Shares

tortoiseshellcat

My dad sadly died recently and amongst his paperwork I have found some share certificates. I just wondered how I go about finding out how much these are worth now?

I've looked on the yahoo finance page to try and work it out but it looks a bit complicated :think:

Also is the value for probate purposes the one now or the value on the date of his death (if anybody happens to know this).

I'd appreciate any guidance please. Thank you.

Ifts

Sorry to hear of your loss.

If you can post the names of the companies on the share certificates, I'm sure you will be able to get an answer on here as to what they are currently worth.

Alternatively just type the name of each of the companies in the search box here:

https://www.share.com/a/market-today.html

and the price info should be displayed.

tortoiseshellcat

Thank you, I've just had a quick look on that website. Another thing I don't quite understand is that a couple of the share certificates talk of fully paid ordinary shares of 10p each and a couple talk about Ordinary shares of 25p each. Does this mean that's how much the shares cost at the time...sorry to sound dim but I don't really know much about this at all! The company o these is Lloyds Banking Group.

BLB53

Lloyds Bank shares are currently trading at 24.7p. The share certificates will indicate how many shares were held so just multiply this by the current price to give a value. The shares are currently at an all time low so probably not worth selling at present?

IanManc

tortoiseshellcat wrote: »

Another thing I don't quite understand is that a couple of the share certificates talk of fully paid ordinary shares of 10p each and a couple talk about Ordinary shares of 25p each. Does this mean that's how much the shares cost at the time...sorry to sound dim but I don't really know much about this at all! The company o these is Lloyds Banking Group.

The figures you quote are the nominal value of the shares - it's supposed to represent the amount of capital invested in the company that each share represents. It doesn't bear any relation to the market value.

The nominal value of Lloyds Banking Group shares is now 10p. The nominal value was altered from 25p to 10p when Lloyds took over HBOS.

People who already had Lloyds Banking Group share certificates WEREN'T issued with new certificates - so Lloyds Banking Group certificates for ordinary paid up shares of 25p actually prove ownership of current Lloyds Banking Group shares of 10p each.

It's confusing. If you look at the date on the 10p certificates they'll be newer than the 25p ones - BUT BOTH THE 10p AND 25p CERTIFICATES ARE VALID, so don't destroy any.

Lloyds shares are very low in price at present, and no dividend is being paid. You won't get a good price for them if you sell them now.

I'd suggest you keep them for the long term, and see what happens in a few years time.

You could ring the Registrars who are Equiniti, tell them that the holder has died, check with them that you have found all the certificates for the shares that were held, and ask them to send you the necessary form to transfer the shares into the name of the new holder(s). The form is called a Stock Transfer Form. They'll explain the procedure.

Hope this helps.

IanManc

http://www.digitallook.com/cgi-bin/dlmedia/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=10056

The above link takes you to a page of info on Lloyds Banking Group. On the 6 month share price graph you can move a cursor dot along the price line and it will display in small print above the graph the share price on any give day.

For probate the value required is the one at the date of the death.

tortoiseshellcat

Thanks for all your helpful replies, I've also got some for Lattice Group, national grid, centrica plc and BG plc.

There are also tax vouchers but I'm guessing people automatically get these if they have shares, it doesn't affect the value of the shares does it?

It's so kind of people to give advice as I have no idea what I'm dealing with here. Thank you.

SliAbhaile

You might want to take advice from an accountant on when the valuation should be made.

I have been through probate recently for an aunt who died in 2008. With the massive fluctuations in share prices since then getting the date right was a major issue for us. We (the beneficiaries) got the tax authorities to accept the date we obtained beneficial use of the shares as the date of valuation.

If there are large variations in the values you should seek professional help.

BLB53

I've also got some for Lattice Group, national grid, centrica plc and BG plc.

Lattice no longer exists as it was merged back into National Grid some time ago. The National Grid shares may be the replacement for the original Lattice shares?

The current prices are, National Grid - 606p, BG - 1367p and Centrica - 285p. These have fared much better than Lloyds and, imo are worth continuing to hold on to for the long term. Centrica (trade as British Gas) and National Grid both have decent dividends of 5% and 6% respectively.

Theyarv1

BLB53 wrote: »

Lloyds Bank shares are currently trading at 24.7p. The share certificates will indicate how many shares were held so just multiply this by the current price to give a value. The shares are currently at an all time low so probably not worth selling at present?

I don't mean to sound rude, but it bugs me when people give their opinions like this. The current price is the current price, regardless of where it was in the past. If he has £1m worth (you never know) then this could be awful advice. I would always point out that although you would hold on to them, others may not want the risk depending on how much they are worth or might be desperate for the money. Someone who has never held shares before may also not want the stress associated with shares, especially banking. It all depends on each person's situation.

For instance I hold Centrica and would say ' - keep the Centrica shares, I think long term they are robust and cash generating with a great recent tie up, however that's just my opinion and I'm not qualified to give this advice professionally. I also don't need the cash and hold other investments. What are your goals and needs, and do you even want to have shares?

Ifts

Theyarv1 wrote: »

I don't mean to sound rude, but it bugs me when people give their opinions like this. The current price is the current price, regardless of where it was in the past.

Like you say it is only an opinion (aren't all posts), it is down to the OP if they want to act on it.

I agree the current price is the current price, regardless of where it was in the past. I had a similar question yesterday on another thread, but chose not to reply as apparently I did not understand and didn't want to argue with a stranger on the net.
However I would like to point out that if a share is trading between a certain price range over a period of time (movements in price due to the market rather than news regarding that stock), and if it is obvious when charting the range then I would like to think it is important what you have paid for the share when it comes to selling it (along with other factors), i.e. you don't want to sell it when it is trading at the lower end of the range. And also when the markets are depressed like they are currently you are better to hold, esp when you are talking financial stocks which in some cases are oversold due to the panic in the markets.