Reclaim lost assets for free discussion

benbev wrote: »

I'm hoping someone can help me here. About 20 years ago I inherited some shares (not of great value) in NFC (national freight carriers). I have moved several times since and have mislaid the certificates, I'm not even sure if I notified the registrars of moving. NFC are now non existent. I dont have a permanent address at present although can use friends/family addresses and I'm also out of work. If I could trace these shares it would be a great help.

After Googling and some digging around, maybe an answer to what happened to National Freight Carriers/NFC, but it's slightly confusing as there seem to be two possible ways it could have gone. I've found references to two, or in fact three NFCs - National Freight Carriers, and also National Freight Corporation (who later became the National Freight Consortium). I can't make out if these were two different organisations, or the same one at different times.

Perhaps some of the following may jog someone else's memory who can help more or know of better places to look.

Some links and extracts which may or may or not be relevant, depending if the two NFCs are the same company.

http://www.tripatlas.com/LYNX%20Express
This extract is about LYNX (now part of UPS) but mentions National Freight Carriers/NFC:

LYNX Express history dates back to the privatisation of the British Railways, post World War II. Each of the pre-nationalisation companies had formed a local delivery network, based on lorries and vans, to extend the railway to the customers door, thus enabling parcels and light freight to be delivered in the control of the railway company.
After nationalisation, and following various guises in between, these services were amalgamated to form a division of British Rail Services, known in its shortened version of BRS Parcels. Together with the UK government-owned national road transporter National Carriers, the company was privatised as BRS Road Services as part of National Freight Carriers and it's sister company "Roadline", in the late 1980s under policy of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.
After privatisation, BRS purchased British Rail's remaining local delivery asset, Red Star parcels. The resulting company, now encompassing three different road transport organisations, was renamed LYNX Express. Following the launch of LYNX, it eventually achieved that goal in the late 1990s, still under its privatised NFC parent. However, it was promptly sold off, achieving its current status. The acquisition of Red Star followed soon afterwards.

http://www.railwaybritain.co.uk/brit...0services.html
A timeline for British Road Services, where NFC is mentioned 6 or 7 times from 1969 to 2000 through various mergers, takeovers etc. There's much the same on another page at the same site about Railway Road Haulage Services, http://www.railwaybritain.co.uk/road...0services.html
and on another page this general para:

From the late 1960s to the 1990s there was a gradual privatisation of all of the ancillary services once associated with the railways. These included public corporations such as National Freight Corporation (NFC), British Transport Docks Board, Atlantic Steam Navigation, Sealink UK Ltd, BR Hovercraft Ltd, British Transport Advertising, British Rail Workshops and British Transport Hotels.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/National_Freight_Corporation
This page is about the National Freight Corporation, which was later privatised/floated (about 1989) and was then known as the National Freight Consortium or NFC plc.
As in the first piece above in connection with National Freight Carriers, there's mention of LYNX, which is why I wonder if the two NFCs were in fact one and the same at different points in the company's history.
According to the page, this NFC merged with Ocean Group plc in 2000 and became Exel (there's also an old Guardian article about it).
If you click the link on the Exel name from the Wapedia page, NFC is mentioned as part of the company's history. Exel is said to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post now, who acquired it in 2005.
This ties in with the following…

http://boards.thisismoney.co.uk/tim/...5&thread=82768
A 2008 thread started by someone who'd found an old share certificate for NFC plc. The only reply refers to the NFC > Exel > Deutsche Post history and suggests Lloyds TSB Registrars as the registrars to contact, but points out this dates from 2005.

Lloyds TSB Registrars don't exist any more - sold off and became Equiniti.

I get the feeling all these slightly different versions of NFC, whether it's Carriers, Corporation or Consortium, probably refer to the same company, but could be wrong.

If no one comes up with anything more definite for you, I suggest giving Equiniti a call to ask about your shares and if they're the right registrars. I did this about a year ago (not Equiniti, one of the others) as I had a few old shares in a company which had been taken over. They were quickly able to confirm they were the right people, and just as quickly looked me up on the share register held for the former company. They explained how to apply for the amount I was due from the takeover: for me this only involved writing them a letter enclosing the share certificate, which I sent Recorded. The cheque came a couple of weeks later: there was no fee deducted. As you don't have your share certificate, the procedure could be different.

If Equiniti are not the right registrars, maybe they could suggest who would be or how you would find out?

Their contact details:
http://www.equiniti.com/contact_us.asp

Hi all i was wondering if anybody knew how to go on.i opened an account in 1990 with Northern Rock and have just found my pass book with £26.92 in it.I completely forgot about my account with these.ive been on to the mylostaccount.com site and filled in all parts.Is it possible for me to get this money back or have i lost it? any help would be great.