Welcome to Growth Capital, the podcast from the Quoted Companies Alliance. Our organisation champions public companies. They could be worth a handful of millions or hundreds of millions of pounds. What unites them is they want to grow, they want to innovate. They want good access to capital and the right regulation that supports their mission.

In this podcast, you'll hear from senior business leaders, politicians, regulators, and company advisors, the people that make the rules and make the money. The entire community that must come together to ensure London is the growth capital. I'm James Ashton, the QCA CEO.

I'm a financial journalist and author, and I've worked for the Sunday Times, the evening standard, and the Daily Mail. I'll be leading these important podcast conversations. Find out more about us at theqca.com and listen out for regular new episodes of Growth Capital.

Can boosting shareholder communications and the UK’s stock-buying culture boost liquidity too?

Tell Sid: retail investors are back in vogue unlike at any time since the iconic advertising campaign that was created to drum up interest in the 1980s British Gas privatisation.

But no-one can agree how best to engage them. Virtual meetings and digital documents? Or face-to-face, just like in the old days? First of all, today’s crop of investors need to be clear of their rights and responsibilities.

This conversation features:

Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & Spencer, who is eager to adopt digital-first shareholder communications;

Lord Lee of Trafford, the Liberal Democrat peer and the UK’s first ISA millionaire;

Sheryl Cuisia, director of The Engagement Appeal;

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, one of the “big three” retail investment platforms.

It is chaired by Sangita Shah, non-executive chair of the property services group Kinovo and a QCA board member.

A fireside chat between Sarah Rapson,  deputy chief executive and executive director for supervision at the Financial Reporting Council, and James Ashton, chief executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance.

Can the upcoming review of the FRC’s UK Corporate Governance Code strike the right balance for companies eager not to be hamstrung by “comply or else” reporting?

How effective will a shake-up of non-financial reporting be in cutting the length of annual reports?

And what should smaller firms do, facing soaring audit costs and limited choice in the market?

Should founders stay privately-owned as long as they can, or join an exchange to broaden their investor base source the funds to grow and incentivise their team? What tips a founder to favour one route over the other?

The reasons for not floating currently dominate the agenda, but this conversation seeks to restore some balance.

It features:

Sara Murray, founder and chief executive of Big Technologies, the location-based technology specialist which floated in 2021;

Kiran Shah, co-founder, joint managing director and finance director of The Character Group, the quoted toys and games designer and  distributor;

Cara Haffey, corporate finance partner and deals regions leader at PwC;

Vijay Thakrar, a serial non-executive who has worked with numerous company founders, and currently non-executive director of Alpha Group.

It is chaired by Ben Chu, economics editor of BBC Newsnight.

A fireside chat between Julia Hoggett, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, and James Ashton, chief executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance.

Can London offer a “funding continuum” for growing companies and the founders that lead them? Getting regulation right, bringing back equity research, improving the narrative: what else is needed for our capital markets to thrive?

How can we overhaul regulation, risk appetite, and research so that our public markets become the first choice for growth companies?

This conversation is an honest appraisal of the capital’s challenges with ideas about how they should be addressed.

It features:

Georgina Brittain, managing director of JP Morgan Asset Management and a keen small and midcap investor;

Steven Fine, chief executive of Peel Hunt, the UK investment bank;

Rachel Kent, the Hogan Lovells lawyer conducting a review for HM  Treasury looking at how to revive equity research which stimulates share trading;

City veteran Richard Wyatt, the chairman of equity advisory at Rothschild & Co.

It is chaired by Ben Chu, economics editor of BBC Newsnight.