Wal Mart Shares

welshmoneylover

Hi

My 3 year share save scheme is due to mature very shortly and I'm wondering what are the pitfalls if I were to take advantage of buying the wal mart shares and hanging onto them for a few years for them to hopefully gain more value.

The only ones I can think of are:
a) fluctuating exchange rate.
b) price of shares falling in value.

What about CGT? Do foreign shares fall under CGT limits in the UK?

I know I've got to pay a commission fee if I decided to sell them now, but if I wanted to sell them at a later date, can a UK stock brocker sell them for me?

Thanks


Would be grateful if anyone can give me some further information regarding buying & selling foreign shares.

Rafter

I'm guessing you work for Asda?

I would have thought that the HR team would have some link with a stockbroker so you can sell your shares at a future date? No reason why you cannot do this through a UK stock broker though - doesn't need to be special just because WalMart are a US company.

CGT rules are just the same whether the shares are listed in London or elsewhere.

You are spot on with the risks you have identified. Any investment advisor would tell you it is not good to have all your investments in one sector (retail) or one market (walmat is primarily US based). Depends on the sums involved though, and your attitude to risk.

In the short term your shares may fall in value (general thinking is that rises so far this year are a false recovery or 'dead cat bounce). The discount you get through share save schemes might protect against this though?

Good luck

R.