ShareSoc News

ShareSoc Launches Campaign on Rensburg AIM VCT

PRESS RELEASE 12 (14/10/2011) ShareSoc (The UK Individual Shareholders Society) has launched its first campaign to obtain changes in a specific company – namely Rensburg AIM VCT. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have major tax advantages, and some VCTs have been very successful with total returns (net asset value plus dividends) of over 5% p.a. since launch, ignoring tax reliefs. However there are many that have been very disappointing. One of these is Rensburg AIM VCT which has achieved a total return of -1% ...

ShareSoc Launches a Proposal for Shareholder Committees In Response to Vince Cable’s Paper on Executive Remuneration

PRESS RELEASE 08 (20/09/2011) Vince Cable yesterday proposed that one way to bring Executive Remuneration to heel is to “diversify” Remuneration Committees by introducing independent members. There are potential legal problems with doing this, and the UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) suggests there is a much better solution that would also tackle a number of other issues with the governance of UK public companies. Our solution is the introduction of Shareholder Committees and we have today published a 17-page report on how they ...

ShareSoc Launches E-Petition to Ensure Nominee Account Shareholders are Enfranchised

PRESS RELEASE 11 (17/09/2011) There are major problems in attending or voting at General Meetings of companies if your shares are held in a nominee account. One of ShareSoc’s key manifesto aims is to reform the disenfranchisement of most nominee shareholders, and ensure that they receive full information about the companies they own, as other shareholders do. We have created an E-Petition under the new arrangements established by the Government to address this. The Government has made a commitment that any petition that receives ...

ShareSoc Recommends Shareholders Vote Against the Recapitalization Proposals for Healthcare Locums

PRESS RELEASE 10 (02/09/2011) Further to our previous press release on the subject of Healthcare Locums, the UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) has concluded that if the proposals to recapitalize the company are voted down, then it is likely that alternative proposals will be put forward that would be more advantageous to most shareholders. We previously criticised the proposals recommended to shareholders by the board because of the very substantial dilution of shareholders. Minority shareholders (such as the individual shareholders we represent) may ...

ShareSoc Publishes a Guide to Shareholder Activism

PRESS RELEASE 07 (25/07/2011) The UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) has published a guide on “How to Form and Run a Shareholder Action Group”. This is aimed at private investors who occasionally feel disgruntled about the actions of companies and their directors, but do not know how to complain. ShareSoc believes that shareholder activism should be encouraged. Improving the “engagement” of shareholders with the companies in which they own a stake has been encouraged by many commentators and activism is one form of ...

ShareSoc submitted a reponse to the Sharman Inquiry on “going concern and liquidity risks”

ShareSoc submitted a reponse to the Sharman Inquiry on "going concern and liquidity risks". It is in this document: Sharman_Response

ShareSoc responds to the Independent Commision on Banking with a submission in response to their Interim Report

ShareSoc responded to the Independent Commision on Banking with this submission in response to their Interim Report: ICB_Consultation_Response. In summary we agree with much of the report but are not in favour of a UK "retail ring-fence".

ShareSoc Launches a New Manifesto for Shareholders

PRESS RELEASE 06 (16/06/2011) The UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) has launched a new “Manifesto” which is a clear statement of what it will be promoting in future. It is aimed at tackling many of the faults in the existing operation and regulation of UK stock markets and businesses. For example it is generally recognised that the “engagement” of shareholders with the companies they own is inadequate. This has led to errant directors who seem sometimes to run companies in their own ...

ShareSoc Appoints Mark Bentley as a Director

PRESS RELEASE 05 (05/05/2011) The UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Bentley as a Director of the Society. Mark has extensive experience of stock market investment and will be initially assisting the board of ShareSoc on a project to improve the available information about AIM companies, their Nomads and Directors and the general legal and regulatory environment for listed companies. A brief biography of Mr Bentley is as follows: Mark Bentley, M.A. has been a full-time stock ...

ShareSoc supports the proposals advocated by Laxey Partners at Alliance Trust

PRESS RELEASE 04 (21/04/2011) The UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) has considered the issues raised by Laxey Partners in relation to Alliance Trust and the Resolutions proposed by them at the forthcoming AGM. We agree with the proposals by Laxey for the introduction of a Discount Control Mechanism (DCM) and the change to the voting arrangements for shares held in the Alliance Trust Savings Schemes. Our position is that we believe that it is not in shareholders’ interests to have a consistently wide ...

ShareSoc advocates Nomination Committees to improve Corporate Governance and Shareholder Engagement

PRESS RELEASE 03 (04/03/2011) The UK Individual Shareholder Society (ShareSoc) is throwing its weight behind proposals for the involvement of investors in the process that leads to the nomination of directors to the boards of companies. ShareSoc recently made a submission to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on the use of Nomination Committees to select auditors. In addition we would like to see this system also used for the appointment of directors and to set the remuneration of the directors. ShareSoc Chairman Roger Lawson ...

Acuity Growth VCT Shareholders urged to vote against reappointment of the Chairman and against the Remuneration Report

PRESS RELEASE 02 (25/02/2011) Shareholders in Acuity Growth VCT, with the support of ShareSoc, are calling for substantial changes to the board of the company. The final results for the financial year ending September 2010 were published on the 31st January 2011. These showed a 33% reduction in NAV and yet again, no dividend payment. This follows a similar dire performance in the previous year. The Directors of the company are now actively seeking a new investment manager. However this action is long ...