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Charles Stanley loses Finance Director

Charles Stanley announced yesterday (9/1/2014) that its Finance Director James Rawlingson was "leaving with immediate effect".  This follows the appointment of a new CEO in December after the publication of a dire set of half year results at the end of November. Funds under management were static and revenue from the Financial Services Division and platform Charles Stanley Direct were up substantially but higher costs resulted in a loss before tax of £3.9 million. The dividend was maintained at the half ...

Lloyds Banking Group ECN Scandal

Lloyds Bank issued Enhanced Capital Notes (ECNs) as part of its refinancing during the banking crisis. These were taken up by many retail investors. They were convertible bonds that the bank has the right to convert to equity or buy back if its core capital falls below a certain level. During recent Bank of England stress test, regulators ruled that the bonds no longer constituted part of the bank’s capital, triggering the possibility of redemption which Lloyds Bank is proposing to ...

A YouTube video on shareholder rights

The latest initiative in the ShareSoc campaign to improve shareholder rights is a video. In it I explain why shareholder democracy is important and how it has been totally undermined by the nominee system now in general use. Instead of you acquiring the rights of an owner of the business when you buy shares, those rights have been diverted and purloined by the nominee operator or stockbroker. This is simply wrong! That is why ShareSoc has been campaigning for change under the ...

2014 Review and New Year Resolutions

Now's the time of year to look back on the performance of the stock market in 2014, and look at plans for the future. Last year was undoubtedly a disappointing year for the UK stock market. The FTSE All-Share index was down 2.45%, worse than many other major markets. The cause was undoubtedly that the All-Share index is dominated by large mega-cap FTSE-100 companies such as BP, Shell, Glaxo and Tesco. The first two have been badly hit by the decline ...

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 ...