Ocado (OCDO) issued a trading update today, and it shows their joint retail venture with M&S is benefiting from the coronavirus epidemic. In the second quarter revenue was up 40% on the prior year. They have had to ramp up capacity significantly to meet this demand, and they have suspended delivery of mineral water so as to cope with the needs of additional households. The announcement gives the distinct impression that they need more warehouses (or CFCs as they call them). On ...

Nominees and Voting: Easy @ii

In respect of Interactive Investor the settings for getting the voting and information service are as below: The first step is to go into your account settings, the rightmost...

Justin King ex-Sainsburys CEO – Supermarket Supply Chains, Profits and Share Prices

In the present environment its useful to get some insights into what’s happening in the food retail sector and how it's impacting the major players. I came across this 10 minute interview with Justin King which was filmed at the end of March and thought it may be of interest to members. Justin King, Formerly CEO of Sainsbury's and now an advisor to Supermarket Income REIT (LON: SUPR), answers a series of questions for the investor community. Justin discusses the supermarket sector. ...
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