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Closet index trackers – are you paying over the odds?

Organisation Better Finance, a representative body for European individual investors, have raised the issue of " closet index trackers" and their fund management charges. It is suggested that many funds who pretend to be "active" in nature (as opposed to simple index trackers or passive funds) are not in reality because they hold very much the same stocks as index funds. This means that their performance is very similar to index funds. However, they charge management fees that are more like ...

BP and Shell facing climate change resolutions

Both BP and Shell are likely to face resolutions at their next AGMs which will raise the issue of climate change. A coalition of investment groups including ShareAction and the Local Authority Pension Fund (LAPF) are looking for signatories to a requisition for a resolution to require more reporting by these companies on various aspects of their approach to carbon reduction and emissions management. See http://www.lapfforum.org/news/co-filers-sought-for-2015-shell-and-bp-agm-resolutions for more information. Comment: Some investors feel that the Annual Reports of such companies are already ...

AIM delistings – Security Research and Rethink

Delistings of AIM companies always distress investors. Out of the blue your shares in a company can drop in value very substantially, and you can be left holding an unsaleable stock. Two recent announcements of delistings have been Security Research (SRG) and Rethink (RTG). These are both companies with patchy trading histories and low market capitalisations (£9m and £5m respectively after the announcements). It requires a vote of 75% of shareholders to approve delisting. In the case of Security Research the General ...

ShareSoc Welcomes BG Group Decision but calls on Sir John Hood to Resign

ShareSoc is delighted by today’s news that BG Group has decided to withdraw the conditional share award that was proposed for new CEO Helge Lund. This is a good illustration of active shareholders being able to influence corporate policy and restrain abuses. However, today’s announcement, including acceptance by Mr Lund of the revised terms, clearly demonstrates that the original proposal was excessive and unwarranted. It is obvious that insufficient consultation with shareholders had been conducted before the proposed package was announced, as ...

Bradford & Bingley & Northern Rock Bond Tenders

Bradford & Bingley Plc have announced a new tender offer for the subordinated bonds. These are what were formerly called PIBS which were issued before the company converted to a bank. These bonds remained outstanding when the company was nationalised in 2008 and have continued to be listed and tradable. But the previous tender offers were not considered very generous, although the market price has been slowly recovering on the expectation that the mortgage assets of the company would exceed its ...