Royal Mail Shares

Crater

Steve10086 wrote: »

Are people still receiving emails, or is it safe to assume that if you've not got one yet you won't be getting one? I am 100% certain I opted to keep my shares in the nominee account. I did read the options carefully and didn't want a share certificate as I have no idea what to do with one!

Someone posted that emails will all be sent out by 17:30.

Which box did you tick? (Warning: trick question .)

Regardless, we've already heard that someone who opted for Nominee was told by an agent he'd opted for a certificate ... then when she checked, lo, he had opted for nominee! This was an excuse why he hadn't recieved his email, but the reality is ... a lot of them haven't been sent yet.

tuk

paddyrg wrote: »

The wording was confusing for sure, but if we're buying shares we really should understand what that means.

That is the whole point of the Prospectus & other misc info, to help us understand, if we don't understand or are confused by the process, then the Prospectus & other misc info are simply not fit for purpose.

mcscoty1973

I am confused a bit now. I ticked the first option that said nominee account. If I rember correctly the bottom option was the one for share certificate.

AndyBSG

pauljoanss wrote: »

You are being selective in your evidence and ignoring those reporting they will receive certificates when they ticked Nominee.
Just tried to phone, gave up after 15 mins of "you are in a queue". Again another example of no information, what about "you are in a queue at position seven", the technology exist, many use it.

Yet not one of those people has supplied evidence that they did tick the box they say they ticked.

Given that many of those are the same ones complaining because they didn't read the prospectus and realise it could take up to two days for them to be able to trade I think I can be excused for not having much faith in their attention to detail or ability to read instructions.

doctorsaint

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

I am confused a bit now. I ticked the first option that said nominee account. If I rember correctly the bottom option was the one for share certificate.

If you ticked something then you have selected to receive a share certificate, not the nominee account.

So after all of your moaning about the incompetence of others it turns out you have not read the prospectus or even the application form properly...

DominicH

brasso wrote: »

So the root cause of this issue is the stupidly low offer price of the shares, which has created more shareholders than envisaged. But a secondary problem is the failure of the authorities to predict that in the Betfair / National Lottery age, a lot of these first-timers have treated the privatisation of the Royal Mail as nothing more than a very short term lottery ticket.

I don't think it's anything to do with the "Betfair age". People have always been interested in turning a quick profit. Much the same comments were made in earlier privatisations. And it wasn't new then. South Sea Bubble, anyone?

Anyway, a few weeks ago people were wondering if the Royal Mail sale would flop. It's really hard to price these things. Only a little bit higher and people might have hesitated, and it's a very fine line between a flop and a stampede. From what I remember of the '80s privatisations, this one has been quite sedate. Back then, your granny who wouldn't know a share certificate from a tea-towel would be discussing the offer price with her friends at the bingo.

(Apologies for the granny stereotype . I'm sure there are plenty of savvy investors on here who happen to also be grandparents.)

mcscoty1973

So it would appear from the wording described above, so hands up, I am the one who appears to have made the mistake. However the way it was done was not very user friendly, and I am sure a lot of other people are in the same boat because of the confusing wording.

All I will say is that I hope the person who set up the online form is not the same person who writes the next ballot paper, otherwise be afraid, be very afraid!!

doctorsaint wrote: »

If you ticked something then you have selected to receive a share certificate, not the nominee account.

So after all of your moaning about the incompetence of others it turns out you have not read the prospectus or even the application form properly...

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

brasso wrote: »

Here's how I see it:

• Because the shares were valued too low, the demand has been high.
• Because the demand has been high, a decision was made to favour the 'small investors'.
• This meant far more shareholders than initially envisaged.
• Because the shares were valued too low, the price has risen higher than expected.
• Because the price has risen higher than expected, a lot of these small investors are now desperate to claim their winnings.
• Because a lot of these small investors are all now desperate to claim their winnings at the same moment, the infrastructure can't cope.

So the root cause of this issue is the stupidly low offer price of the shares, which has created more shareholders than envisaged. But a secondary problem is the failure of the authorities to predict that in the Betfair / National Lottery age, a lot of these first-timers have treated the privatisation of the Royal Mail as nothing more than a very short term lottery ticket.

It's being treated a bit like a legal scam, like those situations where people are happy to flood websites to buy goods that have been priced down in error. They know they've hit lucky but still moan like hell when they don't instantly get the goods, and talk about taking legal action.

It's been a disaster for the Tories, who wanted this to be 'popular capitalism' with a new generation of people being introduced to the world of investment and shareholding. But in this instant gratification age, they didn't predict that people don't care about dividends and long term wealth building.

Just gimme the money -- and quick.

Depressing really.

I concur. When I first started coming on this part of MSE people kept "droning on" about investing and shares are for the long term and get rich slowly.

How the worm seems to have turned with this Royal Mail flotation. In a bazaar twist feels like I am the only one with a buy to hold view on Royal Mail and am looking forward to my dividends.

brasso

DominicH wrote: »

I don't think it's anything to do with the "Betfair age". People have always been interested in turning a quick profit. Much the same comments were made in earlier privatisations. And it wasn't new then. South Sea Bubble, anyone?

Anyway, a few weeks ago people were wondering if the Royal Mail sale would flop. It's really hard to price these things. Only a little bit higher and people might have hesitated, and it's a very fine line between a flop and a stampede. From what I remember of the '80s privatisations, this one has been quite sedate. Back then, your granny who wouldn't know a share certificate from a tea-towel would be discussing the offer price with her friends at the bingo.

(Apologies for the granny stereotype . I'm sure there are plenty of savvy investors on here who happen to also be grandparents.)

Maybe you're right, and yes, I'm old enough to remember "Tell Sid" etc.

I think the earlier privatisations were even more oversubscribed actually. There was indeed talk about the prices going up and down but I don't recall the clamour to sell straight away. Perhaps the internet age has created that expectation. I don't recall how it was done back then but I guess it must have been all cheques and letters.

There was a lot of talk in the week or two leading up to the RM flotation of the price being way too low, so I can't help feeling there should have been a mechanism to review it. I read in the FT that this was investigated, but that some of the big City pension funds "threatened" to withdraw their applications if the price was a lot higher.

But anyway, unless people are desperate for the cash right now, I'd advise them to try to forget about selling and just sit on the investment and treat it as savings. The dividends alone will be much higher than bank interest rates and the share price is still likely to move higher despite short term volatility.

Quentin

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

So it would appear from the wording described above, so hands up, I am the one who appears to have made the mistake. However the way it was done was not very user friendly, and I am sure a lot of other people are in the same boat because of the confusing wording.

All I will say is that I hope the person who set up the online form is not the same person who writes the next ballot paper, otherwise be afraid, be very afraid!!

What????

Don't tell us you are permitted to vote as well as click and buy shares online!!!