RESPONSES TO THE KAY REVIEW INTO SHORT-TERMISM
STEPHEN HADDRILL FINANCIAL REPORTING COUNCIL
Quarterly reporting adds little by way of new information and can be easily manipulated, but it does provide a regular short-term trading opportunity, and, given the continuing requirement on companies for timely disclosure of market sensitive information, we support its abolition.
SIR TERRY LEAHY FORMER TESCO CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Sir Terry told the review he “did not feel he had enjoyed such a relationship with analysts and fund managers… The interaction had deteriorated rather than improved: that analysts and fund managers had become more concerned with quarterly numbers and with earnings guidance, and less with the strategic direction of the business.”
NEIL WOODFORD | INVESCO
The fund management industry should be to connect the nation’s savings with the capital needs of business, and hold professional management to account… I believe that the industry has been and still is failing to perform these fundamental roles adequately. At the heart of this is the all-pervasive culture of short-termism. It is probably best represented by the average holding period in the UK market of less than 10 months.