Patisserie Holdings

Just a couple of bits of info relating to Patisserie Holdings - the company behind Patisserie Valerie.

I had a quick look at filings to see if there was anything of note. One interesting disclosure is this TR1 notice showing that back in April Blackrock cut its position from just under 10% (second only to Luke Johnson) to under 5%. I don't know if Blackrock has a typical index holding in AIM-listed stocks, but in any case that's obviously quite a big cut. It came shortly before the H1 results.

Separately, looking back to the January AGM there was a fairly sizeable level of opposition to Johnson's re-election as executive chair. There was a 2.97% vote against, but many more abstentions. In total 18.5% didn't vote in favour (though voting turnout was low). Having had a quick look at voting disclosures, it appears that managers that abstained included Baillie Gifford, Hermes and Royal London. It looks to me like there might also be a proxy adviser recommendation at play here.

There were also 3%+ votes against the report and accounts and the appointment of the auditor. To be honest if I was Grant Thornton I'd be a little bit concerned by this week's events.