The analysts who were left out in the cold – Provident Financial stops analysts from coming into London Stock Exchange meeting
Security at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is notoriously tight, but was there another reason why two analysts were turned away from a meeting with Provident Financial?
Word reaches The Capitalist that two City figures were shunned from the event yesterday for having committed the sin of placing a “sell” recommendation on the firm’s stock.
The two analysts, Panmure Gordon’s Jeremy Grime and Liberum’s Justin Bates, claim that they were denied access for their negative view.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for Provident said that it was the analysts who had snubbed the firm, claiming that the company sent more than one invitation to both analysts ahead of the meeting, but neither RSVP’d in time so were turned away at security.
He added: “The security at the building is like an airport. Being sellers definitely wasn’t an issue, we had other sellers at the meeting.”
Bates told The Capitalist he did forget to RSVP, but this hasn’t stopped him getting in before.
He said: “I sent Provident an email at 7:50 am just so they’d know I was coming. Neither of our names was on the list, but the reception desk told us to contact Provident so they knew we were there and could let us in.
“The person I spoke to said we were too late. I asked if he was joking. He said he wasn’t and would leave it to us to decide if it was anything to do with our seller status.”
A spokesperson for the LSE confirmed that it was Provident who stopped them coming in.
The meeting was held on the fifth floor of the LSE building, home to Numis – who are themselves a seller of the stock…well that’s one way to beat security.