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Link Asset Services

I have complained before about the services from the registrar Link Asset Services that frustrate shareholders from receiving a paper Annual Report and Proxy Voting Form. The latest example is on another company where Link sent a paper copy of the Annual Report out, and a Notice of the AGM, but no paper proxy voting form. They suggest in a covering letter that I can either vote on-line using their “share portal” or request a paper proxy form. For those of us who ...

Integrity and independence in the judiciary and the financial services industry: a comparative study

My thanks go to ShareSoc member Tony Johnson - for bringing to my attention, a recent lecture given to the Banking Standards Board by Sir Geoffrey  Vos, Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales. In the lecture, Sir Geoffrey considers the present state of integrity of our financial institutions and our judiciary.  For those with plenty of time, you can read the full script of his lecture here -  https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/chc-speech-banking-standards-board-lecture.pdf For those with less time, I summarise below :   Sir Geoffrey is well-qualified ...

GKN and Melrose – The Reality

Melrose has won the voting battle to take control of GKN although the Government might yet step in to halt the takeover. On what grounds is not exactly clear. Never having held shares in either company, I thought it worth looking at the facts rather than the hyperbole surrounding this deal as there seemed to be some myths being propagated. Is GKN a key business in the UK’s engineering and technology infrastructure based on a long history of innovation? Or is it ...

GKN – Melrose and the Sage of Omaha

A number of ShareSoc members have asked the ShareSoc Board for their recommendations for the GKN offer from Melrose. ShareSoc is not FCA registered and cannot give advice - and neither can I. Why have fund managers, who should be talking a long-term view, sold 25% of GKN to short-term opportunists? Why are 11% of Melrose shares shorted? Why has the Melrose share price not dropped hugely in the face of this short selling? The final offer is for 81p plus 1.69 Melrose ...

Aviva Preference Shares – FCA Announcement

Readers who take any notice of financial affairs will be aware of the furore over the threat by Aviva to redeem their preference shares by a “share cancellation” process – they claimed that is a different legal process, even though the shares were described as “irredeemable”. The shares concerned dropped in price to a significant extent because their high coupon interest rate meant they were trading at a premium when cancellation would have meant redemption at the original par value. Aviva ...