In the News
30 August 2018 - Executives have grown used to being nagged about their company’s strategy and governance by all and sundry. Activist hedge funds targeted 524 companies worldwide between January and June, compared with 570 in the whole of 2013 and 805 in 2017, according to Activist Insight, a research firm. Last year two big index-makers, S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell, excluded firms with multiple share classes from their flagship indices. On August 22nd Glass Lewis, a firm of “proxy advisers” which advises shareholders on how to vote,...
In the News
23 August 2018 - Last week, President Donald Trump suggested in a tweet that companies could report results every six months instead of quarterly. “That would allow greater flexibility & save money. I have asked the SEC to study!” he tweeted. Quarterly reporting seems like a good thing — transparency ensures informed decision-making by investors. And critics of Trump’s idea have cited concerns over a lack of transparency leading to increased investor risk. Yet in practice, quarterly reporting has evolved into a system of managing primarily for the quarterly numbers, with a...
In the News
17 August 2018 - In a morning tweet, he said this suggestion came from top business leaders who told him that this “would allow greater flexibility & save money.” Indeed. But at a time when public confidence in all institutions, including business, is declining, this is exactly the wrong direction for government to go.
In the News
17 August 2018 - President Trump proposed Friday that public companies should report their financial results only twice a year instead of quarterly.
In the News
30 July 2018 - Short-termism. IR professionals and corporate management teams are constantly battling the tendency of many investors to buy or sell shares based on short-term quarterly earnings rather than long-term results. Companies thrive when investors are with them for the long-term, yet financial markets seemed geared to reward short-term results, exacerbating and perpetuating the status quo.
In the News
12 July 2018 - Every asset owner I have met proclaims they are a long-term investor in much the same way that every CEO declares that their greatest asset is their people – automatically and without thinking about it too much. It has become almost a throw-away line. Many of us haven’t paused to properly define what it means to be a long-term investor, allowing myths to take hold and distort its true meaning.
In the News
6 July 2018 - In conjunction with Business Roundtable, an association of nearly 200 major company CEOs, they wrote that, “in our experience, quarterly earnings guidance often leads to an unhealthy focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term strategy, growth and sustainability.” Further, “companies frequently hold back on technology spending, hiring, and research and development to meet quarterly earnings forecasts that may be affected by factors outside the company’s control.”
In the News
7 June 2018 - Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), and Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) chief executive officer, said in a joint Wall Street Journal editorial that they are encouraging all public companies to consider moving away the practice, arguing that it can stifle long-term investments. “Quarterly earnings guidance often leads to an unhealthy focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term strategy, growth and sustainability,” they said.
In the News
7 June 2018 - Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief executive officer, said in a joint Wall Street Journal editorial that they are encouraging all public companies to consider moving away the practice, arguing that it can stifle long-term investments.