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In December 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revised the Listing Rules applicable to companies listed on the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) Main Market to permit the premium-tier listing of companies with specified weighted voting rights shares structures. The revision, broadly based upon the concept of "dual-class stock," was premised on a desire to attract innovative, high-growth firms to the LSE. Founders would now be able to list their firms, sell equity and issue further shares for growth without fully relinquishing voting control. However, the FCA was clearly also concerned that an unconstrained dissociation between voting and cash flow rights could incentivize pernicious behavior on the part of founders. Accordingly, specified weighted voting rights shares structure embodies various conditions that restrain a founder's ability to access the full gamut of advantages that dual-class stock can offer. As a result, specified weighted voting rights shares is more dual-class stock-lite rather than a fully-fledged premium-tier move toward multiple voting rights share structures. Less than two years later, the FCA appears prepared to revisit its approach to dual-class stock. Did the FCA get it wrong with dual-class stock-lite? In this article, each of the conditions attached to the use of specified weighted voting rights shares is scrutinized in the context of whether it appropriately balances the desire of founders for flexibility with public shareholder protection. If the intention was to encourage visionary founders to list their high-growth firms on the LSE, it is understandable that the FCA apparently now has buyer's remorse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study rigorously investigates the intricate dynamics between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), quantified through Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores, and financial performance (FP), measured via the return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), within the UK banking sector. Our analysis is based on a comprehensive dataset from Bloomberg. This research encapsulates data from 32 banks publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange over a six-year span from 2017 to 2022. Employing panel data regression models while controlling leverage and bank size, we delve into the relationship between banks' CSR engagements, as reflected in their ESG scores, and their financial outcomes. Our findings indicate a negative correlation between the ESG score and both the ROA and ROE, suggesting that elevated CSR commitments may inversely impact short-term financial returns. This finding not only challenges prevailing narratives within the sector but also fosters a crucial discourse on the balance between ethical banking practices and profitability. The implications of this research study are manifold, extending to policymakers, banking executives, and investors, suggesting a revaluation of CSR strategies in alignment with long-term value creation and sustainable banking. This study not only enriches academic discourse on CSR within the financial sector but also serves as a beacon for future inquiries into the evolving landscape of responsible banking, advocating for a nuanced understanding of CSR's role in shaping the financial and ethical contours of the banking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates whether mandatory extraction payment disclosures (EPD), a policy intervention involving Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) in extractive industries, affects corporate tax avoidance. Based on a sample of firms listed on the London Stock Exchange over the period from 2010 to 2021, and using the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) model including firm and year fixed effects, results showed a decline in the level of tax avoidance of British extractive firms post-EPD requirement implementation, relative to U.S. extractive/British manufacturing firms not subject to such a requirement. The findings highlight one of the unstated positive consequences of the EPD regulation implementation including discouraging tax avoidance. They should be informative to tax authorities and civil society as they continue to refine existing disclosure requirements and combat tax avoidance. They also support the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)'s (2008) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s (2015) arguments that CbCR facilitates understanding of corporate tax practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the endogenous market choice and its impact on underwriter spread if Alternative Investment Market (AIM) IPOs that meet Main Market (MM) listing requirements had issued equity in the MM during the 1995–2021 period. We find that the spread is 1.33% higher in the AIM than the MM for IPO listings that meet the MM listing requirements. This finding suggests that AIM companies, meeting the MM listing requirements, could have saved more than £100 million by going public through the MM than the AIM market. We also find that this spread differential is attributed to the issuing firms' market self‐selection. We demonstrate that listing requirements in the MM have an impact on the gross spread. The Propensity score matching results show that AIM firms that meet the MM market listing requirements pay a 0.921% higher spread which is significant at a 1% level compared to the MM market IPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the calls in both earnings management and sustainability literature to examine corporate governance patterns, this study fills the sustainability literature gap by shedding light on the moderating role of corporate governance on earnings management and environmental, social and governance performance. Using a sample of UK firms listed on the London Stock Exchange for the period 2016–2020, we find considerable evidence that earnings management reduces environmental, social and governance performance. Importantly, we find that board gender diversity among other corporate governance mechanisms is stronger and more effective in attenuating the negative effects of earnings management on environmental, social and governance performance significantly. We find support for the agency theory that corporate governance mechanisms reduce the managerial exploitation of resources required for sustainable investments and sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paul Samuelson and others suggested that Ricardo ('the richest economist in history') made a life-changing coup on the Stock Exchange after the Battle of Waterloo (1815), but archives reveal that Ricardo amassed his fortune more gradually, often by small profit rates upon large investments, as a jobber on the Stock Exchange and a contractor for seven British Loans. The 1815 Loan generated exceptional profits for Ricardo, but not the million sterling mentioned in unreliable legends about Ricardo or Rothschild. Such legends neglected the stock price statistics, the suboptimal timing of Ricardo's transactions in 1815 and the dominant role of the Baring-Angerstein consortium, which took a much larger part of the Loans than Ricardo's consortium. Insufficient attention was also paid to the special year 1813, when Britain exceptionally launched not one, but two very profitable Loans. After his large 1813 profits, Ricardo started contemplating his retirement and bought Gatcombe Park in 1814. Samuelson neglected this and overestimated the influence of 1815 events. Moreover, Samuelson claimed that today Ricardo might be prosecuted for using unscrupulous market manipulation and inside information. Archives and statistics show that Samuelson's allegations lack historical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical modelling of the magnitude and the frequency of extreme observations is fundamental for a variety of sciences. In this paper, we develop statistical methods of similarity‐based clustering for heteroscedastic extremes, which allow us to group time series of independent observations according to their extreme‐value index and scedasis function (i.e., the magnitude and frequency of extreme values, respectively). Clustering scedasis functions and extreme‐value indices involves the challenge of grouping objects composed of both a function (scedasis) and a scalar (extreme‐value index), and thus the need to partition a product‐space. Our analysis reveals an interesting mismatch between the magnitude and frequency of extreme losses on the London Stock Exchange and the corresponding economic sectors of the affected stocks. The analysis further suggests that the dynamics governing the comovement of extreme losses in the exchange contains information on the business cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of ESG ratings and scores has become ubiquitous in asset management, with 9 in 10 European fund managers in a recent survey using them to support their investment process. Meanwhile, these tools have come under sustained criticism, with detractors highlighting methodological divergences, inconsistent predictive power, and inherent biases. By contrast, less attention has been paid to understanding their design, for which there is little academic research. Building on a framework from Berg, Kölbel, and Rigobon (2022), this article focuses on the first step in constructing an ESG score and a key source of divergence among available solutions: scope, in which ESG topics are defined and selected as material for integration into company assessments. The authors first identify two key stages--topic selection and materiality matrix--in the process of defining scope for an ESG scoring model. Next, they survey approaches to these stages as outlined by regulators and standard setters and developed by ESG score providers. Lastly, they propose three avenues to reduce scope divergence across ESG models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-market repurchase is a popular corporate payout method that public limited company (PLCs) use, and once they have made this decision an announcement is made. However, the announcement does not necessarily mean that the firm will implement the payout, or if it is initiated that they will buy back the entire announced volume of shares. Thus, using a sample of firms listed on the London Stock Exchange that announced an open-market repurchase between 1993 and 2014, we test the determinants of repurchase implementation using probit regressions, and if their influence also extends to the payout's completion using Tobit regressions. The results are not identical in nature, but largely indicate a consistency between the influence patterns. Positive influences are exhibited by firm leverage, the balance sheet's asset base, independent directors and the repurchase's tax efficiency over dividends. Additionally, the volume of shares announced for repurchasing has a positive influence on the payout's implementation, but not its completion, while market capitalisation has a positive influence on the payout's completion, but not its implementation. The findings are most useful for financial practitioners to optimise their portfolio following a repurchase announcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the role of the board of directors in affecting earnings management practices across small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) life cycle. Design/methodology/approach: Data is collected from 280 SMEs listed on the London Stock Exchange during the period of 2009–2016. Fixed effects regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. Findings: This study shows that the impact of the board of directors' roles on earnings management practices varies depending on the SMEs life cycle stage. In the introduction, growth and decline stages of SMEs, the wealth creation role of the board is negatively significant with earnings management, while the wealth protection role of the board is positively significant in the growth and maturity phases. Results suggest that the board's responsibility to create wealth deters early-stage earnings management strategies, while protecting shareholder interests, in latter stages, leads to a decrease in earnings management. Practical implications: The findings suggest that corporate governance should be customized to the specific stage of the SMEs life cycle. Additionally, different life cycle stages may impose different requirements on corporate boards to shape the effectiveness of these mechanisms and constrain earnings management practices. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study offers one of the first insights on the UK SMEs to understand how board functions and earnings management practices vary over SMEs life cycles. It will offer important information on the effect of board features on earnings management in SMEs in the UK and is anticipated to be of importance to policymakers, regulators, investors and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is related to the growth opportunity measures representing the expected growth and their relationship with the real growth of companies. The motivation for this research is based on the evidence that growth opportunity measures may fail to predict future growth as measured by earnings per share. In the presented paper the companies listed on LSE are divided for two groups depending on the market they are traded: FTSE100 index and AIM all-share index. It was found that in both samples the growth opportunity measures relationship with the real growth is significant. The difference between companies listed on the main and alternative markets may influence the efficiency of growth opportunity measures predicting the future growth, and therefore the samples should be analyzed separately. The methods applied in this paper include the correlation analysis between growth opportunity and real growth variables, panel data OLS models with fixed effects and the differences between the correlation and regression tests. It can be concluded that growth opportunity measures predict the growth of companies as measured by EPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of founder characteristics on the selection of business growth strategies in companies undergoing an initial public offering (IPO). The research is based upon quantitative analysis of data from entrepreneur-led IPOs on the London Stock Exchange. The study investigates the impact of founder's work experience, external directorships, education, age, ownership, and the presence of a founder–CEO, on the choice between mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and research and development (R&D) as growth strategies. The results show that founders with a throughput functional background and extensive external directorships are more likely to adopt M&A as a growth strategy. Moreover, founders with higher education levels and a PhD are more inclined towards R&D investment. The findings also suggest that older founders are more likely to invest in R&D, whilst higher levels of ownership tends to deter R&D expenditure. Interestingly, the presence of a founder–CEO is associated with a lower likelihood of investing in R&D and a higher propensity for M&A, although these correlations are not statistically significant. These results shed light on the influence of founder characteristics on strategic decision-making during the IPO stage and provide implications for understanding the dynamics of business growth strategies in transitioning companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financialization is persuading academics and policy-makers that the growth of SMEs can be unleashed by promoting their quotation on stock markets. Is it true? Answering can give clues on the functions that stock markets actually perform in the financialized world, from collecting finance for productive investments, to providing opportunities for value extraction; from a selection device to a risk-sharing mechanism. The associated effects may be amplified in segments catering to companies that do not satisfy the listing requirements of the official list, such as junior markets. In this article, we test hypotheses linking the shape of the firm growth rates distribution to the functions performed by a junior stock market, through quantile regressions. We use a sample of UK manufacturing companies listed on Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior segment of the London Stock Exchange, and comparably small and young unlisted companies. We find that the operating revenues and total assets of AIM-listed gazelles grow faster than for their unlisted peers, after controlling for lagged values of size, age, and growth. Yet, there is a loss reinforcing effect for companies listed on the AIM. After controlling for endogeneity by estimating instrumental variable quantile treatment effects, our findings dismiss the existence of a treatment effect of AIM and are consistent with the stock market attracting relatively risky companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates if the transmission channel of the Global Financial Crisis to 17 Eastern European markets can be directly connected with the US market or one of the three largest European markets. By employing a dummy regression model with a GJR-GARCH and EGARCH frameworks, the results show that Euronext is the main transmission channel for most analyzed markets. Latvia, Russia and Serbia were affected by the London Stock Exchange, while Slovakia showed no contagion. These results show that the crisis's effects and transmission were not identical worldwide. This suggests that measures created to mitigate such crises should be tailored to each market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil and gas reserves and asset decommissioning are the most significant cash flow indicators of the oil and gas industry. Investors use disclosures by oil and gas firms to estimate future cash flows. Thus, this study examines impacts of oil and gas reserve disclosures and disclosures of decommissioning costs of oil and gas assets on the financial performance and value of listed oil and gas companies in the UK. We survey data from 52 listed firms. We conclude that whilst mandatory and voluntary reserve disclosures negatively impact firms' performance, they positively impact value. Mandatory decommissioning disclosures are positively related to performance and value. Voluntary decommissioning disclosures negatively correlate with firms' value, but positively relate with firms' performance. These findings contribute to the debate around the usefulness and impacts of oil and gas reserves disclosures and disclosures of decommissioning costs of oil and gas assets on companies values and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of environmental innovation on CO2 emissions as well as the moderating role of environmental governance in this relationship. Based on a sample of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange for the period from 2016 to 2020, the findings show that environmental innovation reduces CO2 emissions including Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions. Likewise, our findings are associative of a moderating effect of environmental governance on the environmental innovation‐CO2 emissions nexus. We argue that environmental innovation along with better environmental governance leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Our results hold for subsamples of firms with a strong/low environmental governance and ESG performance. Our findings offer important implications for companies and policymakers towards adopting more environmental technologies along with enhancing environmental governance to reduce CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, reached on 17 October 2019, on the stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange are the subject of the paper. The classic event study methodology was used to quantify impact. This research is based on a sample of 138 stocks, divided into five sample sections according to the company’s business sector. In contrast to the research conducted after the referendum, which showed a clear negative impact on almost all of the observed sectors, the research conducted in this paper does not provide a unique conclusion. Three sectors recorded obvious positive effects, namely the financial sector, the food industry, and the medical sector, while no sector suffered obvious negative effects. The remaining two sectors did not provide data to aid in reaching a clear conclusion, as there were positive, negative and statistically insignificant results across different tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research aims to highlight the impact of ownership structure on real earnings management by comparing the firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. The secondary data of 167 Pakistani and 233 UK listed firms is analysed from 2011-2019. The results obtained for both countries shows that ownership structure influences the real earnings management. The results also suggest that real earnings management practices are significantly different in big and small size firms. Further, the impact of ownership structure on real earnings management among the big and small sized firms is different. The results of the study are helpful to the policymakers in reducing the real earnings management. The limitations and future aspects are also elucidated comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that the models supporting the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) and the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) are constructed in the framework of random walk theory. However, a large and growing literature criticizes those models. The Fractal Market Hypothesis (FMH) was proposed as an alternative hypothesis to EMH. The motivation of this study is Peters' [45,46] works that examine the portfolio selection case based on the non-normality framework. The aim of the study is to propose a new approach to theoretical framework of portfolio selection in terms of FMH. Daily observations of 92 stocks traded in London Stock Exchange are used to investigate the fractal behavior. Thus, the Hurst exponents as a means of indicator of a fractal structure are calculated for simulated portfolios. Results of the analysis show that the validity of MPT and EMH is questionable in London Stock Exchange. To examine the relationship between Hurst exponents (as a measure of risk) and returns, scattered diagrams are constructed for 5000 simulated portfolios. Existence of a pattern with a frontier is detected that may enable investors to optimize their portfolios. Further, The Hurst exponents of efficient frontier portfolios of Markowitz are calculated in order to investigate whether there is any linkage with the frontier of simulated portfolios. The results show that major deviations occur between these two frontiers. To understand these deviations, the Lyapunov exponents are suggested for detailed information. As a conclusion, it is recommended that investors should calculate an optimal solution with regards to the Hurst and Lyapunov exponents to maximize their returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of MiFID II on the London Stock Exchange. We find that a tick‐size reduction leads to lower bid–ask spreads, lower trade values, reduced cost of trading at and beyond the best bid‐offer, an acceleration of quote updates, an increase in aggressive trades and a reduction in price impact. Increased tick size widens spreads and increases trading costs. Step functions reveal that liquidity adjusts opposite to the tick change. To determine if impacts are proportional, we identify potential functions that predict cost changes with tick updates, implying that traders adjust their trade sizes according to the new tick levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the authors examine the association between conditional conservatism and deviations of the first digits of financial statement items from what are expected by Benford's Law. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses data of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The authors measure deviations of first digits from Benford's Law following Amiram et al. (2015) and firm-year conditional conservatism following previous studies (Basu, 1997; Khan and Watts, 2009; García Lara et al., 2016). The authors use multiple regressions to provide evidence for their hypothesis. Findings: The results show that conditional conservatism is positively associated with deviations from Benford's Law. The findings are robust across different measures of deviations and conditional conservatism. Also, the authors find that the relationship between deviations from Benford's Law and conditional conservatism is more pronounced for firms with debt issuance, and for leveraged firms facing financial distress. Next, the authors' analyses confirm previous evidence by showing that the first digits of financial statement items of UK listed companies conform to Benford's Law at the firm-specific level and the market level, and deviations of income statements are larger than those of balance sheets and cash flow statements. Research limitations/implications: The research makes significant contributions to the literature. First, this is the first study that provides empirical evidence suggesting that conditional conservatism may be a source of deviations from Benford's Law. Second, the authors provide evidence confirming previous US findings (e.g. Amiram et al., 2015) showing that the distributions of first digits of financial statement items of UK listed companies also conform to Benford's Law. Practical implications: The authors' findings have implications for auditors. Auditors should be aware of "false positive" for material misstatements when using Benford's Law as a risk assessment procedure. While both conditional conservatism and earnings management are related to deviations from Benford's Law, conservatism-related biases could indicate less audit risks. Originality/value: The authors provide new and original evidence suggesting that conditional conservatism is related to deviations from Benford's Law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the market reaction to investment announcements is conditional on company excess cash holdings. Cash may convey significant price‐relevant information about the future cash flows and strategic direction of a company. Using a sample of 4,256 corporate investment announcements by firms listed on the London Stock Exchange over the period 2005–2019, we show that market reactions to new company investment announcements are higher for firms with excess cash holdings. Furthermore, we provide evidence on the relationship between excess cash holdings and market valuation of various investment classes. The results reveal that organic investments are valued more highly by the market than inorganic investments, and the positive impact of excess cash holdings is more pronounced for the set of organic investment decisions, particularly product launches and R&D. Lastly, we evaluate how the motive for holding cash affects the market perception of excess cash holdings. The market views excess cash holdings as positive when cash is held as a result of high exposure to risk, high debt capacity, and high bid–ask spread. Market perception of excess cash holdings reverses from negative before to positive after the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether non‐GAAP reporting affects the audit process and thereby the quality of the related financial statements. First, we provide evidence that auditors in numerous countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, rely to varying degrees on non‐GAAP profit before tax as a benchmark for determining quantitative materiality. Then, using Premium Listed companies on the London Stock Exchange, we document that U.K. auditor reliance on non‐GAAP materiality benchmarks often results in a higher quantitative materiality amount and can lower audit quality. Although U.K. auditors appear skeptical of managers' more aggressive non‐GAAP adjustments, auditors adopt more of management's low‐quality adjustments when auditor independence is weaker. In sum, our results suggest that non‐GAAP reporting can indirectly affect investors by reducing the rigor of the financial statement audit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effects of a shortened settlement cycle on liquidity. Our difference‐in‐difference results show that securities listed on US stock exchanges become more liquid, relative to similarly matched securities listed on the London Stock Exchange, after the standard settlement cycle in the United States was reduced from T+3 to T+2. These results hold across various low‐ and high‐frequency measures of liquidity and empirical model specifications. Furthermore, we find that securities that are more difficult‐to‐borrow experience the greatest gains in liquidity. Our findings might provide insights to regulators and exchange officials considering the adoption of a shortened settlement cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

And finally, Liu brings much of the same analysis into play in a concluding section that looks at the 1936 strike by the "fourteen most powerful tea warehouse firms in Shanghai" against a government plan to revive the tea trade by having the modern banks finance the inland factories at a hugely subsidized rate of interest. Here tea was produced on plantations run by British capital, and the great majority of tea companies were sterling companies, that is, firms floated on the London Stock Exchange. By 1875, 56 of 66 tea companies were managed or owned by an agency house (p. 123), and by 1914, the tea companies 'fetched 22.6 million of investment from British and Indian stock exchanges, numbers that swamped those of competing industries' (p.126). In any case, it is interesting that as the country's tea industry plunged into crisis by the end of the century and Chinese merchants began to be denounced as "unproductive" parasites, the actual solutions proposed by reformers like Chen "were still ostensibly merchant centered" (p. 186). [Extracted from the article]

A 1992 Code of Best Practice developed by a committee Sir Adrian Cadbury chaired revolutionised UK corporate governance. The Code, which introduced non-statutory best practice provisions with which listed companies could choose not to comply so long as they explained why, has evolved into the more expansive UK Corporate Governance Code of today. This article argues that after 3 decades it is time to do away with the code approach and 'comply-or-explain'. Much of the current Code's content is now irrelevant, and disclosure and compliance expectations have escalated to levels that create substantial net costs for companies. Additionally, the Code is now being used to address 'stakeholder' issues for which the Code's shareholder enforcement dependent comply-or-explain mechanism is poorly suited. The Code correspondingly should be abolished, with some key points it addresses being dealt with instead by new disclosure requirements under the Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this research is to examine the effects of financial instruments declared under IFRSs on value relevance over thirteen years. The research sample included 35 European enterprises that were listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2019. This study focuses on the adoption of IFRS.7 and IAS.32 disclosure standards, in line with previous studies. The Ohlson model (1995) was utilised in the study to evaluate the dependent variable since it is the module used most often in determining value relevance. The findings indicated that financial knowledge about financial instruments (FI) was typically valuable throughout the research. In addition, the significance of financial instruments and other disclosures when examining sub-components were not valued as relevant but rather provided information regarding the kind and level of exposure to FI risks. Furthermore, the earnings and book value of the common equity have a favourable impact on the value relevance. Hence, the key contributions of this study went beyond enriching the body of literature to make recommendations regarding the most influential determinant among financial instrument items that positively enhance value relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a unique sample of hand-collected profiles of foreign directors over the period of 2006–2016, I examine whether foreign directors' board representation improves its dual role of monitoring and advising executives. The setting for this study is Russian public companies' boards of directors. I find that foreign directors' board representation is positively associated with the probability of Russian companies' cross-listing on London Stock Exchange's Main Market, alone or in combination with other markets. Non-London stock exchanges that are popular among Russian companies are characterized by less rigorous listing and reporting obligations as compared to London Stock Exchange. Accordingly, foreign directors enhance the boards' advisory role but only in cases in which their expertise is critical. Notably, foreign directors' serving on the audit committee is related to lower discretionary accruals and is associated with fewer modified audit opinion instances, thereby constraining managerial opportunistic behavior and enhancing the board's monitoring role Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G30; G34; J15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates aspects of digital trade in the United Kingdom and the possibility of adopting this experience in Ukraine. The authors analyse the performance of digital trade by segment and identify three clusters based on which they construct a mechanism for introducing the U.K. experience into the development of digital trade in Ukraine. By means of indicator systematization, the authors track the dynamics of gross value added in the sectors of IT, software and computer services, computer programming, consulting, and software publishing. The work identifies the tech companies based on the data of London Stock Exchange. Based on the analysis of average earnings in the U.K. digital sector by age group, the authors substantiate their suggestions aimed at creating new jobs for all age groups in Ukraine. Graphics illustrate the dynamics and trends of GDP growth from investment into digital technology in the United Kingdom over the period from 2020 to 2040. Based on this, the authors delineate the factors of influence and design the mechanism of introducing the U.K. experience into the development of digital trade in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of corporate social responsibility on the financial performance of firms listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Using data for 50 firms spanning 2008–2017, our study reports that the environmental performance has positively influenced the stock price of both the product and service‐based firms listed on LSE. Similarly, it enhanced the return on capital for product‐based firms while reducing them for service‐based firms. In contrast, social activities have a significant negative impact on the stock price of the product and service‐based listed firms. Likewise, social performance has a significant negative impact on the return on capital of service‐based firms listed on LSE. However, we find an insignificant relationship between governance disclosure and the stock price and the return on capital for product and service‐based firms. This study has implications for policymakers of stock markets to issue rigid regulations to enforce all listed firms to disclose their environmental activities to stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the relationship between CEO tenure and cost of debt. Using a sample of the FTSE All-Share Index firms listed on the London Stock Exchange for the period 2009 to 2018 and the ordinary least squares regression (OLS) estimation method, we find that cost of debt is higher for firms with CEOs in their early tenure in office than those in their later tenure in office. Further analysis shows that board independence attributes including (1) the proportion of independent directors on the board, (2) full (100%) independent audit committee members, and (3) a lead independent director representation on the board interact with CEO early tenure in office to reduce cost of debt due to the board's effective monitoring ability when the CEO is new and risk-seeking. Our study extends CEO tenure and corporate outcomes in general and in particular CEO risk-taking incentives and cost of debt literature, and has important implications for firms seeking to raise finance from the debt market when their CEO is new as well as identifying the control mechanisms that they need to put in place to lower the cost of debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community structure detection is an important and valuable task in financial network studies as it forms the basis of many statistical applications such as prediction, risk analysis, and recommendation. Financial networks have a natural multi-grained structure that leads to different community structures at different levels. However, few studies pay attention to these multi-part features of financial networks. In this study, we present a geometric coarse graining method based on Voronoi regions of a financial network. Rather than studying the dense structure of the network, we perform our analysis on the triangular maximally filtering of a financial network. Such filtered topology emerges as an efficient approach because it keeps local clustering coefficients steady and it underlies the network geometry. Moreover, in order to capture changes in coarse grains geometry throughout a financial stress, we study Haantjes curvatures of paths that are the farthest from the center in each of the Voronoi regions. We performed our analysis on a network representation comprising the stock market indices BIST (Borsa Istanbul), FTSE100 (London Stock Exchange), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NASDAQ), across three financial crisis periods. Our results indicate that there are remarkable changes in the geometry of coarse grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Keynes's investments in sterling securities 1922–1945. • Investment sectors in Keynes's portfolio. • Keynes's core holdings. • Keynes's general investment philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unequal voting rights arrangements under dual class share structures are increasingly favoured by entrepreneurs and founders of technology companies, in order to retain a degree of control over the company that is disproportionate to their equity shareholdings. The rise of such share structures around the world has put competitive pressure on the UK Government and the country's financial regulator to relax the one share, one vote principle in the premium listing regime of the London Stock Exchange, to ensure the UK equities market remains world-leading and fit for the future development of the economy. There is, however, a long tradition of institutional investors' distaste for dual class share structures. In fact, the near extinction of dual class listings in the UK capital markets can be largely attributed to the opposition of large British institutions. Therefore, this paper will critically discuss the conflict between the demands to attract listings from high-tech and innovative companies and concerns of a race to the bottom in the UK context. It rebuts criticisms based on investor protection and argues that if dual class companies were permitted to list in the Premium Segment, the higher level of regulatory protection provided in the premium listing regime would help enhance minority shareholder protection and shareholder engagement. The additional safeguarding measures, as we have seen from other global financial centres, would also help to restrain the potential abuse of controllers' weighted voting power. Together with the market mechanism, permitting dual class listings in the Premium Segment should be welcomed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact that macroeconomic variables such as interest rates, exchange rate, employment rate, gold prices, real gross domestic product (GDP) and public sector budget deficit have on the stock prices of London Stock Exchange, the FTSE 100 index. This study extends the existing research using a new variable, public sector budget deficit, and also fills the gap as there is a paucity of studies investigating the relationship in the United Kingdom. Quarterly time series data for the period Q1 2008 to Q4 2019 is used with the help of three main analysis techniques: Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Granger causality test. The findings reveal that only interest rates and exchange rates influence the stock prices of FTSE 100. The OLS test reveals that overall, the regression predicts the dependent variable, but interest rate is the only variable with a significant relationship to FTSE 100, while the Granger causality test reveals that the only variable that Granger-causes FTSE 100 is the exchange rate. The results highlight that FTSE 100 is more sensitive to interest rates and exchange rates, and not sensitive to employment rate, real GDP, gold prices and public sector budget deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]