A Very Small Shareholder Problem

autolycus

I'm helping a friend to sell a modest holding of Rolls-Royce shares. She has certificates for all but three shares - presumably three that were issued as part of the scrip dividend - share conversion lark. Letters of Indemnity and replacement certificate fees seem likely to cost several times the value of the lost shares (about 18 quid)

What will happen if she sells only the ones she has certificates for? Is there any way of renouncing ownership of the last three, just to make things easier for her eventual executors? What will happen if she marks future correspondence "gone away" and returns it to the Registrars (Computershare).

barak

I sympathise, as I have an envelope full of Rolls-Royce share certificates obtained in the same way. I don't think the "gone away" route will help as the shares will remain in her name on the share register.

One possible solution has just occurred to me which may be acceptable and would save anybody any trouble in the future. She may be able to gift her three shares to charity without producing a certificate.

See http://www.sharegift.org/?q=home-news

Under "Donating Shares/Lost Certificates" you will find the following -

Lost Certificates
In most cases you can still donate your shares even if you do not have your share certificate. Please send us full details of your shareholding, including your full registered name, address, the number of shares that you hold, and your shareholder reference number. You will find this information on most correspondence sent to you by the company- for example on dividend tax vouchers.

I suppose your friend would need to sell the shares for which she has the certificates first, and then offer the odd three to Sharegift, making sure she has kept a note of her Shareholder Reference Number.

I would suggest contacting Sharegift before doing anything, as they will be able to confirm that they can accept Rolls-Royce shares.

autolycus

Progress!

Computershare had (twice) replied with their standard guff about LOIs, but when I phoned them, told me that all this was waived for very low values of certificates, and they'll send a new certificate foc.

So all it has cost is the charge for the 0870 phone call. Lesson for all whose filing systems are not always perfect: hold shares in nominee accounts unless you have a good reason not to.

catz1ct

If the shares are worth under £100 there will be no charge for a new certificate. The people in the call centre probably don't have a brain cell to tell you that though.