You will then receive an email alerting you to new posts as they are added. You can “follow” this blog by entering your email address below. But they have not been immune to the general bearish view of the stock market by investors at present. They have many things in common – high levels of repeat revenue, have high returns on capital and appear to be well managed. Needless to point out that I hold shares in all the aforementioned companies. With a lot of the competition to Telecom Plus being removed from the market their prospects are looking up and the share price has zoomed upwards. Certainly regulation has been lax but the setting of price caps that stopped world market gas prices from being passed on to customers was also quite irrational. A supplier market must be developed that truly works for consumers”. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Consumers have borne the brunt of supplier failures at a time when many households are already under significant financial strain having seen their bills go up to record levels. The National Audit Office has blamed the Ofgem regulator for light touch regulation and allowing businesses to be set up with poor financial resources. This company is clearly going to benefit from the failure of numerous energy suppliers. Telecom Plus (TEP) also published their Final Results last week. Again lots of ESG bumf under the heading “Responsible Business”. Does that reflect the Ofgem settlement? I have no idea as the 11-page Remuneration Report does not explain. Total pay of the CEO last year was £911k which is down on the previous year. You can spend a long time reading this Report without getting a very clear understanding of where the profits came from and their future prospects. Romanian business was disposed of and a settlement with Ofgem re competition infringements of £12.5 million has been booked as a prior-year adjustment. Their markets have been changing as mobile top-ups have declined and bill payments in cash also. This is a complex business providing payment and other services to retailers and SMEs. Also as with Halma I voted against share buy-backs and calling General Meetings on 14 days notice. Cannot see any reason for such generous pay for directors. Again I voted against the Remuneration Report and the Chair of the Remuneration Committee (single figure of pay for the CEO last year was £1.7 million). People are holding on to their cars for longer it seems.

There is clearly a shortage of second-hand vehicles as new car sales have been depressed for a number of reasons. Interesting to note that the average price of a used car advertised on their web site rose by 22% last year. A clear description of the business and future developments but do we really need 20 pages of bumf on “Making a difference” (ESG etc). I voted against the Remuneration Report – total remuneration of CEO £3.5 million last year and against the Chair of the Remuneration Committee plus several other non-exec directors who either seemed superfluous or have too many jobs.Īuto Trader Group (AUTO): 170 pages. Report is full of non-essential bumf which I doubt anyone reads. Emphasises “sustainable growth over 50 years” and included a tribute to co-founder David Barber who died recently. Here are some examples and brief comments: I pity our postman as I still receive most of the reports on paper (they are easier to read in that form) and they are getting to be very heavy.

It’s that time of year when many companies issue their annual reports and request that we vote on AGM resolutions.

Halma investor report