Small Cap Value Report (Thu 31 Dec 2020) - QUIZ, ALT, CWD

31st Dec '20 by Paul Scott

152 comments 11446 reads

Good morning, it's Paul here with the SCVR for New Year's Eve.

Timing - I had another lie in this morning, as there's no company news of any interest. However, I'm in the mood to do a bit of writing, so will conjure up something. Likely finish time - later today. Update at 12:40 - today's report is now finished. Goodbye to 2020, you won't be missed!

AGM votes

A couple of interesting situations cropped up earlier this week with AGM votes. Usually everything goes through with near-unanimous votes, but occasionally shareholders rebel, e.g.

Quiz (LON:QUIZ)

(I hold)

Still about 50% owned by the founders, as you can see from the Stockopedia graphic below. Therefore quite a small free float.

Given this shareholding structure, I was really surprised to see the AGM vote results here. All but 1 of the 11 resolutions went through with over 99% support. However, the last resolution (to disapply pre-emption rights when issuing new shares) got a 27.7% no vote. As it was a special resolution (needing 75% yes vote under company law), it failed to reach that threshold.

Of the 124m shares in issue, 72.9m of them were used in the AGM votes.

Given that many private investors are effectively disenfranchised, through the nominee system making it impractical to vote at AGMs, even by proxy. Plus people like me hold shares indirectly via derivatives (CFD, spread bets, etc) hence also don't get a vote. Then this implies the big institutional shareholders, Stonehage & Schroders, might have voted "no" to resolution 11. If so, good for them! It's long overdue for institutions to start thinking like owners, not traders, and to effectively oversee companies they hold shares in, instead of just waving through everything without scrutiny.

Quiz responded;

Resolution 11 required a minimum of 75% of votes cast to be in favour of the Resolution for it to be passed. Further to the vote noted above this Resolution was not passed.

The Board will consult with our shareholders to understand and seek to address any concerns they may have.

That's excellent, and how things should be done. I imagine the concern is that disapplying pre-emption rights could allow management to dilute existing holders if the company needs to raise more cash. As a holder myself, I would…

Unlock with Email

Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here

Thornabian

31st Dec '20

Hi Mojo, other than when you called me a hyped fool we have had some good discussions about investments so you are alright by me.

Happy NY and all the best.

If I stopped posting about it? I said it once because pathetic people were upset because I made a joke about golf clubs and Jags......

Hi Alan,

The reason for the post is because I have made posts on her about companies and people have just frankly been insulting, ignorant and rude and don't seem remotely interested in discussing companies.

It was interesting to see that when I said that, a number of people said they had the same experience.

Don't mistake my frankness for unfriendliness. If you have any questions I would certainly try to help and I imagine you will tell me things I don't know.

Buying assets in this world of mass fiscal spending, M2 money supply expansion and record QE is certainly a good move.

Happy NY and all the best with your investments in 2021.

Thornabian.

Gromley

Thornabian ,
Could we have that again in grammatical English?
There were occasions when I thought I understood and then you confounded me. Leaving me with the conclusion that I do not have a scubby what your meaning was.

Paul Scott

1st Jan '21

A lady (age c. 60 at a guess) was standing very close to me (almost touching) in the queue at ASDA today. I did wonder, should I make a fuss, or ignore it, but decided to instead formulate some words that would be diplomatic. So I gently said to her,

"I think we're supposed to be a little further apart than this"

It worked perfectly. She was very apologetic, and clearly had her mind on other things, and had forgotten to socially distance, and she widened the gap between us.

I must try to be more diplomatic in 2021. Am reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" again, for about the 5th time. It's one of those books that needs a constant reminder.

Hopefully readers have noticed a more moderate tone in my reports here this year? It really annoys me that a few idiots can complain, and thereby force changes to whatever agenda they want to promote. But there again, this has grown from a small, niche blog, to something that is widely read, by thousands of people. So it's not a soapbox for me about any issues, it needs to be more well-rounded. I got the memo on that. Also, I like to think more roundly about lots of issues, and find that usually there's a good compromise in the middle between entrenched positions.

Kevin_T

Paul and Jack, many thanks for your Reports - great to read - with your differing styles.

Regarding voting, I am allowed by Share Centre (now part of ii) to vote on shares held in a Nominee A/C. And the voting is really easy.

PRIMARY BID allows companies to raise funds from their retail/private investors, at the same speed, time and price as the institutional investors book building. And they regularly notify private investors of companies doing a rights issue that previously was open to institutional investors only, or raising funds generally.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

Love this, my favourite post of the year.

As I do most of the investment decisions (because I'm most interested in it), my other half did the same to hold me to the test.

A very good way to see which approach works, free from confirmation bias.

All the best, and happy NY.

This comment has been moderated

Maybe you are referring to where it says "her" instead of "here", that is because there is no amend button on the phone app where I wrote it from.

Much like how your bio says "to" where it should say "too".........

Caper4

well done. As it happens I own many of the stocks you have listed so hopefully we will both have a great 2021. ;) Happy New Year to you and your family

cmpeckham

Paul, the other technique that helps with social distancing is to say "while you're here, I wonder if I can interest you in my pamphlet on the problem of leases under IFRS16 ..."

Hopefully your individuality will still shine through in your new "well rounded" content.

Happy NY have a great 2021.

Hi Michael,

I take your point and I don't have a problem with discussing other topics.

However, the issue I have with it all is that every time I have written about a company to discuss it, (dozen or so different companies here) I get some idiot who either writes some insulting comment (I've had things like "boring" or "grammar doesn't make sense" - even though it is perfectly fine, just to name two recent comments) or the person posts a passive aggressive load of nonsense on a new post but it is directed at me.

I'm just not going to accept that and if people are going to be rude, then they will get rude back.

I think that is fair, is it not? Social reconciliation of sorts. :)

And of course, happy New Year.

Albertos

Pretty angry end to 2020.

Hope for a friendlier 2021.

Thanks to all who contribute here on a regular basis, not just Paul and Jack. I do find the daily reports stimulatingly , intriguing and immensely useful.

Happy New Year

Phil

Dawson Trading

Hi Paul, I am a newbie subscriber and really pleased with the investment thus far

Happy NewYear and Thanks for confirming my decision to subscribe,

Mike888

2nd Jan '21

Not a reflection on this post which I found interesting.

But regarding statistics and their misuse, as one of my Maths lecturers often spouted "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics". I always thought it odd that a man of numbers would rejoice in that saying.

jonesj

3rd Jan '21

Some of the front line NHS staff are superb. Others are simply awful. Doctors who are supposed to start seeing patients at 8:30 am and always turn up 15 minutes late. Then they don't even check test data properly. Some just ask questions and guess the diagnosis, rather than ordering tests. So they fail to diagnose cancers and other severe issues.

Then even if you enjoy good service, my local GP surgery is poor, as can be seen by a low score on google maps (1.8 out of 5). So I'm entitled to be unhappy with it.
It's time the consumer had some choice, as they do in Germany.
Those who wish to support the Soviet structure of the NHS may continue to do so, whilst others could take their custom elsewhere.

Camtab

Excellent.

Momoko Miyamoto

GPs are allocated 10 minutes per consultation due to chronic underfunding and resultant staff shortages. Not unusual for a GP to do 40 consultations a day including home visits and tel calls. No other serious profession is expected to provide a high level of service within such time constraints. UK voters are generally unwilling to pay the German levels of tax and/or insurance premiums required to pay for a decent service. Fundamental reform of the NHS is also politically impossible because it's the closest thing to a national universal religion.

Richard Goodwin

5th Jan '21

I owned Velocys (LON:VLS) a few years ago, just before the great share price slump. From memory the share price was 150p-200p, which puts in to perspective its performance since then (it is now 10p.

At the time the big driver of the business was price arbitrage as the US government restricted exports of gas. This kept internal US prices lower than rest of world prices, created stranded assets and therefore made Velocys style production of higher value product from cheap feedstock financially worthwhile. Strategically VLS stated that the US was their main target market.

When the politicians deregulated the US gas market the opportunity went. I got out with a profit but was unimpressed that the company didn't make this major strategic point clear to shareholders who have since seen their wealth eroded by 95%.

I also talked to someone (I have no recollection who, perhaps the proverbial man in a bar) who alleged the tech to be fundamentally problematic. One would hope that by now, six years later, after numerous trials and prototypes they have sorted out any scientific issues. If anyone understands the tech then it is Shell.

I hope this is a useful perspective. It was a long time ago and you've tempted me to take a look and update my knowledge so thank you!

Small Cap Value Report (Thu 31 Dec 2020) - QUIZ, ALT, CWD

AGM votes

Quiz (LON:QUIZ)

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

About the Author

Paul Scott

152 comments

Unlock the metrics for all these stocks and more...

Unlock the metrics for all these stocks and more...