M&S have listened and have written to ShareSoc stressing that they "have opened up the studio to shareholders for those keen to attend the AGM in person" and invited ShareSoc to send a delegate or two in person, who need not be shareholders.

St James’s Place is under increasing scrutiny for its high fees and some questionable policies: what do its customers actually say? The FT digs in... 

With looming large debt repayments due, is HOME REIT starting to look like it’s in wind down mode?

Hartley Pensions, the SIPP provider, acted as a 'white knight' hoovering up SIPP books from failed providers and then fell over itself, trapping 15,000 pension holders. Did the FCA do enough to supervise Hartley? asks Citywire. 

Note: ShareSoc also provided considerable assistance to Hartley pension holders, and will also tackle the FCA over their supervisory role. 

MoneyWeek reports on the growing number of SIPP millionaires, of whom there are 4 times as many as ISA millionaires. Based on Hargreaves Lansdown’s own analysis / PR so not to be entirely relied upon as commented on, in Citywire. 

Bid for Hargreaves Lansdown criticised as being unfair to private investors and for being too low. New management happy to sell out yet again for a quick bonus, repeating a trick they've learnt in recent years, again and again. Private Equity is not exactly known for over-paying (shareholders that is). 

No wonder 'de-equitisation' has become common parlance for the investment community, as the number of listings keep falling. 

Allenby Capital issues one of its regular updates on the state of the AIM market. Still quiet despite a few bright sparks. 

It’s not just London seeing listing moves... Booking Holdings (aka Booking.com) has refused to rule out leaving the EU over ‘dumb’ regulatory burdens. (FT subscription required) 

According to Bank of America, global stock funds experienced the largest inflow since March, with tech funds leading the charge with a record-breaking $8.7 billion weekly inflow. 

US equities experienced a 9th consecutive week of inflows, worth $20.4 billion, while European equities experienced outflows for the 5th consecutive week. 

Looks like the Executive team at Pinewood Technologies (formerly Pendragon) don't really care what shareholders want/think. 5th year in a row of shareholder revolts over executive pay, but nothing changes except he keeps getting richer at shareholders’ expense. 

The woes of abrdn - and the broader active investment management industry as poor performance and a sea change in investment preferences washes over them. 

UK managed funds continue to decline according to the latest stats, with equity and property funds the worst affected.

Is there a wall of US style litigation heading to UK listed companies? Suing because your investment tanked is a common US practice, but has now emerged in the UK. Many more cases might be in the offing... (FT subscription required)

Last ditch attempt to stop the FCA's watering down of investor protections fails, as city interests (vested) push back in support of listing rules changes.  

Avoiding dividends is better for younger investors? That's an interesting take.

Amazon is reportedly developing a new artificial intelligence (AI) service called "Metis" to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. "Metis" will use an AI technique called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to access information beyond its training data, allowing more up-to-date and conversational responses. It is expected to launch in September.

A rather good look at what could happen if a new French government gets radical with its economic policies, whether spend, spend, spend by the left, or unfunded growth spending by the right. Either way it could have EU wide repercussions. 

Societe Generale predicts that in a best case scenario for the market, the current boom in artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to a surge in US stock prices, potentially pushing the S&P 500 as high as 6666, similar to the dot-com bubble. And we know what happened then... 

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