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Metro Bank, Improving Accounts, Patisserie, Telford Homes and GoCompare

Originally posted 28th February 2019 The latest example of a public company publishing misleading accounts is Metro Bank (MTRO). Both the FCA and PRA (the bank regulator) are looking into the “misclassification” of some loans which resulted in the bank overstating its regulatory capital. The result was that it has had to do an equity share issuance to bolster its capital. There was a very good letter to the FT today on the subject of improving accounting and audits from Tim Sutton. He ...

The Unstoppable Glacier of Government’s Concerted Actions?

By Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc We sometimes see things changing at a glacier-like pace. But once a glacier starts moving it has huge momentum and is unstoppable. My question is: is this metaphor applicable to the way Government is behaving with regard to business? The civil servants who drive Government policy transcend the short lives of Parliament. Taking this perspective what do we see? My take on this is as follows. The Financial Crisis terrified nearly everyone. We stared into the abyss. We were ...

Inconvenient AGM at Phoenix, Changes to “Going Concern” and GoCompare

I have been advised that life insurance and pension consolidator Phoenix Group (PHNX), a FTSE 250 company, is holding this year’s AGM in Edinburgh at 9.00 am. That’s a damn inconvenient time and location for most investors. Previous general meetings have been held in London where their registered office is located, although I am told that only one director and no shareholders turned up for the 2018 AGM. This is the explanation given by the company for the latest venue in the ...

TrakM8: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

My attention this morning was drawn by an RNS from TrakM8, a company I used to own shares in but, thankfully have not since 2017. TrakM8 has proved a pretty awful investment for its shareholders, with its share price declining by some 70% in the last year alone and by more than 90% since its peak in late 2015. This is on the back of disappointing revenue growth, declining profits and weak cashflow, ultimately necessitating placings at 65p in 2017 and at ...

Abcam Interims, Brexit Amusement and Superdry

Abcam (ABC) published their Interim Results this morning (4/3/2019). The share price promptly dropped 20% although it has recovered half of that at the time of writing. What was the reason for the price drop? A major profit warning, totally unexpected results or other issues? None that I could see. Before giving you my analysis, you may care to read what I said about the company after attending their last AGM – see https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/company-news/persimmon-departure-abcam-agm-and-over-boarding/ . I expressed concerns about the cost and ...