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Elliott Raises Stake in Alliance Trust

Elliott Advisors have raised their stake in Alliance Trust to 14%. After a battle before the last Annual General Meeting of Alliance, the company effectively conceded defeat by appointing two new non-executive directors as suggested by Elliott. But the issues raised by Elliott of a high share price discount to net asset value, and long-standing poor performance have not gone away – the discount currently stands at about 12%, much higher than most generalist investment trusts. Indeed many trusts are now ...

Corbynomics, Director Remuneration and Voting

The media is full of analyses of late of the impact of the new Labour front bench and the policies of the key players such as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Business Secretary Angela Eagle. Mr McDonnell apparently advocates big increases in public spending, higher taxes on the wealthy, cancellation of the independence of the Bank of England and widespread nationalisations of energy companies and the railways. The Financial Times ran an editorial on 16/9/2015 suggesting that Mr McDonell's "cavalier disregard of ...

Hargreaves Lansdown and opaque accounts

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.), who claim to be the largest UK investment platform, announced their Preliminary Results yesterday (9/9/2015). I have made some comments recently about the benefits stockbrokers receive from client cash funds, and in particular the fact that dividends received by holders of nominee accounts are received and retained by the broker unless asked for, instead of being paid direct to the shareholder as happens when you are on the share register. So I thought it useful to look at ...

Amlin and Glencore – Market surprises, but not at Berkeley

This morning a takeover bid for insurer Amlin was announced by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. A cash offer of 670p which represents a premium of 34.5% to last nights closing price. With Amlin having been warning for some time about increased competition in the catastrophe insurance sector, this is surely a done deal assuming they can get over any regulatory hurdles. I was going to write that unlike many mega deals the news seemed not to have leaked out in advance, but it's ...

Private Individuals Own More of the Stock Market

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) have published their latest survey of share ownership in UK companies. Historically there has been a long term trend for individuals to own less as a proportion of the overall market. But the latest figures tell a different story. From historic lows of 10% in 2010 and 2012, the figures for 2014 show an increase to 12%. The proportion owned by the "Rest of the World" (which might also include some individuals) remains the highest at ...