ShareSoc News

ShareSoc’s submission to the Parlimentary Treasury Select Committee inquiry into Corporate Governance and Remuneration

Our submission to the Parlimentary Treasury Select Committee inquiry into Corporate Governance and Remuneration in systemically important financial institutions is contained in this document: TSC_Submission

ShareSoc blasts £4m CEO pay at mid-cap oil company Premier Oil at today’s AGM

PRESS RELEASE 25 (18/05/2012) Premier Oil shareholder, and ShareSoc Director, Mark Bentley posed the following question at today’s Premier Oil AGM: “Firstly, I would like congratulate the remuneration committee on presenting a clear exposition of total director remuneration on page 73 of the annual report, despite needing 20 pages to explain director remuneration. However, I am concerned to observe that total pay for the 5 executive directors in 2011 was an extraordinary £13.2m, with the CEO receiving a package worth 183x the median ...

ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against the Changes Proposed to the Edinburgh US Tracker Trust

PRESS RELEASE 24 (09/05/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) is urging shareholders in Edinburgh US Tracker Trust to vote against the directors’ proposal to change this company from a tracker fund to an actively-managed fund, as it appears to be against the interests of the investors in this company. Edinburgh US is an investment trust that has been successfully tracking the American stock market (the US S&P 500 index) since 1997 at very low cost (total expenses of 0.38% a year*), and ...

ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against the “Exceptional Performance Incentive Plan” at Faroe Petroleum

PRESS RELEASE 23 (02/05/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) suggests that shareholders in Faroe Petroleum should vote against the new management incentive scheme. This scheme which is entitled the Exceptional Performance Incentive Plan (EPIP) will permit substantial grants of nil-cost options to senior executives, subject to certain performance conditions. The details of the performance conditions are complex but the prime requirement for full vesting is total shareholder return of 25% per annum over 3 years. ShareSoc suggests that a performance incentive scheme ...

ShareSoc suggests shareholders should consider very carefully the Offer for Lees Foods

PRESS RELEASE 22 (27/04/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) advises shareholders to look very carefully at the offer for Lees Foods. Lees Foods is proposing a recommended management buy-out of the company for a total of £5.6m via a scheme of arrangement. But many shareholders are displeased with the level of the offer. ShareSoc director David Stredder, a holder of shares in this company, was quoted extensively in the Scottish Herald and the Scotsman newspapers on this subject (Lees Foods is a ...

An additional response to The Kay Review

An additional response to the Kay Review covering the specific issues of shareholder enfranchisement and the AIM market has been submitted - see Kay Review 2. See below for our main response to the Kay Review.

ShareSoc’s Response to the “Shareholder Voting Rights” Consultation

Our response to the Shareholder Voting Rights Consultation is contained in this document: Shareholder_Voting_Rights. In summary we support the main proposals, would like to see binding votes on pay being "special" resolutions (I.e requiring a 75% majority in favour) and would like to see AIM companies covered by these regulations as well.

ShareSoc Recommends Voting Against Barclays Remuneration Report

PRESS RELEASE 21 (09/04/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) welcomes the call by PIRC (“Pensions Investments Research Consultants”) for shareholders to vote against the Remuneration Report at Barclays. We agree that the bonus and other pay arrangements for the CEO, Bob Diamond, and of the other senior executives are inappropriate. We therefore advise our members to vote against the Remuneration Report. Our stance is that the aggressive bonus arrangements at all banks should be restrained as they were one cause of the ...

Cable’s Pay Review – A good first step

PRESS RELEASE 20 (15/03/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) welcomes the publication by Vince Cable’s B.I.S. Department of proposals for shareholders to have more say in the remuneration of public company directors. We believe that the proposals for a forward looking binding vote on pay are essential and that the level of support for such a vote should be increased from the normal 50% to 75%, i.e. it should be made a special resolution to bring it into line with other important ...

ShareSoc Launches Attack on Unjustifiable LTIP Award at Intercede Group Plc

PRESS RELEASE 19 (12/03/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”), has launched a Shareholder Action Group in relation to Intercede Group Plc. Intercede announced a Long Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”) in August 2011. In the view of ShareSoc, and the shareholders whom we represent, this LTIP demonstrates many of the aspects that are abhorrent in the current system of remuneration in public companies. The problems are: The award of nominal cost share options (effectively free shares) which simply transfers a part of the value ...

Will Cameron Deliver on his Pay Promise?

PRESS RELEASE 17 (10/01/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) welcomes the commitment from David Cameron last Sunday that the Government is to tackle the problem of excessive remuneration in UK public companies A summary of what he said is given at the end of this press release, but it included a commitment to a binding vote on pay by shareholders, better reporting of actual pay and reform of remuneration committees. These are all measures that ShareSoc has advocated recently so it is ...

Conygar – A Good Example of What is Wrong with the Remuneration of Directors in Public Companies

PRESS RELEASE 16 (03/01/2012) ShareSoc (the “UK Individual Shareholders Society”) has been campaigning since it was created for reformation of the way directors of public companies are remunerated and how their pay is set. A good example of how directors can exploit the opportunities implicit in the present system is that of Conygar, an AIM listed property company. This is a relatively small company (net assets £158m at September 2011 year end) but where the directors paid themselves a total of £3.5m in ...