Sell shares now or later?

Giddytimes

Hi people,
I don't have much clue about the stock market so apologies if this is a really daft question! I hope it is on the right board.

I have some shares in a company that I want to sell to help bring forward my debt free date, the shares are only worth about £290 but every little helps.

The thing is that I have been informed that shareholders will be getting a dividend from the sale of assets of about £1 a share(so £50 in my case) but we are unlikely to receive it until June time.

If I were to sell the shares now I obviously wouldn't get the dividend but would I lose out? I am thinking that the promise of this dividend will already have bumped the share price up and so I will be getting a higher price by selling now anyway than I would by selling after receiving the dividend?

If my reasoning is correct then I would rather sell now just for the psychological boost of reducing my debt but I don't want to end up £50 out of pocket for the sake of hanging on for 3 months.

I know theres no crystal ball but does anyone have any thoughts on the best option?
Thanks in advance.

cloud_dog

Theoretically on the date a share goes ex-dividend its share price will drop in line with the value ofthe divi, i.e. if the SP today is £1 with a 10p divi (going ex-divi tomorrow) then after tomorrow the SP will be 90p(ish) - give or take. So theoretically you would be no better / worse off.

Obviosuly there are a lot of other variables that can affect the above but thats the general theme. The other thing to consider is what if the stock market, and therefore the SP, fall at somepoint between now and June?? How would you feel? Sometimes you are better off taking what you know rather than hoping for something else. Ultimately the choice is yours and no one on here can really advise you what to do.

cloud_dog