Selling paper shares?

tunni

Hi I have paper shares in British gas and the National grid that I inherited, I wish to sell them but I do not have a broker or a FA, I just hold the share certs myself.

How do I go about selling them and what % or flat rate would I have to pay and to whom.

Totalling I think the shares are worth between 1k and 2k at most.

I have read some threads but when it comes to this I literally know nothing.

Thank you.

charlieboycat

As a shareholder in a company you can register with that company's Registrar (eg. Equiniti, Computershare) for online account access. This enables you to see your shareholdings, to buy more shares - or to sell those you already have. Registration for online access is simple - since they already know who you are you don't have to go through ID rigmarole. Once you receive log-in ID etc you're up and running. Fees seemed reasonable to me - I didn't do any comparisons but I suspect they're all much of a muchness.

fozzeh

Centrica are around £3.18 per share and NG are £6.06 ish a share so you can base your valuation around that.

You can do the above (via the registrars) but their commission would probably be higher than if you shopped around...plus they're a bunch of **** in general. Let us know what they quote and may be able to offer a recommendation or two. Depends if you want to sell all, hold some or trade in the future.

Oh, and if they aren't in your name or in the name or "Exors of...", you'll need a Grant of Probate to accompany them.

barak

charlieboycat wrote: »

As a shareholder in a company you can register with that company's Registrar (eg. Equiniti, Computershare) for online account access. This enables you to see your shareholdings, to buy more shares - or to sell those you already have. Registration for online access is simple - since they already know who you are you don't have to go through ID rigmarole. Once you receive log-in ID etc you're up and running. Fees seemed reasonable to me - I didn't do any comparisons but I suspect they're all much of a muchness.

Actually - provided you have share certificates in your name and they are registered at your current address you don't even have to register. You can go straight to the websites and sell them in a few minutes.

For British Gas
http://www.shareview.co.uk/products/Pages/CertificatedDealing.aspx

For National Grid
http://www.capitaregistrars.co.uk/share-dealing.aspx

These registrars' dealing services are the simplest and quickest of all - but not the cheapest!

tunni

Thank you for the replies.

The shares were transferred into my name many years ago so that should be all right? I get the divis in my name too.

When you say shop around for possible cheaper options do you mean phone stock brokers? Can you do it through your own bank?

Its all very confusing I will be honest with you, for instance the CAPITA site says

No cost to you - we charge your shareholders to use the service

So does that mean those buying get charged for using the site but not those selling? But I would pay a commission so that is still a fee?
And it seems that EQUINITI would charge me a minimum of £30 commission to sell?
Really I would just like to sell them all so I do not plan to buy more, sorry about all the questions.

marvin

Personally I think the easiest way is register with an online Broker (the cheapest for selling who ever they are) that offer a free paper shares transfer (you send them the shares they transfer them into crest for free) then sell them when money arrives close the account.

Andy7856

Try The Share Centre, "All you pay is 1% of the sale proceeds, with a minimum of £7.50"
I've used them before to flog some old BT shares....

fs110

If you are not in a desperate hurry follow Marvins suggestion. Open a nominee (ie shares held electronically) account with a broker and lodge the certificates into that. This will take approx 10 working days. After that you can sell them through your chosen brokers online service. Depending on who you choose, in the region of £7-£12 flat rate per trade is achievable.

If you dont plan on selling all watch out for whether your chosen broker has a fee if you dont trade within a certain period. Or only lodge the shares you actually want to sell and keep the rest on certificate.

tunni

Thank you al for the help, I think I will take a look at the share centre and a few brokers (Any suggestions on good ones so I do not end up with a charlatan?)

moneylover

we are executors of my mum in laws estate and there are shares to be sold.
I rang Equiniti (registrars for the shares) today and their charges are £20 or 1.5% whichever works out the higher ie £20 is minumum.
Probably all the other registrars charge the same - they get money out of people who dont know anything about share dealing or who cannot be bothered to set up something different when the need arises.

digerati

tunni wrote: »

Hi I have paper shares in British Gas and the National Grid that I inherited, I wish to sell them but I do not have a broker or a FA, I just hold the share certs myself.

How do I go about selling them and what % or flat rate would I have to pay and to whom.

Totalling I think the shares are worth between 1k and 2k at most.

My advice, as a long-term shareholder with a diversified portfolio, would be to NOT sell utility stocks unless you REALLY need the money for something important.

The current yield on Centrica which owns British Gas is 4.7% and the shares have increased in value by 33% this year, outperforming the FTSE 100 by 15%, according to the Share Centre.

With National Grid it's a similar story of around a 5% yield.

You could sell them if you were willing to go for a higher risk/higher yield return.

Of course I know nothing of your personal circumstances so please take this advice with a grain of salt.