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Rensburg AIM VCT About Face on Wind-Up

Rensburg AIM VCT Plc have today (18/6/2015) announced that the circular giving details of the previously proposed wind-up of the company has been put on hold. They state that the previous announcements have "......acted as a catalyst to generate interest in the Company and several of the parties with whom the Board had held previous discussions have approached the Board with proposals which might prove to be more attractive than before". Maven Capital Partners, who had written to shareholders, is not ...

Rensburg AIM VCT Wind-up covered in the FT

There was an interesting article in the FTMoney edition yesterday (6/6/2015) on the proposed wind up of Rensburg AIM VCT Plc. The board of directors are pushing ahead with this proposal and a General Meeting to approve it is scheduled with the AGM on the 22nd July. The FT article by Adam Palin points out that anyone who claimed capital gains roll-over relief on their original investment in the VCT may not wish to support the wind-up. It quotes me (as a ...

Issuing More Shares in Investment Trusts – Finsbury Gr. & Inc. et al

Now that many investment trusts trade at a premium to their net assets value, it has become commonplace for them to issue more shares so as to "meet demand" as they tend to say. The latest example of this is at Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc (FGT) which is one of the better performing trusts. Other examples of those who do it regularly are City of London Investment Trust and City Merchants High Yield Trust. In the case of  Finsbury they ...

The Wonders of LTIPs, Pay at WPP and the Sprue Aegis AGM

Yesterday (3/6/2015), I attended the Annual General Meeting of Sprue Aegis (SPRP). Before discussing what was said at that meeting, it's worth reviewing a recently issued report by the High Pay Centre entitled "No Routine Riches".  It's a devastating critique of how the existing systems of "performance related pay" for directors has worked. To quote from the report: "We have looked at the growing complexity of awards that has pushed directors’ pay into the stratosphere, and found there is little discernible link ...

PLUS500 – the Last Word (Hopefully)

I have been meaning to write something on Plus500, an Israeli based provider of CFD trading, for some time. This may be the last opportunity. It is listed on AIM and was discussed at the last ShareSoc Masterclass in Peterborough, with different opinions on it from panel members. Today (1/6/2015) it has become the subject of an agreed cash offer from Playtech at 400p per share, which surely investors in the company will accept. They may be happy to get out ...