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This is an unusual and profitable company which, although quoted on AIM, is based in Israel. It has an attractive dividend policy although smaller non-Israeli holders are subject to withholding tax. But what does the company actually do, how does it make money and is it run primarily for the benefit of the directors and founders rather than the…

Would that all AIM companies could be persuaded to copy SQS. The presentation of the report makes it much easier to read than its UK counterparts and the high level of disclosure – happily confined to the notes – would satisfy most analysts. SQS is a professionally run international business with a small share of a growing market. Profit margins…

Full Sprue review here . This company sells a range of Chinese made smoke and carbon dioxide alarms in Europe, principally in France and in the UK. Profits would have been significantly higher had it not been for adverse exchange rate movements and a large warranty provision. Should the directors have anticipated these problems and taken more…

The public will have been shocked by the revelation that Persimmon management are in line for a payment of £600million. This is no surprise to UKSA, who warned of this outcome when the Persimmon Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) was installed in 2012 and have since continually promoted the regulatory changes necessary to prevent this and similar…

Continuing its investigation into the quality of the top 100 AIM companies’ annual reports, the UK Shareholders’ Association finds uncertainties in the Abcam report and an astonishing but unexplained waste of shareholders’ money by Hargreaves Services’ directors.

“It is time institutional investors took a firmer grip on buyout mania.” So wrote John Plender, a senior Financial Times writer, in a recent article to be found at http://www.ft.com/home/uk under ‘buyout mania’.

Shareholders are starting to wake up to one of the more crass aspects of performance targets for directors’ pay. Thomas Cook highlights a regulatory failure already seen with Persimmon.

Persimmon has announced an acceleration of its Capital Return Plan, but shockingly, made no mention of the resulting acceleration of zero-cost options now estimated to be worth £500million to management. With options previously vested the total becomes £600million. The Finance Director alone will receive £72million.

If Tissue Regenix Group is to survive it will soon need more cash. Despite share price performance since listing on Nasdaq, GW Pharmaceuticals directors appear to have been overpaid.

UKSA's review of the paper is all too revealing of the fact that the intermediate shareholding model cannot be relied upon to facilitate the shareholder engagement that the government wishes to encourage.

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