ShareSoc News

Royal Bank of Scotland AGM Voting Recommendations from ShareSoc

PRESS RELEASE 93 11/04/2017 ShareSoc recommends voting against the following resolutions at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of RBS: 2 Remuneration Policy, 3 Remuneration Report, 4 Chairman Howard Davies, 12 NED Penny Hughes and 24 General Meetings at 14 day notice. RBS have continued to resist our request for a shareholders’ resolution to be put to the AGM for the establishment of a Shareholder Committee, and have steadfastly refused to share their legal opinion. We consider the behaviour of the RBS board in ...

FSCS Consultation Response

ShareSoc responded to the FCA's consultation on funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) with this note: FSCS-Funding

Response to the FCA’s consultation on funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

ShareSoc responded to the FCA’s consultation on funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) with this note: FSCS-Funding

Persimmon Voting Recommendations

PRESS RELEASE 92 27/03/2017 ShareSoc is opposed to the Remuneration Policy of Persimmon Plc. We therefore recommend VOTING AGAINST the Persimmon AGM resolutions as follows: Remuneration Policy (Resolution No. 2), Remuneration Report (No. 3), Remuneration Committee Chair Jonathan Davie (No. 8) and the 2017 Performance Share Plan (No. 14). How can the Remuneration Report almost completely ignore the existing LTIP awards? There is no mention of the £100 million share scheme for Persimmon CEO Fairburn in the new remuneration policy, other than to ...

Double Taxation and Broken Promises

PRESS RELEASE 91 21/03/2017 The most recent changes to dividend taxation in the Chancellors Spring Budget are a major attack on private investors. The simple change to reduce the Dividend Tax Allowance from £5,000 to £2,000 only a year after it was introduced will have a big impact on the tax paid by many investors. It's also another example of a broken promise about "no increases in taxes" made in the Conservative manifesto. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has already had to back-track ...

Response to Consultation on Enhancing conduct of business rules for firms providing contract for difference products

ShareSoc responded to the FCA’s consultation on business rules for firms providing contract for difference (CFD) products with this note: CFD-Response

Alliance Trust Vote – A Victory for Private Investors and ShareSoc

PRESS RELEASE 90 01/03/2017 Yesterday Alliance Trust shareholders voted to support the Board's proposals to change the investment management arrangements and to buy out Elliot. This is surely a major win for private investors and for the stance taken by ShareSoc and the Alliance Trust Shareholder Action Group (ATSAG) which ShareSoc has supported over the last 3 years. ShareSoc wholeheartedly backed the Board's proposals. Alliance Trust can now move forward. But it was a close run thing as proxy advisory services who advise ...

Response to the Asset Management Market Study

ShareSoc submitted the following comments to the FCA on the Asset Management Market Study - Interim Report: Asset-Management-Study

ShareSoc Issues Response to Green Paper on Corporate Governance Reform

PRESS RELEASE 89 20/02/2017 How to fix the ills of the UK Corporate Governance scene? ShareSoc and UKSA have given their solutions in a response to the Government Green Paper on Corporate Governance Reform. We have emphasised that the following are the key issues: 1. Engagement between shareholders and companies is not working. Shareholders are not exercising effective stewardship and control, and boards are failing to fulfil their fiduciary obligations to members. As a result, public trust in business is low. This is ...

Alliance Trust Voting Recommendations

PRESS RELEASE 88 17/02/2017 Alliance Trust have convened a General Meeting on the 28th February. It includes 4 resolutions covering the change in investment approach and the proposed share buy back of shares held by Elliott. Our recommendation is that shareholders vote "FOR" all the resolutions. ShareSoc is issuing this press release because we understand that some institutional investor advisory services have expressed some concerns about the proposals. The Alliance Trust Shareholder Action Group which has been supported by ShareSoc is satisfied that the new ...