Some Royal Mail Share Certificates Issued In Error

The Telegraph reports that an employee of Equiniti, the firm handling Royal Mail shares bought via the Government's website, has admitted that a software error was responsible for investors being mistakenly issued with share certificates, according to one shareholder.

The shareholder contacted The Telegraph to say that a member of the company's call centre staff, had "spilt the beans" about the error on the Equiniti web page on which customers chose how they wanted to hold the shares.

The receipt of physical certificates can delay the speed at which an investor wishes to sell/receive the proceeds from the sale of his/her share allocation.

When asked previously about the large numbers of people who claimed to have received unwanted certificates, Equiniti said:

"We have investigated cases which have been brought to our attention and in these cases our records show that share certificates were opted for."

Barclays £12.8BN Hole

Barclays has gone cap in hand to its shareholders today for £5.8BN via a rights issue, in order to help it plug a £12.8BN capital shortfall arising from the new Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) imposed safety buffer.

The Telegraph reports that rights issue will allow existing investors to buy one new share for every four they currently own at a price of 185p, a discount of 40% to they bank's closing share price yesterday. 

Barclays will also issue £2BN of bonds that are turned into shares or wiped out if the bank gets into trouble.

Additionally in its six months results for the first half of this year, Barclays has set aside £1.35BN against further PPI claims, bringing its total compensation fund to just under £4BN, and a further £650M for interest rate swap redress, increasing its provision to £1.5BN.

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins is quoted by the BBC, in a dig at the PRA, warns that plugging the hole will have a negative impact on the economy:

"It means Barclays will provide fewer financial transactions to big companies, life insurers and pension funds, inter alia, to help those giant institutions reduce their risks. And to be clear that will represent a tightening of credit for those customers, so there may be a negative economic impact."

Barclays share price is currently down 7% on the day.

Whitbread Tests Positive For Horsemeat

Despite admitting that some of its lasagne and burger products have tested positive for horsemeat, Whitbread shares are currently showing a modest 0.24% rise (as at the time of writing).

Cynthia Carroll To Leave Anglo American

Anglo American, the mining giant, has announced that Cynthia Carroll will step down as chief executive after six years at the helm, once a replacement has been found.

She has come under increasing pressure from investors over Anglo's deteriorating share price and the company's industrial relations at its platinum operations in South Africa. Earlier this year shareholders asked the chairman to look for a new chief executive. 

Barclays Shares Collapse

Barclays shares are now down 10%.

This is the largest fall in nearly a year.

I wonder where bottom is?

The Faecesbook Clusterfuck - The IPO That Just Keeps Giving

The clusterfuck IPO of Facebook last week is an IPO that, for those who haven't touched these shares with a bargepole, that just keeps giving.

Unsurprisingly these massively overvalued shares fell again yesterday, by 9%. However, Faecesbook mission to "find bottom" in the market is far from over.

The BBC reports that the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are concerned about the way advisers disclosed information to investors, and may review the disclosure process to see if some investors got favourable access.

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that Faecesbook's advisers may have revised their financial forecasts, but that only selected investors were told.

Oops, how very remiss of them!

Morgan Stanley said that the bank had:

"followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all initial public offerings".

In other news, Philip Goldberg (a private investor) has issued a writ against Nasdaq over technical problems on Friday that made a shambles of disrupted Faecesbook's first trading day.

Rest assured, the Faecesbook clusterfuck will run and run!

Faecesbook Shares Tanking

In the event that anyone is interested, shares in Facebook are tanking; they are currently trading at around $33 compared to its offer price of $38 and Friday high of $45.

Friday's IPO was severely marred by the failure of Nasdaq to do what it was meant to do, ie provide up to date price and trade information, instead it wallowed in 2 hour trade confirmation delays.

Now that the technical "snafu" has been sorted, and Morgan Stanley have stopped supporting the price, people have woken up to the fact that Faecesbook was massively overpriced.

No surprises there then!