LK Hyman
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Jack,"the new NED that spoke was booed and jeered. Hardly a good start for him."The FT was pretty critical of him, or at least it reported an institutional shareholder saying that what he said about knowing nowt about ATST except what he'd read in the press (LOL) was "not a sensible thing to say".Acksherly, although it WAS a cack-handed thing to say at one level, it did give some credence to the view that he is genuinely independent of Elliott. After all, Garrett-Fox didn't WANT the wretched feller on the board until her arm was twisted up her elegant back, so how on earth is he supposed to know about the nitty gritty of ATST ffs?One does wonder how Elliott selected its three (now two) musketeers ... Did they mebbe find a list of people who had done the FT's "Become a NED in three easy steps" course and ring up the three with the highest marks? I somehow doubt it. I bet they are, in some way, beholden to Elliott, though I have no evidence to back up that disgraceful allegation. Odd that Chambers, who seemed to be the best qualified of the three, was the one who stood down.It must be great being a NED ... especially at ATST ... just rock up once every three months for a slap-up meal after spending three hours ogling KGC across the boardroom table and then collect a fat fee before toddling back to the club for port and nuts.She needs to get a new press photo though. The one in all the papers makes her look as if she is slathered in Ambre Solaire or that coconut oil that Unilever sells such a lot of out India way. Slightly unsettling.LKH on the flybridge men can be so cruel
trader jack
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Having read through all the media articles available on-line (without subscription) I am forming the opinion that they all appear to have been written by the same journo and then handed out piecemeal or e-mailed to the necessary hacks! All seem identical!Surely the positions of Garrett-Cockup and her Forsaken friend must be untenable. Forsaken stated that much has been learned in the past few weeks? If so it begs the question of what the Board of Alliance Trust had been concentrating on for the previous year or five.It sounds to me as though the £3 million spent on this futile exercise owed more to the Chief Executive and Chairwoman fighting a losing arguement with shareholders funds to ensure that their own incomes could be protected from any outside intervention.The least this motley pair should do now is to publicly reject any bonus payable to them for this past year and also pay back the bonuses paid to them over the last few years to offset the cost of their ineptitude.
trader jack
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Graham Morrice,So far this morning I have only managed to glance through the Torygraph's take on the AGM but it gives the impression of being the opposite of what you describe as a very good AGM. According to them the new NED that spoke was booed and jeered. Hardly a good start for him.
trader jack
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Good morning LKH"It is healthy when activist investors kick up a loud stink when they see what they perceive to be poor management and governance, provided that their actions are in the interests of all shareholders and are not just narrowly self serving."There you have the argument in a nutshell, but the problem is are Elliott's actions in the interests of all shareholders?
LK Hyman
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Graham,"Couldn't the Board have come to better terms - 3 years, say?"I think it is wrong that Elliot have agreed to have their hands tied for one year, let alone three! It is healthy when activist investors kick up a loud stink when they see what they perceive to be poor management and governance, provided that their actions are in the interests of all shareholders and are not just narrowly self serving.LKH on the flybridge
Einstein the Second
30 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM All this bile about the management issues is a bit of a distraction. As long as their fund managers are savvy and get decent long term investments in the portfolio, who cares about management politics.I quite like the present portfolio, any other opinions?
Graham Morrice
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Just got back home from Dundee. A very good AGM, with Karen Foerske particularly impressive, doing what a good Chair should and bringing in members of the audience. Still, I did get the feeling that other members apart from me would have liked to be alllowed to vote on the two new NED appointments that were agreed with Elliot by the Board shortly before the meeting. And the one new NED who did speak today (and Karen was very good, bringing him in from the audience at the request of another Shareholder) showed he knew very little about the business. And Elliot agreeing not to make more waves for another year - not very long? Couldn't the Board have come to better terms - 3 years, say? especially since Alliance's share price and total return are at last showing considerable improvement after years of underperformance. Anyway, good on all the Board and staff, whom the great majority strongly support - time will tell.
LK Hyman
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Jack," ... long suffering shareholders looking for a company that will look after their savings and not use them to fight battles that they cannot win?"Hard to read much into a single day's movement and, to be fair to the fragrant KGC, the share price has done not too badly over the last 5 years.But I suspect that the scales will have fallen off the eyes of many small shareholders at the extent to which the powers that be have been waxing fat on the backs of the selfsame small shareholders, as a result of the Elliott action and the surrounding media publicity. Doubtless some are bailing out in exasperation, just as others will stay on board in the hope that Elliott can bring about both better performance AND lower management remuneration. They have certainly played a blinder, with rather more subtlety than such people usually deploy. Good for Elliott!LKH on the flybridge
trader jack
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM If I were to move my holdings from Alliance I would have HMRC rubbing their hands. The capital gain on my ATST shares alone would take up my CGT allowance for the next few years by themselves then there are my other holdings many in decent profit but a few that are not a pretty sight - CNA and DRX to name but two!Oh, just add insult to injury Alliance would charge me for the privilege of leaving them!KGC has got to go and take that square faced Swede with her.
In the dark yet again
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM LKH,I'm pretty thick skinned but even I am stunned by this; and I'd bet it's not the whole story.What's clear is this is all poison, it's been handled terribly and there is no way any independent director can now defend KGC. Strikes me both she and Ms Forseke have to go; such dreadful judgement can't be acceptable at that level (or any exec level to be honest).......... but they are bound to try to hold on for as long as possible because, well after this debacle, who in their right minds would employ them?Trouble is this can only drive the discount wider while I'm now looking for a chance to bail, i.e. desperately want it narrower...... and immediately.Regards,ITDYA, (almost) speechless, thinking this might land with a bad thump followed by a dead cat bounce.
trader jack
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM LKH,I held RIT for a few years in the early nineties.Between needing funds and re-allocationg resources i managed to let them ago along with EIT and Jupiter Primadona or whatever it was called. At the time I felt that ATST were doing O.K. for me and my opinion on that has seldom change.More recently I have had some funds tied up in two hedge funds as I have a son-in-law in that business, the first I sold out of after he left with a good return on my capital and the second fund lost it as it closed down after two years in existence! I told him he was on his own I will look after my own money and that ensures that if things go pear shaped I have nobody to blame except myself.What gets my goat is that KGC (looking like the cat that just got the cream on the Reuters story today) seems to want it both ways as long as she can tuck all those nice klebbies (as you call them) down her knickers, or wherever.Like you I had to work hard to have what little I have in this world and it is a bonus and pleasure to be able to save for my grandchildren's future. Now I don't have the good fortune to call things right all that often and I hope that an IT will generally look after and allow my grandchildren's savings to grow at a worthwhile pace.Whether Elliott's are right or wrong is one thing but if KGC was trying to defend her own actions with my grandchildrens' and other shareholders savings then that is definitely wrong!The share price today has fallen by double the fall in the FTSE-250 to which it belongs. Is that the result of punters climbing aboard recently and realising that they were not about to get rich or long suffering shareholders looking for a company that will look after their savings and not use them to fight battles that they cannot win?
LK Hyman
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Jack,FWIW, my only IT is RIT Capital Partners (RCP) where Lord Jake Rothschild is in the saddle, along with a couple of hundred million quids' worth of his personal chump change invested in their shares. Their costs are surprisingly low, considering that one might expect the Rothschild running costs to be a bit hefty. The chart shows RCP and ATST to have performed pretty much same same over five years.I commend RCP to you. I have no connection with 'em other than being a shareholder and having toddled along to a few of their AGMs over the years. I feel that they may be more uncorrelated with the general stock market than ATST because Jake, who is a downy old bird, has access to private investment opportunities and hedge funds (if you like hedge funds) and such like, to which the general public normally does not have access.LKH on the flybridge
trader jack
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM LKHSometimes it make you wonder whether it's worth sticking with them. On the other hand the costs involved in moving to another provider and dealing platform doesn't make for a hasty decision.Bon voyage.
LK Hyman
29 Apr 2015
Re: Today's AGM Jack,I sympathise with your anger. It was interesting to see, from the RNS just out, that under 50% of the share capital was voted at the AGM. Obviously that had something to do with the fact that well over 60% of the share register is occupied by small shareholders who can rarely be arsed to vote on anything, but it is hardly a ringing endorsement of KGC and her catamites, notwithstanding the fact that they got their motions through.I suspect that she will be gone before the next AGM and quite right too.LKH on the flybridge
trader jack
29 Apr 2015
Today's AGM From Reuters:LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Alliance Trust spent three million pounds ($4.6 million) defending itself against a board overhaul campaign led by Elliott Advisors, the trust's chairwoman, Karin Forseke, told shareholders on Wednesday.The investment firm agreed on Tuesday to revamp its board by appointing two of the three directors suggested by Elliott, settling a six-week campaign by the activist investor.Forseke made the disclosure at the company's annual general meeting in Dundee, Scotland, a spokeswoman told Reuters. ($1 = 0.6510 pounds) (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Simon First they ballot us, then they ignore the ballot. It's good to know that the Board are spending shareholders funds wisely! Pity KGC can't be made to fund the cost of the ignored ballot.Instead it falls to us shareholders and my grandchildren - that makes me angry!
