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The VCT Investors Group Campaign

A university academic has just joined the VCT Investors Group and he emailed me with this interesting story and commentary, which other readers might find of interest…. As you...

Property Companies and TR Property AGM

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of TR Property Investment Trust (TRY). I have held shares in this company for a long time, and it’s always useful to attend their AGM as you get a useful update on trends in the property market from the fund manager (Marcus Phayre-Mudge of late). As he mentioned, the fact that they hold property directly, as well as holding shares in property companies gives them a unique insight into the state of the market. Apart ...

AIM Rules Review

The London Stock Exchange have published a document entitled “AIM Rules Review”. ShareSoc, including me personally, have criticised the LSE in the past for poor regulation of the AIM market. Many investors view it as a casino because of the numerous problems of fraud, poor disclosures, many delistings or simple bankruptcies in AIM companies. See the ShareSoc campaign page here for more information: https://www.sharesoc.org/campaigns/campaign-improve-aim-market/  As you can see we made a number of recommendations on how to improve the AIM market, and ...

TD Direct & the FCA – Update

There have been further developments since my original blog post, on the topic of changes to TD Direct's client monies policy, which cause me to re-examine the issue and its implications. Firstly, I am pleased that Interactive Investor, TD Direct's new owner, have responded to my post, as follows: Interactive Investor’s primary responsibility is the security of a client’s data, cash and assets. Current FCA rules state that client money must not be placed out on unbreakable deposits of more than 30 days. ...

Help Improve Annual Reports

As the leading organisation representing individual investors, ShareSoc is called upon by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), to assist with their research on investor requirements. The FRC is the official body tasked with supervising the accounting profession in the UK, setting accounting standards and codes of practice for corporate governance. Their Financial Reporting Lab has asked for our help in obtaining feedback from our members in its project to research the usefulness of the current "principal risk and viability disclosures" in the ...