This page gives you the older news that may of interest to UKSA members. Go to the News page for the latest news.

Press Release on Rank Group Share Buy-Backs Issued. (06/07/2006). With shareholders in the Rank Group facing a halving of their dividends, the UK Shareholders’ Association (UKSA) questions whether the company should continue with their market buy-back programme.  UKSA believes that share buy-backs are often contrary to the interests of shareholders, and particularly to the interests of private shareholders who are our members. The increasing popularity of market share purchases by companies is resulting in cases where such buy-backs are taking place when it is not prudent, or where it is diverting cash that could and should be paid out in dividends to shareholders. For more information see: Press031_Rank.

UKSA Publishes Results of Members Survey. (29/06/2006). UKSA undertook a survey of its members in early 2006 and the results are now available to members at the following page of this web site: Survey_Reports

UKSA Provides New "Members Only" Section of Web Site. (27/6/2006). As part of its efforts to provide new services to members, this web site now contains a new section which is only accessible by UKSA members. It contains special offers on free spreadsheets and investment management software, plus reports of meetings with companies as submitted by members. Further services will be added at a later date (any suggestions for more would be welcomed).

Government Jumps into Action on Access to Share Registers. (21/5/2006). The Government has responded to the threats to GlaxoSmithKline shareholders by filing an amendment to the Company Law Reform Bill to tighten up access to share registers. However UKSA believes the change has not been thought through and the following letter was sent to the Secretary of State: ProperPurpose2. UKSA believes that "proper purpose" needs to be defined, and in our view improper purposes are those likely to lead to intimidation or harassment of shareholders, or those commercial activities that are unrelated to the activities of the company concerned (such as sending promotional material on investment opportunities or other "junk" mail). But we are keen to ensure continued public access to share registers for legitimate purposes so as to maintain and protect shareholder democracy.

A Tax On Prudent Families. (17/5/2006). Many private investors, and their financial advisors, are complaining about the provisions in the recent Finance Bill in respect of the taxation of trusts. The following document has been prepared and is supported by many of the professional bodies who act in this area: IHT_Briefing. It explains the issues and what they would like to see done before the changes are implemented.

UKSA News (InvestFest and AGM votes). (16/5/2006). The UK Shareholders Association held its Annual Gathering in Banbury over the weekend (InvestFest) and members all agreed that it was a resounding success. There are already plans to run a similar event next year. Some pictures taken at this event are shown on the following page: AGM_2006 (note that for members of UKSA only, minutes of the AGM are present at: 2006_UKSA_AGM_Minutes ). David Blundell stepped down as Chairman after five years of conscientious service to UKSA, and Nick Steiner has stepped into the role. See the Contacts page for the current list of directors.

Enfranchising Nominee Shareholders and Harassment of Glaxo Shareholders. (9/5/2006). Some GlaxoSmithKline shareholders on the share register have been sent letters threatening to publish their name and addresses on the internet unless Glaxo stops using Huntington Life Sciences to perform tests on animals. Although UKSA deplores this attack on private shareholders, and believes that the law may have been broken in more than one respect (recipients are advised to contact the police), there is a solution. That is to simply move into a "nominee" account which your stockbroker or the company can advise on. That historically has meant the loss of shareholder rights such as the ability to vote so UKSA has not been in favour of nominee accounts in general, but another important news item today was the passing of an amendment to the Company Law Reform Bill that would force companies to offer enfranchisement to their nominee shareholders. UKSA has been pushing for this change, along with a number of stockbrokers, and we have also asked that companies can refuse to disclose a share register where it believes it might result in attacks on shareholders. See the news item below for how to support the aforementioned amendment when it goes into the Commons.

UKSA Supports Share Centre Petition on Nominee Shareholder Rights. (24/04/2006). UKSA has been campaigning for the introduction of much stricter rights for nominee shareholders in the new Company Law Reform Bill. See www.uksa.org.uk/Shareholder_Enfranchisement_Background.pdf for supporting information. The Share Centre are creating a petition on this matter which you can sign if you go to www.share.co.uk. UKSA recommends members to support this petition.

UKSA Launches a Campaign Against Share Buy-Backs. (19/04/2006). The UK Shareholders Association believes that market share buy-backs are often contrary to the interests of private shareholders. The increasing popularity of market share purchases by companies is resulting in cases where such buy-backs are taking place when it is not prudent, or where it is diverting cash that could and should be paid out in dividends to shareholders. A good example of this is software company Surfcontrol, where very substantial buy-backs have been taking place, when the company has never paid a dividend. For more details see the following press release Press029_Share_BuyBacks

Consultation on Share "Dematerialisation" Launched. (10/04/2006). ICSA has launched a consultation document on "Electronic Share Trading" that is intended to replace the issue of paper share certificates and the associated processing procedures. It is suggested that the new system will reduce costs, expedite settlement, improve security and generally enable the UK stock market to keep ahead of international trends. UKSA was closely involved in the development of these proposals and recommends that all private shareholders should study and comment on these plans. The full consultation document can be downloaded from: www.icsa.org.uk/demat/ or you can complete the survey questions on-line if preferred.

Disappointing Compensation Announced for Split Cap Victims. (29/03/2006). The body set up to compensate victims of the split capital investment trust scandal, Fund Distribution Ltd (FDL), have announced the initial payment level. For those eligible it will be 40% of losses incurred as an initial payment, with possibly another 10% to come later. See the full announcement at: http://www.funddistribution.org/FDL/fdcopy.nsf/content/newspressreleases?opendocument#1

Financial Ombudsman Criticises Government Over Pension Promises. (19/03/2006). The Parliamentary Ombudsman has criticised the Government for misleading pensioners over final salary pension schemes, following several cases where pensioners have lost their rights when companies wound up the schemes. The Government also undermined such schemes by reducing the "minimum funding requirement" twice, and taking £5bn a year from pension schemes by abolishing tax credits. More proof that the Government is not to be relied on when you are making provision for your own financial future.

Market Abuse Rampant According to the FSA. (19/03/2006). According to a new report issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), insider trading is very common in FTSE-350 stocks. And the regulations brought in to stop them seem to be having no effect, because if anything it's getting worse. The FSA detected abnormal price movements before 29% of bid announcements and before 22% of trading statements in the last few years. In addition, the position seemed to deteriorate in the last year when there were a few "enforcement" cases but the fines imposed were trivial (in the range £1,000 to £18,000). Go to:  www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2006/020.shtml for full details

UKSA Commences Campaign on Home Entertainment. (16/03/2006). The share price of Home Entertainment has fallen from 240p in December 2003 to less than 55p in recent weeks, and the market capitalisation is now less than £11 million, even though revenue last year was £140 million. Clearly the company seems to be in some difficulties so the question is whether sufficient changes are being made to recover from this situation. UKSA has written to all shareholders raising its concerns. See Home_Entertainment for more information.

UKSA Appoints New Newsletter Editor. (10/3/2006). The Private Investor has a new editor, John Nairn.  John is a semi-retired chartered accountant who qualified with a large firm where he was mostly involved with auditing.  He then spent two years with a computer company, five years in the oil industry and was chief accountant and company secretary of a fund management company for two years.  He can be contacted on: J.Nairn  01305 784891.

UKSA Sends Letter to all Setstone Shareholders. (24/02/2006). Setstone became a shell after exiting from its unsuccessful "dotcom" business. It was later delisted from AIM. It sought a business partner for a reverse takeover but despite loaning over £1.6 million to two such businesses no such agreement was concluded and the loans remain outstanding. Following disclosure of these events at an AGM in December 2005, UKSA has sent a letter to all Setstone shareholders. Go to Setstone for more details. 

UKSA Members Question Hilton Group Deal. (23/02/2006). At an EGM on the 27th January called to approve the disposal of the hotels business, the directors of Hilton Group faced a number of challenging questions from shareholders. UKSA director Alan Perryman also expressed concerns about the possible tax liabilities faced by investors when the resulting cash is returned to shareholders. For the full story see: Hilton_Group_EGM. Subsequently the company confirmed its decision to return cash to shareholders via a special dividend after which UKSA issued the following press release: Press026_Hilton.

Singer & Friedlander AIM VCTs Vote to Merge. (03/02/2006). At meetings held today, shareholders in the three Singer & Friedlander AIM VCTs overwhelmingly voted to merge the companies. UKSA advocated this move to the boards of these companies, and we see this as a successful outcome to the campaign for changes to these historically poorly performing Venture Capital Trusts. Go to S&F AIM VCTs for the full story of the campaign.

UKSA Launches Membership Survey. (01/02/2006). UKSA is issuing a survey form to all members so as to enable us to get more feedback on the needs of our members. A copy of the form is present in the following file: Member_Survey_Form. An analysis of the results will be published in a future edition of "The Private Investor".

UKSA Submits Consultation Comments on REITs. (22/01/2006). The following document has been submitted by UKSA to the Government's consultation on REITS (real estate investment trusts): REITS_Consultation.

Press Release Issued on Shareholder Rights and the Recent Company Law Reform Bill Debate. (14/01/2006). UKSA issued the following press release on the recent second reading debate of the Company Law Reform Bill: UKSA_Press025_Company_Law_Reform.

UKSA Welcomes Merger of the Singer & Friedlander AIM VCTs. (14/01/2006). The following letter has been sent to shareholders after the details of the merger of the three S&F AIM VCTs were published: Merger_Letter.

Government Criticised for Ignoring Private Shareholders in QinetiQ IPO. (13/01/2006). There has been extensive criticism in the national press about the floatation of QinetiQ, the former Ministry of Defence research establishment. Half of the Governments holding will be placed with institutions, but there will be no opportunity for private investors to subscribe. Our Chairman, David Blundell, has said "It is patronising and arrogant. My guess is they have done it for convenience".

European Commission Publishes Draft Directive on Shareholder Rights. (09/01/2006). A proposed Directive on shareholder rights in Europe has been published at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/company/shareholders/index_en.htm  . It provides some improvements to shareholder rights, particularly for investors in other European countries but will not apparently have a significant impact for UK companies and investors (the prospective UK Company Law Reform Bill will meet the few areas where the UK is not already compliant).

Report on Setstone AGM. (23/12/2005). Setstone became a shell after exiting from its unsuccessful "dotcom" business. It was later delisted from AIM. It sought a business partner for a reverse takeover but despite loaning over £1.6 million to two such businesses no such agreement was concluded and the loans remain outstanding. Go to Setstone for more information and a report on the recent AGM.

Murray VCTs Vote to Merge. (12/12/2005). At meetings held today, shareholders in Murray VCT, Murray VCT2 and Murray VCT3 overwhelmingly voted to merge the companies. UKSA advocated this move to the boards of these companies at the start of the year, and we see this as a successful outcome to the campaign for changes to these historically underperforming Venture Capital Trusts. Go to Murray VCTs for the full story of the campaign.

UKSA Criticises the Company Law Reform Bill as regards Shareholder Enfranchisement. (15/11/2005). UKSA has issued the following press release on the inadequacies of the provisions in the Company Law Reform Bill as regards the rights of shareholders in nominee accounts: UKSA_Press024_Company_Law_Reform. More background information is at: Shareholder_Enfranchisement_Background and a copy of a letter we sent to our members is present at Shareholder_Enfranchisement_Member_Letter.

Company Law Reform Bill Launched. (10/11/2005). An Act of Parliament to reform Company Law has been introduced into the House of Lords. See http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldbills/034/2006034.htm for the details. UKSA has previously submitted comments on the White Paper and some draft parts of the bill which can be seen below.

Royal Dutch Shareholders Form Group to Complain About Capital Gains Tax Liability. (26/10/2005) In May 2005, UK shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell were presented with a large capital gains tax liability as a result of the merger of Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Transport & Trading to form a new single, holding company. Go to Shell for more information on a group formed to complain about this.

UKSA Supports AITC Representation on Taxation of Investment Trusts. (20/10/2005). Investment Trusts, unlike Unit Trusts and OEICs, pay tax on any investments in bonds. As a result, the investor in Investment Trusts might pay double taxation.  The Association of Investment Trusts (AITC) is calling for a change in their tax position which UKSA has supported with the following letter to the Treasury: AITC_Support

Dutch Investors Launch Action Against Ahold. (18/10/2005). The Dutch Investors Association has commenced possible legal action against the management of Ahold, and has called for support from international investors. For more information read: Ahold

Railtrack Action Group Lose Lawsuit. (14/10/2005). The legal action by the Railtrack Private Shareholders Action Group (RPSAG) against the Government and former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers for "misfeasance" was rejected by the High Court today. For more information see: www.rpsag.org.uk

UKSA Renames Newsletter. (14/10/2005).  The regular newsletter produced by UKSA, previously called "Update", has been renamed "The Private Investor". This will clarify its purpose and target audience.

A Good Week for Shareholder Democracy after a Three Cornered Fight at Murray VCT2. (5/9/2005). Following the defeat of the resolutions to eject all the current directors proposed by Charles Clark, UKSA issued the following press release: Press023_Murray_VCT2. A full report on the Murray VCT EGMs and the Singer & Friedlander AIM 2 VCT AGM is accessible from the Companies page.

Share Option Valuation. (17/8/2005). An edited version of the following letter was published in the Financial Times in August 2005, following comments from the QCA on the difficulty in valuing share options in smaller companies and the demand for a better methodology: Share_Option_Cost_Estimation.

UKSA Fights Proxy Voting Battles at the Murray VCTs and Singer & Friedlander AIM 2 VCT. (11/8/2005). The following press release has been issued that covers the forthcoming proxy voting battles in early September: Press022_Murray_VCT.

UKSA Suggests European Commission Gets it Right on Shareholder Rights. (17/7/2005). UKSA has responded to the European Commission consultation on shareholder rights with strong support, while criticising the DTI in the UK for much weaker principles in the Company Law Reform White Paper. See the following press release summarising our case at: Press021_EU_Shareholders_Rights and the full UKSA response to the consultation at: EU_Shareholders_Rights. A further defect in the UK proposals was highlighted in the following note to the DTI: Shareholder_Rights_&_Information_Enfranchisement.

UKSA Visits Peacocks, and Meets with Pittards & Surface Transforms. (22/6/2005). A brief report on the recent visit by UKSA members to Peacock Group Plc (part of its programme of "analyst-style" visits) is given in the following document: Peacocks. And a description of a meeting of members with Pittards and Surface Transforms is given in: Pittards_&_Surface_Transforms.

UKSA Campaign on the Quester VCTs Bears Fruit and UKSA Asks for Proxy Votes for S&F AIM VCT3 AGM. (13/6/2005). The merger of the three Quester VCTs was approved by shareholders today after a long campaign by UKSA to promote changes at these VCTs. UKSA also issued a letter asking for proxy votes for the forthcoming AGM of Singer & Friedlander AIM 3 VCT Plc. See pages Quester_VCTs and S&F for more details.

UKSA Submits Comments on the Company Law White Paper. (27/5/2005). The following is a press release that was issued on the proposed reform of company law: Press020_Company_Law_Reform, and our full comments to the Government can be seen at: Company_Law_Review_2005.

UKSA Launches Campaign on Singer & Friedlander AIM VCTs. (17/4/2005). The S & F AIM venture capital trusts have been selected as the third target of the UKSA campaign to improve the performance and corporate governance of Venture Capital Trusts on the grounds of poor investment performance, poor shareholder communication and high costs. See Singer & Friedlander AIM VCTs for more information.

UKSA Expresses Concerns About Director's Remuneration at Foresight Technology VCT. (16/4/2005). After very substantial increases in the past year, the remuneration of directors at Foresight VCT is now similar to that of much larger investment trusts, and breaches the UKSA guidelines by a wide margin. See the following note which was sent to shareholders: Foresight_Salaries.

Government Publishes White Paper on Company Law Reform. (17/3/2005). The Government have published a White Paper on a Bill to reform Company Law. The intention is to modernise the law and bring it more into line with current business practice. See http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/WhitePaper.htm for the full report. UKSA will be publishing comments on this in due course.

UKSA Launches Campaign to Improve Matters at Ferraris Group. (16/3/2005). With the share price declining for three years, and several profit warnings being issued, UKSA has commenced a campaign to improve the performance of this company. Go to Ferraris_Campaign for more details.

UKSA Launches Campaign on Murray VCTs. (17/2/2005). The Murray venture capital trusts (Murray VCT Plc, VCT2 Plc, VCT3 Plc and VCT4 Plc) have been selected as the second target of the UKSA campaign to improve the performance and corporate governance of Venture Capital Trusts on the grounds of very poor investment performance, poor information disclosure and high costs. See Murray VCTs for more information.

Myners Report on Pre-Emption Rights Published. (10/2/2005). The protection of shareholders rights when new capital is raised has been reviewed in a study by Paul Myners. See http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/report_pdfs/02-08-final-report.pdf for the full report.

UKSA Supports Scrapping of Paper Share Certificates but Opposes other Proposals from the ESF. (7/2/2005). The European Securities Forum has proposed dematerialisation of share certificates and enfranchisement of nominee accounts. UKSA generally supports these proposals but we oppose many of the details. See our comments in full in an open letter to Minister Jacqui Smith at: Dematerialisation_&_Nominees_Letter_Jacqui_Smith which is also summarised in the following press release: UKSA_Press019_Dematerialisation. Our explanation to our members on share certificates is present in: Scrapping_Share_Certificates.

The FT Publishes Letter from David Blundell on Nominees. (1/2/2005). The following letter from UKSA Chairman, David Blundell, was published in the Financial Times on the subject of nominee accounts and shareholders rights: Blundell_Letter.

Quester VCTs Announce Merger Discussions. (31/1/2005). The Quester VCT 1, 2 and 3 companies have announced merger discussions. UKSA welcomes this initiative following its previous calls for changes to be made to reduce costs and improve the performance of these companies (see Quester_VCTs)

UKSA Visits Smith & Nephew. (24/1/2005). A brief report on the recent visit by UKSA members to Smith & Nephew Plc (part of its programme of "analyst-style" visits) is given in the following document: Smith_&_Nephew

Donald Butcher has Letter Published in The Times. (20/1/2005). The following letter from co-founder of UKSA, Donald Butcher, was recently published in the The Times newspaper. It covers how UKSA can help private shareholders (a PDF file): Butcher_Letter.

UKSA Appoints AGSAG as an Affiliated Action Group. (15/1/2005). The Argonaut Games Plc Shareholders Action Group (AGSAG) has been offered support by UKSA and has been granted "Affiliated" status. Argonaut Games Plc appointed administrators to three trading subsidiaries on the 22nd October 2004 and a week later two of them were sold to newly formed companies of which the former chief executive of Argonaut Games is a director. Shareholders question whether the subsidiaries were sold at a fair price, and why the company seemed to decline so rapidly. For more information see the following Press Release which was issued by UKSA: Argonaut_Press_Release

Takeover Panel To Change Rules on Derivatives Holdings. (9/1/2005). Derivatives such as CFDs have become a major factor in recent takeover bids, with long term holders often selling out early and leaving most of the shares controlled by hedge funds and banks (including the voting rights in many cases). However they are not currently covered by disclosure rules, or the requirement to bid if one controls more than 30% of a company. For example see the discussion of DFS Furniture on the "Companies" page of this web site. The Takeover Panel is proposing to change its rules so that derivatives holdings would be treated the same as ordinary shareholdings.

UKSA Visits VT Group. (29/12/2004). A brief report on the recent visit by UKSA members to VT Group Plc (part of its programme of "analyst-style" visits) is given in the following document: VT_Group

FSA Announces £194m Compensation for Split Victims. (24/12/2004). The Financial Services Authority have announced compensation of £194 million for victims of misselling of split capital investment trusts. However some 20,000 people lost about £600m and the final figure is much less than the FSA was originally hoping to put together. The amount offered is being contributed by a wide range of fund managers, banks and stockbrokers who were involved in devising, promoting or selling these trusts, which were complex, high risk products that were sold as low risk (and often to relatively unsophisticated investors). High gearing and cross holdings between trusts caused them to fail or depreciate rapidly when the stock market fell. The message for private shareholders: don't buy something you don't completely understand. If you may be eligible for compensation go to:  www.funddistribution.org for more information. Note also that solicitors Leon Kaye are also representing investors in split capital trusts (see www.leonkaye.co.uk/class.htm ).

Government to Permit Auditors to Limit Liability. (15/12/2004). The Government has agreed in principle to enact legislation to limit auditors liabilities. At present they have unlimited liability in the UK and often end up as the main targets when shareholders become disgruntled. It is likely they will be able to do this by contractually agreeing an upper limit with the company, and also the principle of "proportionality" will be introduced (ie. they will only be liable for the proportion of any "misdeeds" that can reasonably be assigned to them). However "reckless" auditors who make false statements may face jail and auditors will be open to questions from shareholders. Extensive consultation is planned and the legislation may be complex.

Evolution Fined £500,000 for Room Service Market Abuse. (15/11/2004). Following short selling of Room Service shares in 2003, Evolution Securities has been fined for "market abuse". More than 2.5 times the total number of shares in issue were sold and buyers were unable to obtain delivery. See the Companies section for more information.

Shareholder Opposition Votes Increasing. (03/11/2004). According to a report by PIRC (Pensions & Investment Research Consultants), who offer proxy voting services, shareholders are increasingly voting against company proposals. The number of occasions when votes against motions at company meetings exceeded 20% rose last year from 7% to 9.1%. The number of abstentions also increased.

UKSA Visits International Power. (22/10/2004). A brief report on the recent visit by UKSA members to International Power Plc (part of it's programme of "analyst-style" visits) is given in the following document: International_Power.

UKSA Opposes Adoption of "Poison Pill" by Foresight Technology VCT. (19/10/2004). Foresight Technology Venture Capital Trust is proposing to adopt new Articles that will deter, and in some situations, disenfranchise shareholders who acquire their shares in the open market. See Foresight_Technology for more information.

UKSA Adopts Policies to Promote Company Action Groups. (15/10/2004). The UK Shareholders Association has adopted a new policy to help in the formation of UKSA sponsored company "action groups" or to offer affiliation to existing groups. See Shareholder Groups for more information.

Fortress Holdings Commits to Voluntary Wind-Up. (12/10/2004). The Fortress Shareholders Action Group (see www.newfortress.co.uk) have achieved some success in that the company has now agreed to proceed with a voluntary liquidation. See Fortress_Press_Release for more information.

Fostering An Appropriate Regime for Shareholders Rights. (15/9/2004). That's the title of a consultation document issued by the European Commission. See Shareholder_Rights_Consultation for the text and how to respond.

British Energy Campaign Promoted by UKSA. (10/9/2004). Existing British Energy shareholders are likely to be left with a minimal proportion of the company if proposals by the board go ahead. On the 3rd September 2004, Polygon Investment Partners LLP and Brandes Investment Partners LLC, two major shareholders, gave notice of their requisition of an Extraordinary General Meeting. For more information go to the "Companies" page.

UKSA Expresses Concerns About Events at DFS Furniture. (6/9/2004). UKSA members oppose the offer for DFS Furniture by chairman Lord Kirkham as it appears poor value. UKSA also expresses concerns about the events surrounding the offer, the independence of the directors and the comments of Lord Kirkham. Go to the article on the Companies Page for more information.

UKSA Launches Campaign to Improve the Performance and Governance of Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). (14/08/2004). Unlike the situation in most quoted companies, private shareholders are the predominant holders of shares in Venture Capital Trusts. As the main voice of private shareholders in the UK, UKSA has commenced a campaign to improve the underperforming trusts and to ensure that shareholders can better understand what is happening to their investment. See the following press release for more information: UKSA_Press014_VCTs and the following web page for an extensive report and set of "Guidelines" for how we believe VCTs should be managed: VCTs.

UKSA Suggests Alternatives to Dropping "Show of Hands" Voting. (6/8/2004). The dropping of "show of hands" voting at AGMs is a contentious issue for private shareholders. An article discussing this topic and some alternative suggestions is given at Voting at the AGM2.

UKSA Supports Tightening of Segmental Reporting in IFRS 14. (29/7/2004). Good segmental reporting of sales and profits is essential to understanding a business and UKSA would argue the current standard is too weak. We fully support the tightening of the relevant accounting standard in the proposed IFRS 14. See our comments to the IASB on this subject at: Segmental_Reporting.

Complaints on Investments Rise 57%. (30/6/2004). Nearly 100,000 people complained about investments to the Financial Ombudsman in the year ending March 2004, a rise of 57% on the previous year. This is symptomatic of the rising lack of public confidence in investment institutions following such problems as endowment policies, split cap investment trusts and precipice bonds.

Chief Executives Pay Rises 168% in 5 Years. (24/5/2004). According to a report from consultancy Independent Remuneration Solutions (IRS), the pay of the chief executives of the 800 largest quoted UK companies soared by 168% in the last five years. The authors also criticised the lack of transparency in many company annual reports where the increased benefit of share options, LTIPs, pension awards and other complex remuneration is often not obvious. For more information see: http://www.independentremuneration.co.uk/SampleSurvey/surveydetails.pdf

Myners Defends Dropping "Show of Hands" at AGMs. (22/4/2004). At a UKSA South East Meeting, Paul Myners defended his recommendation that a poll always be taken at AGMs. This might permit "show of hands" voting to be dropped, although he also suggested that Chairman may still like to retain that (his report to the Shareholder Voting Working Group was ambiguous in that respect). However, on a "show of hands" at the UKSA Meeting, it was clear that most members would prefer it to be retained. Otherwise Mr Myners presentation on other corporate governance and investment issues was very well received.

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