UKSA News

UKSA Press Release: UK Shareholders' Association enters debate on CGT proposals. May 2010. A copy of the press release can be found here. UKSA has entered the debate over coalition government proposals to boost its income from capital gains tax.

UKSA Press Release: Financial Services Bill fails to meet public education needs. February 2010. A copy of the press release can be found here. UKSA calls for a radical rethink of the way governments should promote public understanding of how individuals should manage their personal savings and investments.

Bradford and Bingley Investor Action Group makes submission to Peter Clokey, the independent valuer appointed by the Treasury. February 2010. A copy of the submission can be found here and the press release here. The submission claims that the "nationalisation was unnecessary and destroyed a well capitalised and solvent bank".

UKSA publishes manifesto. January 2010 A booklet entitled "Responsible investing - for the Individual and for Society" was published by UKSA at the beginning of 2010. This has been widely welcomed in the press, who have commended it for the attention of all political parties as they develop their own policies in the run up to the election. A pdf version will be available on this web site in early February 2010, but in the meantime, please contact our office.

Artemis VCT Campaign Success Update. January 2010 UKSA sent the following letter to all shareholders via email in January 2010 Campaign Success Update

Lloyds Rights Issue Voting and Take-up. January 2010 The following note was issued about the rights issue voting and take-up and Lloyds job cuts. HBOS investigation and secret loans to HBOS. Campaign legal action status and fund raising: Update 7

Report on Lloyds Shareholders Meeting. 1/11/2009. A report on the Lloyds Shareholder Meeting held in London on the 31st October is present on this web page: Lloyds_Meeting. Copies of the presentations given there and also on "Shareholder Activism in the Banking Sector" are available from that web page.

Call to Protect Savers from Inflation. 19/10/2009. UKSA's Chairman has written to Chancellor Alistair Darling calling on him to protect savers from inflation. See this press release for more details: Press090

Not one British saver has lost a single penny. 1/10/2009. Some comments on Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour Party conference were issued in this press release: Press089

Forthcoming Events. 22/8/2009. There are several events coming up in which UKSA is involved. This includes a meeting for Bradford & Bingley Shareholders on 10th October in London- see B&B_Meeting for more information. Soon after on the 30th/31st October we are exhibiting at the MONEYSHOW at the QEII Conference Centre in London - click on Moneyshow for more information or to Register for free. Note that this event includes a special meeting for Lloyds shareholders on Saturday 31st Oct at 11.0 am and a presentation by Roger Lawson on "Shareholder Activism in the Banking Sector" at 2.0 pm on the same day.

West Bromwich B.S. - Public Meeting. 20/8/2009. UKSA is holding a public meeting for the holders of West Bromwich Building Society PIBS on the 5th September. See this press release for more information: Press087 or go to this page for more background information: WestBromwichBS . A subsequent report on this meeting and the Society's meeting on the previous day is given in this note: Update_2

Artemis VCT Campaign Launched. 8/8/2009. UKSA has commenced a campaign to change the new management fee arrangements at Artemis VCT Plc - see ArtemisVCT for more information.

Spark Ventures Restructuring Proposals. 3/8/2009. UKSA issued the following comments on the proposals for Spark Ventures Plc: Spark_Ventures_Release

Northern Rock Appeal Rejected. 28/7/2009. The appeal of the Northern Rock Judicial Review was refused by the Appeal Court. See this page for more information: NorthernRock

Walker Review Misses the Governance Point. 20/7/2009. The following press release was issued by UKSA following publication of the Walker Review of corporate governance in the banking and financial sectors: Press086

West Bromwich Building Society PIBS. 9/7/2009. This press release was issued following the announcement of a financial restructuring by the West Bromwich BS which adversely affects the PIBS holders: Press085 . Go to this page for more details: WestBromwichBS

Northern Rock Appeal Hearing. 10/6/2009. The following press release was issued concerning the appeal of the judicial review on the claim by Northern Rock shareholders for fair compensation: Press084. A report on the appeal hearing appears on this page: Judicial_Review_Appeal

Government Defaults on Bradford & Bingley Bonds. 1/6/2009. Bradford & Bingley has announced they are not going to pay interest on their subordinated bonds when the next payment becomes due. UKSA issued this press release commenting on the position of the holders of these bonds (formerly called PIBS): Press083

Lloyds Bank and Sir Victor Blank. 18/5/2009. This note was issued on the interim management reports of Lloyds, RBS and Barclays and also gave some voting recommendations for the Lloyds Banking Group AGM: Update_15. But no sooner had we issued it than Sir Victor Blank announced his departure as Chairman of Lloyds Bank (perhaps he realised that pressure to go was mounting) so we issued this press release: Press082

SPARK VCT AGM Report. 11/5/2009. A report on the Spark VCT AGM is present in: Update_2. UKSA has been running a campaign on this company and has already achieved changes to the board.

Axeon Pre-Pack Administration. 2/5/2009. Axeon seems to be a particularly outrageous example of the practice of "pre-pack administration". See this article for more information: Axeon_&_PrePacks

Investfest Conference - Focussed on Banks. 15/4/2009. This year’s annual convention of the UK Shareholders Association will be held in Bournemouth on May 7th to 9th. There is a strong emphasis on the banking sector this year with key note speakers Richard Moseley from HSBC, Angela Knight from the British Bankers Association and leading economist John Kay. An update on the various campaigns we are running on UK bank will be given on the Saturday. See Press081 for more details or go to this page for a conference brochure, detail programme and booking form: Investfest

Spark VCT Campaign. 22/3/2009. UKSA has written to all shareholders in the Spark VCT, a Venture Capital Trust with a poor historic performance. See the Spark_VCT page for more details.

Artemis AIM VCT Merger. 21/3/2009. Some shareholders in Artemis AiM VCT and Artemis AiM VCT2 are opposed to the merger of these companies on the terms suggested. The proposed new performance related fee for the manager appears to be too generous. It is suggested that the manager's Annual Management fee should reward above average performance and hence it should be measured against a "hurdle" which is not the case in the new proposals. Also the failure to achieve performance related fee payments twice should not necessarily result in a lowering of the hurdle and hence effective "rebasing" of the fee.

Press Conference on Protection of Shareholders Bill. 16/3/2009. Bill Cash M.P, with the support of UKSA, is promoting a Bill to enable private shareholders to have some influence on public companies. See the following press release for details of a press conference on this subject and other information: Press080 . More explanation is in POSB_Explanation or see the Draft_Bill.

Launch of Shareholder Action Group for Lloyds Banking Group. 15/3/2009. UKSA announced the launch of a shareholder action group to promote the interests of private shareholders in Lloyds Banking Group in this press release: Press079 . It also covers our general campaign on the problems of UK banks.

Public Meeting for B&B Shareholders. 23/2/2009. UKSA announced a public meeting for Bradford & Bingley shareholders in the following press release: Press078 (Postscript: see this page for a report on the meeting: B&BMeeting).

Northern Rock Judgement. 13/2/2009. A note on the judgement (the arguments put by the claimants were rejected by the court) is present in this note: Update_51 .

Confronting Excessive Pay and Bonus Culture. 6/2/2009. UKSA issued the following press release which urges Gordon Brown to follow Barack Obama's lead in confronting the excessive pay and bonus culture in the financial services sector: Press077

UKSA Opposes Further Government Interference in the Banking Sector and in Royal Bank of Scotland. 19/01/2009. UKSA issued the following press release after the announcement of plans to issue more shares by RBS to enable it to repay the Government's preference shares: Press076

Public Meeting on the Banking Crisis. 29/11/2008. UKSA is holding a public meeting to debate the current banking crisis and how it is affecting shareholders in UK banks. See this press release for more details: Press074. See also this page of our web site: Bank_Investors_Campaign. A subsequent report on this meeting is present in: Bank_Forum_Report

UKSA Announces Bradford & Bingley Shareholder Group. 17/11/2008. UKSA issued the following press release to formally announce the launch of a Shareholder Action Group to represent the interests of former shareholders in the company: Press072 . Soon after we also issued this press release on the Subordinated Bonds (formerly called PIBS): Press073 .

UKSA Launches Campaign on Bank Dividends. 31/10/2008. UKSA issued this press release concerning the plight of investors in banks and the restrictions on dividends imposed as part of the Government recapitalisations: Press071. Note that a specific page dedicated to the UKSA campaign on this issue is present at: Bank_Investors_Campaign

Bank Support Terms and LloydsTSB/HBOS Merger. 18/10/2008. UKSA issued this press release following details being announced of the Government support for several UK banks, expressing some dismay on the dividend limitations, and it also includes some comments on the LloydsTSB/HBOS merger: Press070.

UKSA Welcomes Bank Support Proposals. 8/10/2008. UKSA issued the following press release following the Government announcement of support for the banking sector: Press069. It expressed support with some reservations on the issue of dividends.

UKSA Opposes Nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley. 28/9/2008. UKSA issued the following press release following press reports of the imminent "nationalisation" of Bradford & Bingley: Press068. Go to this web page for more comments by UKSA on this company: BradfordBingley.

UKSA Questions HBOS Takeover. (19/9/2008). UKSA issued the following press release in response to the bid for HBOS by Lloyds-TSB: Press067 . Note that HBOS has the largest base of private shareholders among UK listed companies with over 2 million such shareholders as a result of a previous demutualisation.

Response to Banking Reform Consultation. (16/9/2008). Our response to the Governments consultation on reform of the regulation of banks is contained in the following document: Banking_Reform_2008. This consultation was prompted by the perceived difficulties that arose from the crisis at Northern Rock although we have attempted to widen out the debate in our response.

New Membership Secretary Appointed. (19/8/2008). UKSA has appointed a new membership secretary to take over from the long serving Toby Keynes who has retired. The new contact for all membership inquiries is Paul Waring (contact info is on the Contact page of this web site).

UKSA's Latest Advice to Bradford & Bingley Shareholders. (11/7/2008). With a third rights issue now proposed by B&B, UKSA issued the following press release: Press066 .

Meetings for Northern Rock Shareholders Announced. (3/7/2008). The following announcement was issued to the press concerning meetings for Northern Rock Shareholders we have organised in London and Newcastle: Press065 . These meetings are open to anyone with an interest in Northern Rock.

Should Bradford & Bingley Shareholders Vote for the Rights Issue? (30/6/2008). UKSA issued the following press release in response to that question on the 16th June: Press063 and subsequently issued this release on the 30th June: Press064

UKSA Requests Investigation into Bradford & Bingley. (4/6/2008). The UK Shareholders Association has asked the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to undertake an investigation in the affairs of Bradford & Bingley Plc. See Bradford&Bingley for more information.

UKSA Pursues Legal Action for Fair Compensation for Northern Rock Shareholders. (8/5/2008). The following press release was issued when the application for a judicial review of the nationalisation of Northern Rock, and the compensation terms, was filed: Press062 . More information on our Northern Rock campaign is present on this page: Northern_Rock .

UKSA Announces Details of InvestFest Annual Conference. (14/4/2008). Full details of UKSA's Annual Conference in May are now available on this web page: InvestFest.

UKSA Demands Reintroduction of Indexation for CGT. (28/2/2008). UKSA is concerned about the impact of the proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax and has issued the following press release and associated note: Press057_CGT and Press057_CGT_Note.

UKSA Deplores Nationalisation of Northern Rock. (17/2/2008). UKSA has issued the following press release following the announcement by the Government that Northern Rock is to be nationalised: Press058_NRK_Nationalisation

New Editor Appointed for Private Investor Newsletter. (18/01/2008). Bill Johnston has been appointed as the new Editor of UKSA's Private Investor Newsletter. Bill has previous experience of writing and publishing financial newsletters. His contact details are on the Contact page of this web site and he would no doubt welcome any material you may care to submit for publication in the newsletter.

Shareholders Show their Power at Northern Rock EGM. (17/01/2008). The following press release was issued by UKSA about voting at the Extraordinary General Meeting of the company: Press054_Northern_Rock_EGM. A report on the meeting is present in: EGM_Report. In addition the following press release on possible nationalisation was issued soon afterwards: Press055_Northern_Rock_Nationalisation.

UKSA Supports NetB2B2 Shareholder Action Group. (13/12/2007). The UK Shareholders Association has expressed support for the NetB2B2 Shareholders Action Group in the following press release: Press053. The main concern is the proposal to give effective control of this company to the current Chairman by issuing new shares to him. A report on the subsequent EGM meeting, which the Chairman did not even bother to attend, is present in the Members Only section of this web site at: NetB2B2_Report.

UKSA Rejects Conclusions of the Retail Distribution Review. (10/12/2007). The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a discussion paper on "Retail Distribution". UKSA has attacked this document for its failure to tackle the problem of apparently "independent advice" when it is not, and the general approach taken by the Working Groups set up by this review - see our press release for more details: Press 051.

UKSA Supports Olivant Proposal for Northern Rock. (10/12/2007). Following the announcements of the Virgin Group and Olivant proposals to resolve the problems of Northern Rock, UKSA issued the following press release: Press052

Northern Rock: UKSA Supports EGM Requisition. (23/11/2007). UKSA has issued this press release supporting the move to requisition an EGM at Northern Rock: Press050

UKSA Submits Response to the Banking Reform Consultation. (21/11/2007). Following the debacle at Northern Rock, the Government has undertaken a consultation on reform of the bank regulatory regime. UKSA's comments are in the following note: Banking_Reform_Response

UKSA Supports Call for HSBC to Respond to Criticism. (17/10/2007). UKSA has supported the concerns expressed by Knight Vinke about HSBC's recent performance, their strategy and the role of the Chairman. See the press release issued on this subject: Press048_HSBC

Capital Gains Tax Revised to 18%. (10/10/2007). The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the UK Capital Gains Tax regime is to be simplified and the tax rate set to 18% in the new financial year. There are also changes to the Inheritance Tax regime. See the following for a brief note on this: Capital_Gains_Tax

Formation of Northern Rock Shareholder Action Group. (25/09/2007). UKSA has formed a Shareholder Action Group to protect the interests of shareholders in Northern Rock with the intention of opposing any disposal of the business at an unfair value. See the following press release for more information Press046_Northern_Rock_Action We previously issued this press release on how shareholders have lost a substantial proportion of their investment value within a few weeks: Press045_Northern_Rock . Go to the following page of our web site for more information on the Shareholders Action Group.

Dangers of Holding Shares in Nominee Accounts Highlighted. (11/09/2007). UKSA issued the following press release when the problems of shareholders who purchased shares from Pacific Continental Securities (UK) Ltd came to light, following that company going into Administration: Press044_Nominee_Problems