ShareSoc in the News

This page lists references to ShareSoc in the press and broadcast media.

Daily Mail, 26 Sep 2020, Boohoo Bosses Face Calls to Quit

Cliff Weight, the director of ShareSoc, said: 'It is undoubtedly shocking that these kind of third world factories exist in the UK. Mahmud Kamani needs to step aside whilst the board reviews his position.' https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-8774083/Boohoo-bosses-face-calls-quit-wake-sweat-shop-scandal-report.html This report highlights numerous concerns for investors, not least the way the AIM "Lite-touch" Regulation can lead to some governance disasters. Boohoo has only £900m of turnover but has a Mkt cap of  £4.71B and trades on a P/E ratio of 69.95. Shares this year have been highly volatile and hit a ...

Daily Mail, 29 Aug 2020, The Hut Group under fire over £4.5bn listing

Cliff Weight, ShareSoc director writes: I am quoted in the Daily Mail today questioning the corporate governance of The Hut: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-8675511/The-Hut-Group-fire-4-5bn-listing.html Cliff Weight, director of small investors' campaign group ShareSoc, said: 'This is awful corporate governance and I personally would be very wary. 'Share classes that give one type of shareholder more powers than another devalue the secondary class and are therefore undesirable. 'And a 'founder's share' which gives an individual exceptional powers is completely contrary to good corporate governance. Such rights seriously damage board ...

CityAM, 28 Aug 2020, Share and Share Alike: Electronically?

CityAM article on modernising share ownership https://www.cityam.com/share-and-share-alike-electronically/ quotes Cliff Weight, director of ShareSoc, the individual shareholders’ campaigning group, [who] is likeminded, preferring dividends to be paid directly into his bank or share-trading platform account. He is similarly in favour of the move towards digital systems for paper share certificates, albeit with an important caveat. “An electronic system is needed, but it must pass on my ownership rights to vote and receive information – far too many trading platforms fail to pass on these ...

International Financial Law Review, 13 Aug 2020, SRDII won’t be delayed

https://www.iflr.com/article/b1mxkgkglk3pkx/primer-shareholder-rights-directive-ii quoted ShareSoc, Better Finance and Cliff Weight extensively in its primer on SRD II implementation. It noted that: ...A second letter co-authored by shareholder rights advocate groups including ShareSoc, the UK Shareholders Association (UKSA), the European Federation of Investors, and Better Finance, argued “It is clear that the pandemic is being used as an excuse to further delay implementation,” the letter reads. “Intermediaries have not been proactive in facilitating voting and communication. At this stage, [they] should already have been prepared and ready to ...

FT, 7 Aug 2020, Will Digital AGMs Replace Meeting Directors Over a Prawn Sandwich?

The article https://www.ft.com/content/293817d5-4d70-44c6-bf49-148b2baff59f quoted ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee and ShareSoc Director Cliff Weight: ...For some investors, the reason to attend an AGM is in the chance to interact with a company in person, lost in a virtual world. “The value is in the margins, over coffee before and in the half-hour afterwards over a buffet lunch or another coffee,” says Lord John Lee, the private investor and FT columnist [and ShareSoc Patron]. “The board will always stay around for a period to ...

Daily Mail, 29 July 2020, ShareSoc Criticises Vodafone Decision to List £18bn Towers Business in Frankfurt

Daily Mail: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-8569181/Vodafone-shareholders-miss-Frankfurt-float.html Shareholder campaign group criticises Vodafone decision to list £18bn towers business in Frankfurt rather than London Sharesoc said the move would make UK private investors less likely to take part in the float, and give the towers firm access to a smaller pool of capital... ...Cliff Weight, director of Sharesoc, said: 'Vodafone's roots are in Britain and it has a large number of British shareholders. They would much rather have shares in a UK-listed firm and will be more cautious about ...

Teesside Gazette, 1 July 2020, Sirius Minerals Shareholders Call for Inquiry

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/sirius-minerals-shareholders-call-inquiry-18519344 quotes SiriusClaim Chairman Paul Anscombe in an article headed "Sirius Minerals shareholders call for inquiry after reports of minister's meeting with rival boss - Investors say they are still waiting for answers over why the Government refused to provide life-saving support" Paul Anscombe, chairman of the Sirius claim group, which is considering legal action on behalf of shareholders, said: “We would like to see a proper select committee inquiry into the process of Government support for Sirius Minerals and their application ...

FT, 11 June 2020, Coronavirus Casts Doubt on Future of AGMs

There is an excellent FT article on AGMs  https://www.ft.com/content/1209fa2f-30a9-4a16-bcee-65743814acc2 (11 June 2020) which quotes me in some detail: Cliff Weight, from the individual shareholders group ShareSoc, says he is concerned that some companies see AGMs as a “waste of time and unnecessary, apart from the formalities” required by law. He fears some will use the disruption caused by the pandemic to rubber stamp bad practices, such as by making it harder for investors to question the board. ShareSoc believes a move towards live AGM ...

FT, 26 May 2020, Fund Raises Now Include Retail

https://www.ft.com/content/edc6c95f-7ab8-42c3-ae50-9811c776221b . “This is brilliant,” says Cliff Weight, director of ShareSoc, a campaign group for small shareholders. “A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to explain why individual investors should not be shut out of fund raises. “I hope all companies will now follow their example and include individual investors in their fund raises.”  In a long article on fund raises, it was reported that Compass, the catering company, became the first main market business in the UK to include retail ...

Investors Chronicle, 14 May 2020, Watch what you’re being charged

This article https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/managing-your-money/2020/05/14/watch-what-you-re-being-charged/ quotes Cliff Weight and ShareSoc extensively. Cliff Weight, director at investor campaign group ShareSoc, says that although £195 sounds like a reasonable price for the administration of transferring stocks and closing an account, if a firm has good systems it doesn’t seem fair if this level of fee is charged for every account held by one person. “A client could notionally have five accounts, but it’s the same press of a button,” he argues. Lack of awareness Although Redmayne Bentley’s fees are not more punitive ...

FT 20 April 2020, AGMs in these Covid times – ShareAction

ShareAction has written to FTSE100 Chairs, concerned that two out of three FTSE100 annual general meetings (AGMs) announced so far are going behind closed doors, indicating a trend of shareholders being shut out in the context of Covid-19. Companies including BAE Systems, HSBC and Next are holding AGMs with two members of the board physically present, without giving shareholders the opportunity to participate virtually. In contrast, Taylor Wimpey, RBS and others have taken steps to ensure that shareholders are heard and answered ...

An Urgent Call to Include Individual Shareholders in New Issues – Sign Now!

Treat all shareholders fairly. There is no need to ignore individual shareholders in raising funds. Sign the petition now https://allinvestorsmatter.co.uk The Times reported today 20 April 2020 our letter (see https://allinvestorsmatter.co.uk/) which was co-signed by Mark Northway, Chairman of ShareSoc, our Patron Lord Lee (John Lee) , PrimaryBid and an impressive list of industry heavyweights. We have been working closely with PrimaryBid on this initiative. The Times article is here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/city-chiefs-demand-fair-shares-for-equity-raises-hr9fhzzb8 This is an urgent call for UK PLCs, industry bodies, regulators, investors, ...