ANNUAL REPORTS

ANNUAL REPORTS & ACCOUNTS AND OTHER COMPANY INFORMATION

ShareSoc definitely recommends that shareholders in a company read its Annual Report – not necessarily all the detail but as much as necessary to get some understanding of the company’s situation.

Over 95% of ShareSoc members are happy to receive our newsletters in electronic form. Some read them “on-screen” while others print them out before reading (at less than twenty pages, this is not very costly). However, many members still prefer to receive Annual Reports in paper form. For large companies they can be more than 100 pages long and are not always well designed to print on a home computer printer. Reading a 100 page document on-screen is also rather tiresome, particularly as they are not designed to fit onto a normal screen size. If you have many stocks in your portfolio, it can also be costly to print all the Annual Reports – centralised printing is much cheaper and produces a much better quality document. In addition shareholders are not happy to have the cost of printing transferred from the company to themselves.

What is the Legal Position?

The distribution of Annual Reports is governed by the Companies Act 2006. Every company must send a copy of its annual Report and Accounts to all members (Clause 423). This can be either via post or electronically. An offence is committed by the company and its directors if they do not do so (Clause 425).

Paper or Electronic?

A company is permitted to send the Annual Report by electronic means if the member does not opt-in to receive a paper copy, and they must be given the opportunity to opt-in by being sent an appropriate form. This is normally done when a member becomes a shareholder and can be done at any later date in addition—if there is no response then the member is assumed to have consented to electronic delivery

Note that making a document available on a web site is deemed to be delivery if the company’s Articles permit that, and the company has notified the intended recipient of its availability and where it can be found. Best practice is of course to send a paper notice of the Annual General Meeting (including a proxy voting form), and a notice where the Annual Report can be found at the same time.

See Schedule 5 of the Companies Act for where these options are defined. The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) can also provide guidance on these matters.

Who is a Member?

Members of a company are the shareholders who are on the share register, i.e. those who hold their shares in certificated form or in a Personal Crest Account.

What About Nominee Accounts?

If you hold shares in a Nominee Account then you can still obtain Annual Reports in electronic or paper form, if your stockbroker requests them (for example, the Share Centre has systems to enable these to be supplied). But many brokers do not bother to support this.

Expense is Not an Excuse

Some companies argue that they cannot afford to print Annual Reports, but they only need to do so for those members who have opted-in for paper. And there is a clear legal obligation to do so for those who have.

Other Information

Interim reports are a different matter and many companies have now stopped printing those. They can of course be obtained, plus preliminary results and other announcements via a Regulatory News Service (see the Links page of the ShareSoc web site for sources of such news). Shareholders in a company should register with one of these services so they get sent all news published by the company as soon as it is issued via e-mail. Many companies also allow you to register to receive news on their web sites.

Group description:	Our group is interested in sustainable investing and our goal is to identify and evaluate businesses that will thrive through innovation and their transition to a ‘One Planet Economy’. By leveraging the skills of group members, we aim to deeply understand these businesses, particularly focusing on how they develop long-term valuable benefits for their customers. Each year, we plan to evaluate around seven businesses to identify opportunities where our valuation exceeds the market price. A successful outcome is defined as achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR), including dividends, of 10% over a decade.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a pub near to Waterloo station in London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are bi-monthly on a Monday from 10:45am to 4:30pm. Members are expected to also pay for their own lunch which secures the group free use of a private room in the pub. The cost is expected to be £35-40 per person, per meeting, in addition to your SIGnet membership fee.

Group description:	SIGnet Taunton is a new group with around 10 keen members at present, with a range of investment styles and experience. We welcome new members.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person meetings at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet on the first Monday of every month at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton, 11am until 3pm with a lunch break.

Group description:	An online group for those who are new to investing, or have only been investing for a few years. Including topics such as: – What is a share or a bond, why and how to buy them. – Comparing funds, unit trusts, Investment trusts and exchange traded funds. – Portfolio management and diversification. – ISAs, pensions, SIPPS and how to save tax. – How terms such as PE ratio and dividend yield are used to value a share. – How to use technical analysis or charting.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Monday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	An online group for those who already have some experience in investing. Covering topics such as finding companies to invest in, financial statements and ratios, valuation / margin of safety, analysis of companies and investment trusts and exchange traded funds.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	The Equity Income Group welcomes investors of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced. The focus of meetings is on dividend paying Investment Trusts, though there is also discussion around individual shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held every 6 weeks on a weekday between 7 and 8:30pm.

Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Open to all investors / people with an interest in investing. Typical meeting will involve members talking about recent purchases, successes, failures and possible future purchases. Also with occasional visiting speakers or members making presentations on a topic of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We aim to meet on the last Tuesday of each month in a private room at a pub in Playhatch. Start time 7pm with members encouraged to meet up around 6pm for a bite to eat / drink before hand, if their diaries allow.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	7pm on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings likely to last about two hours but with informal ‘overspill’ before / after.

Group description:	Our group members have wide ranging investment experience and work backgrounds. Discussion topics include reviewing our recent stock or collective investment buying and selling activity, plus what we are considering buying or selling and the reasons for our decisions. We also have a wider discussion on where we think opportunities might arise in the next few months and what we think needs to be avoided. Members occasionally lead discussions on specific topics such as recent events attended, articles or books of interest and sources of investment ideas and information.
Meeting Type/Venue:	During the pandemic our meetings were held on Zoom, but we have now resumed meeting in person at a location a few miles to the west of Colchester. Most meetings will now be in person, but it is possible that occasional meetings will be held on Zoom in special circumstances.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet midweek every two months. Zoom meetings run for about two hours from 10.30am and in person meetings from 11am until about 3pm, including a break for lunch.