Cadbury test case

The Government seems keen to make the Kraft bid for Cadbury's a test case of whether shareholders are really now taking their ownership responsibilities more seriously. According to various reports, tomorrow Mandy is due to meet with a group of key institutions and some representative bodies to stress the importance of the forthcoming stewardship code and talk chocolate.

Regardless of what you might think about the bid - and I have to say I haven't heard many institutions talk favourably about it so far - this has to be a good thing. If Labour is serious about this kind of stuff a) it's vital that BIS and its ministers are part of the initiative and b) we need a clear cut example to focus on. This bid fits the bill.

I bet it will be an interesting meeting. Worth having a quick look back at recent M&A activity - even though the value creation track record is unconvincing to say the least I can't think of many examples of institutions holding out against bad deals. RBS-ABN Amro is the obvious one here. The only institution I know that opposed it was..... Co-op Asset Management.

Hester's holiday howler

Interesting to note that the thing that seems to have annoyed many people the most about Stephen Hester's evidence to the select committee yesterday (still waiting for the transcript) was not the defence of bonuses. Rather it was his reponse to how he would deal with the public reaction to bonus announcements:

"I might go on holiday for a long time."

Mrs P was spitting feathers, as, it seems, were quite a few unpolitical people judging from conversations this morning. Maybe the it's the slighty 'naughty schoolboy' tone of it, or the apparent lack of seriousness, or the fact that many people aren't even thinking about holidays. In any case it was badly misjudged.

Tory guff about class war

I'm not convinced that any kind of "class war" strategy is the way the get people to vote Labour, and it's worth pointing out just how little evidence there is of such a strategy in operation. There's the joke about Eton and... err...

But one thing I am sure about is that it's total rubbish - willingly lapped up in some quarters - that the Tories somehow positively enjoy Labour talking about class. This is patently obviously a weakpoint for NuDave and Gideon, hence all the stupidity about double-barrelled names.

Not worried at all, honest guv...

Mr Cameron is seen to be on the side of the rich over ordinary people, by 50 per cent to 42 per cent.

The joy of snow

Quick question

Does anyone know what happened to equities the day of the 1997 Budget? Given that the Government abolished tax credits on dividends you might expect them to have dropped, to take account of the diminished future income stream that must surely have been expected. Or had investors already factored the probability of tax credits being abolished into their valuations?

I don't remember there being a big drop on the day, but maybe I'm mistaken. So if not, what's the story?

Bloggers down....

Have Charlie and Duncan hung up their keyboards?

Sorry, NAPF!

In last night's post I contrasted the ABI's recent missive to the FTSE350 with the apparent silence on the part of the NAPF and the IMA. It turns out that (not for the first time) I shouted into the internet too quickly, and that the NAPF had actually also written to the FTSE350 with its own concerns about remuneration back in November. So there you are.

Hat-tip: Cheapside House Command Bunker