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Abcam, Voting and Non-Executives

I am a long-standing holder of Abcam (ABC) and have been very happy with my investment – a compound annual return of 33% p.a. since I first purchased the shares in 2006 according to ShareScope. But the notice of this year’s AGM (to be held in Cambridge as normal) has made me unhappy for other reasons. Firstly, I tried to vote. Rather than use the paper proxy voting form (I am on the register so I get one) I thought it would ...

A 6% Yield & Money Back in 2023, What’s Not to Like?

The answer to the question, in short, is "plenty" IMO. In this era of low interest rates, an investment offering a "guaranteed" 6% yield and return of capital after 6 years may seem appealing, superficially. Investors, however, need to dig a little deeper and examine the strength of that guarantee. This particular investment, being issued on behalf of Select Property Group, came to my attention as it is being offered by one of my brokers, YouInvest (and several other "intermediaries", including Saga Share ...

Performance Related Pay – Does it work? It Depends

Evidence from Compass-Capita-Comparison shows performance related pay can work - when measured over the long term. Since 2009, Compass has paid Richard Cousins, its CEO, £43m and Capita paid CEO Andy Parker £15m. According to my rough sums (which ignore the impact of the numbers of shares in issue and dividends and capital distributions), Compass added value of £19bn and Capita lost £1.2bn. They started at similar size £6bn and £5bn respectively. The FT story Richard Cousins steps down as Compass chief executive ...

Dual class share structures: threat or opportunity?

I was interested to read this article in the FT today. It reports that the Hong Kong stock exchange is once more contemplating whether to permit listed companies to have dual class share structures. The exchange has considered this topic several times previously and has historically rejected it and not permitted such structures. In the UK, there isn't an absolute ban but the practice is deprecated and very few companies have such structures, Schroders (SDR/SDRC) being a notable exception. OTOH in ...

Response to Financing Growth Review

The Government is currently consulting on “Financing Growth in Innovative Firms” (otherwise known as the Patient Capital Review). It covers the perceived problems in building world-beating companies from a small size in the UK, and the ways the Government provides support to early stage companies. That typically means the VCT, EIS and SEIS schemes with their associated tax reliefs and other possible “support” programmes where the Government funds them directly. Anyone who invests in this area, directly or indirectly, should respond to ...