Regulations and Law

White Paper idea re Financial Debt

This is a complex area. It would be good to hear your views and ideas. Please add them via the comments box below this blog. I was chatting on...

Shareholder Rights – Response from Kelly Tolhurst, BEIS Minister

There are continuing sign of progress on shareholder rights. The Law Commission Review is progressing and we have received the following letter from the Government. Corporate Responsibility Minister Kelly...

Change the Rules/Laws to Make it Easier to Prosecute Fraudsters

I was absolutely delighted to read that the SFO is at long last making the right noises. “End ‘antiquated’ fraud rules to make convictions easier”, says the new SFO...

Brexit and Why Shareholder Votes Matter

Last night Brexit got done. We exited the EU after 47 years. But we will need to resume the conversation to secure a trade deal. That still leaves room...

Shareholder Rights: Positive noises from Law Commission re nominees and Sirius problems

Our most important campaign is Shareholder Rights which relates to the current problems with nominee accounts. This is so important because it impacts all our other campaigns and work...

Draft Response and Petition on LSE Market Hours Consultation

Further to my earlier post on this subject, I have now drafted a response, on behalf of ShareSoc, which you can download here: Response to LSE Consultation on Market...

Serco Charges, Unilever Trading and DotDigital AGM

I like to report on the latest evidence of fraudulent accounting just to remind folks how little one can trust the accounts of companies. I have not mentioned Serco...

FRC Fines Grant Thornton £650k, Ted Baker and Tullow

A ShareSoc member emailed us to give his view: This is terrible. Why wouldn’t the FRC name the partner and the company involved, especially when Grant Thornton has been...

M&G Property Fund Closed and M&C Saatchi Accounting Problems

The really bad news yesterday for many investors was that the £2.5 billion M&G Property Portfolio Fund had been closed to redemptions. This is of course an open-ended fund...

The Political Manifestos and their Impacts on Investors

Here are some comments on the manifestos of the major political parties, now that they are all available. I focus on how they might affect investors. Most readers will...

Fevertree Fall, Trading Times and More on HBOS/Lloyds

Last week when I spoke at the Mello event I talked about my investment winners over the past few years. One of them was Fevertree (FEVR) but I was...

Lloyds Shareholders Lose Case

After many months of deliberation, a judge in the High Court has rejected the claims by former Lloyds TSB shareholders over the takeover of HBOS and recapitalisation of the...