MyTravel

ladymarmalade222

I am looking for some help for my brother. He was talked into buying some shares by HSBC (could have been Midland Bank then) in 2002 and they recommended MyTravel. He invested £2000 and received a certificate with the amount of shares. He moved house and tried to contact who dealt with the shares, HSBC said it had nothing to do with them and kept fobbing him off so he left it.

Now my brother is not not the best candidate for anything complicated and has since brushed it under the table and convinced himself he has now lost the money. I sort out all his finances and swapping him onto deals and was dealing with something at his house when he mentioned these shares.

He seems to think they changed over to another company but without any contact details on the certificate he is stuck.

Does anybody know where I can go to find out whether these are still worth anything. I am just annoyed that the bank obviously received their commission from the sale and now do not want anything to do with him and will not help.

Many thanks in advance.

xxx

alanq

HSBC may have acted as broker in obtaining the shares but after that it was nothing to do with them.

A quick look at Wikipedia reveals that MyTravel merged with Thomas Cook.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyTravel_Group

A quick look at the Thomas Cook web site gives contact details for the registrar (Equiniti).
http://www.thomascookgroup.com/faqs/?from=10

ladymarmalade222

Many Thanks alanq.

As you can see I am very green when it comes to shares and to be honest my brother is far worst than myself. I am very annoyed he was talked into these.

I will get him to speak to Equinti in the morning.

I have googled a little bit and it looks like the shares plummeted quite recently so I suspect he has lost quite a bit.

I would be grateful if anybody has had these shares knows what they are roughly worth from 2002, or has been in a similar position.

Many thanks again

xxx

mf78

How many shares does he own?

ladymarmalade222

When they were MyTravel shares I think it is around 2200 (I may be wrong) but from what I am reading they have swapped over to a much lower amount. I can get the exact amount @10p each from him if it helps. I just know he paid £2000 in 2002 through HSBC.

Many thanks

xxx

alanq

ladymarmalade222 wrote: »

When they were MyTravel shares I think it is around 2200 (I may be wrong) but from what I am reading they have swapped over to a much lower amount.

"MyTravel Group plc shareholders received one Thomas Cook Group plc ordinary share for every one MyTravel Group plc share previously held."
http://ara2008.thomascookgroup.com/shareholder_info/shareholder_info.html

TCG currently around 157p per share.

ladymarmalade222

Ok, I have just spoken to him and he has 7480 shares @10p each. He has just spoken to Equiniti (thank you alanq). He has been told he would get £381 + £90 dividends.

It is going to cost him £70 for a new certificate due to not having his current address so if he cashed them in he would get £401 from his initial £2000.

Would you suggest he keeps hold of them, are they likely to rise in value? :rotfl: I understand nobody has a crystal ball but was just asking opinions.

He is not desperate for the money but if they are not likely to make anymore money he may as well put the money in his ISA.

Thanks once again for your help.

xxx

alanq

That's sad. I thought things were looking quite good. Unfortunately my quick research missed a 30 for 1 consolidation of MyTravel shares in 2005.

7480 old MyTravel became 249 new MyTravel that became 249 Thomas Cook.

249 Thomas Cook shares at £1.57 (approx) each comes to £390 (approx) so that seems to tally.

Brother bought the shares in 2003 and in 2004 "the company fought off bankruptcy". So much for getting investment advice from HSBC!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2913074/MyTravel-rides-out-tsunami.html

alanq

According to Hargreaves Lansdown the current consensus is that the shares are a "strong buy" at the current price.
http://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/t/thomas-cook-group-plc-ordinary-eur0.01

Ifts

ladymarmalade222 wrote: »

Ok, I have just spoken to him and he has 7480 shares @10p each. He has just spoken to Equiniti (thank you alanq). He has been told he would get £381 + £90 dividends.

I think you will find the 10p is the Nominal Value of the Share thats indicated on the Share Certificate.

This is different from the Market Value of the Share, which is the actual value of the share and the amount for which it can be bought or sold.
Nominal Value of a Share is of little importance to you, its the Market Value of the share thats important.

If I understand it correctly from previous posts, your brother got -

"MyTravel Group plc shareholders received one Thomas Cook Group plc ordinary share for every one MyTravel Group plc share previously held." (as posted by alanq in post #6)

then its: Number of Shares X Current share price of TCG = Value of Share Holding


Edit: Thought there was something amiss here with you being offered so little for them, but post 8 clarifies why (30 for 1 consolidation of MyTravel shares in 2005!).

grey_gym_sock

alanq wrote: »

According to Hargreaves Lansdown the current consensus is that the shares are a "strong buy" at the current price.

HL are only summarizing the average views of brokers. i wouldn't rely on brokers' views at all.

if you want to know the average views of all market participants (not just brokers) about what the shares are worth, then that's the current share price.

if brokers were better than the market consensus at picking good shares to buy, they would be making money by buying them, not by putting out bits of research which are mainly designed to attract other business to their employer.