ShareSoc News

Investment Trusts – Update on Progress

ShareSoc News Item: Below is an article from guest contributor Annabel Brodie-Smith, who is the Communications Director at the AIC. Investment Trusts are a very important part of investing, with AUM of £250 billion. They are arguably better, and better value, than funds. For new investors half a dozen investments trusts or passive ETFs or a mix of both are arguably the best way to start on your investment journey. Most sophisticated investors have at least part of their wealth invested in ...

Final Step in Integrating SIGnet with ShareSoc

The final step in completing SIGnet's merger with ShareSoc is to create a new website for SIGnet. To facilitate this we have made some changes to the ShareSoc website and its menu system - including links to where the new SIGnet website resides. That new website is currently under construction, with some pages incomplete or not yet created. Until it is complete, please refer to SIGnet's current website at http://www.signet.org.uk/ for further information about SIGnet. When the new site is complete, that ...

Woodford Campaign Update 5
19 May 2021

1. Leigh Day, whose claim ShareSoc has endorsed, submitted their Letter Before Action (LBA) to Link in March and are still awaiting a response. Leigh Day are preparing assiduously for all eventualities re claim vs Link. 2. We urge everyone to tell their Friends and Family about the Campaign, Leigh Day Claim and the webinar. Around 500,000 may be eligible to claim, but so far less than 5% have done so. Please spread the word! Potentially claimants can recover up to 70% ...

Sirius Minerals Update #14

News Item Sirius Minerals: Following the update in December, the Sirius Claim Group has continued its work to collate and present information to support any potential claim(s). This reached an initial conclusion and since April we have been engaged with a legal firm to review the potential. This process involves a number of stages and will naturally take an amount of time. It may also require us to review the information with more than one legal firm to achieve the desired outcome which ...

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update to 30 April 2021

In April 2021, we worked on: Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day are the only claim with insurance and funding in place. Harcus Parker have funding but do not have ATE insurance. RGL have neither insurance nor funding (other than funding for an initial step). Leigh Day (whose claim ShareSoc have endorsed) now have c 10,000 claimants registered and are the leading claim. Sirius Minerals Shareholder Group, Sirius Claim Group: A 20 page review of the evidence was finalised in April ...

The SFO Needs You! [If You Held Shares in Patisserie Valerie]

The SFO has recently been in touch with registered shareholders of Patisserie Valerie (CAKE). But if, like most shareholders, your shares were held in a nominee account, they probably won't have been able to contact you. They are asking for shareholders to complete a questionnaire to assist them with their enquiries into allegations of fraud at that company. You can find full details and the questionnaire here: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/patisserie-holdings-plc/ Mark Bentley, Director, ShareSoc

End of Life for Previous ShareSoc Members’ Network

It is now more than a year since we released a major upgrade to ShareSoc's website, fully described here: https://www.sharesoc.org/sharesoc-news/sharesoc-website-upgrade/. A key aspect of this upgrade was the integration of forum functionality previously provided by our separate members' network website. That website is based on the Ning software service. As our new forums have now been operating successfully for more than a year, we intend to discontinue the old Ning site within the next month. Before the transition recent/important content was migrated ...

Woodford Webinar questions answered

ShareSoc News Item by Cliff Weight, Director At the 9 March 2021 Woodford webinar, there were over 100 questions from the 947 people registered. Many were answered on the night. Leigh Day have now produced answers to the unanswered questions which are conveniently grouped into 7 different themes. Mello Woodford webinar - questions and Leigh Day responses final (07-04-2021)  

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update 31 March 2021

In February and March 2021, we worked on: 1.             Woodford Campaign: Leigh Day now have their funding and insurance in place and have submitted their letter before action (LBA). 947 people registered for the joint ShareSoc/Mello event on 9th March which went well with much very positive feedback. 2.             Sirius Minerals Shareholder Group: We continue to review the evidence and hope to move to the next stage soon. 3.             Voting Guidance and Shareholder engagement: We continue to test our new ideas with a pilot ...

VCT INVESTORS GROUP Update and report on 23 March 2021 webinar

ShareSoc News Item by Cliff Weight, Director 117 people registered for our 23 March 2021 webinar and at least 94 attended, much higher than the 26 the previous year at the East India Club. The organisers received much positive feedback, for which they are grateful, and indicates that similar future events should be planned. At the webinar: Cliff Weight did a brief introduction of why the VCT Investors Group was formed and why it exists – to lobby on poor performance, poor ...

Improve Access for Retail Shareholders

Give Growing Companies Better Access to Retail Shareholders to Boost the UK Economy ShareSoc News Item by Mike Dennis, Director A recent survey1 of ShareSoc members was undertaken in conjunction with Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) and it has revealed that many individual investors do not feel they have good, equal access to growth stocks. Key findings of the survey1 55% of individual investors polled feel they don’t have, or aren’t sure they have, good access to growth companies Over 80% of respondents feel individual ...

FRC webinars re audit reform

Following publication of the Government’s consultation Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance the FRC will be hosting a series of webinars and roundtables to provide further insight on key aspects of the consultation and to provide interested stakeholders with an opportunity to share their views and comment on the government’s proposals.   Further details about how to participate in the FRC’s extensive engagement programme is available here. The FRC have organised a series of webinars for those interested in the Government's latest consultation ...