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Auditor Regulation and the dozy watchdogs

The Government has published a public consultation on Auditor Regulation. This is a discussion document in response to the requirements of a new European Directive on Audit, and your responses are invited. It's available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/auditor-regulation-effects-of-the-eu-and-wider-reforms although those who do not have a professional interest in the subject may find it heavy going. But it's worth repeating the first paragraph which is: "Effective financial reporting underpins the development of the best businesses - those that others are willing to invest in and ...

Royal Mail and Myners’ report on other Government sell-offs

The Government sell-off of a major stake in Royal Mail was controversial in many ways. It proved to be even more so when the placing price of £3.30 was rapidly eclipsed by a market price which rose to as high as £6 although it's been mostly downhill since (at the time of writing it's 420p). The long term holders who were given priority in the share allocation soon turned out to be anything but with 44% of the shares changing hands ...

Ignoring the UK Corporate Governance Code

Last week there were Annual General Meetings of the Baronsmead 1 and 2 VCTs (BDV and BVT) and the British Empire Securities and General Trust (BTEM) on the same day. These companies are all investment trusts although the latter is of course somewhat different in nature to the two Venture Capital Trusts. They do have one thing in common though - they both claim to be able to report against the AIC Corporate Governance Code rather than the UK Corporate Governance ...

Law suits – Quindell, Lloyds, RBS and SIPPs

Feel misled by the Quindell board and its advisors? Then there is a new legal action being formulated by Liverpool legal firm "Your Legal Friend". They already claim to have 250 investors interested in pursuing a claim on the basis that statements issued by the board and its advisors show that insufficient care had been taken in relation to the duty of care owed to investors.  At least that's a brief summary of the allegations - see their web site for ...

Two more AIM Exits – Ludorum and Armour Group

Two more departures from AIM were recently announced - Ludorum (LUD) and Armour Group (AMR). Ludorum have been developing a market for their animated children's TV series based on Chuggington trains and associated consumer products. But revenue has never really taken off as investors hoped. Along with the interim results announced on the 15th December (again somewhat disappointing), the company announced a proposed delisting from AIM.  These are the reasons given in the announcement: The factors taken into consideration by the Directors in ...