Unclaimed BG, Centrica and National Grid Dividends

Dagadog

My girlfriend is a bit of a hoarder. While sorting out some bags of paperwork in her flat, we uncovered a stash of uncashed dividend cheques dating back over about 20 years. The total face value is in excess of £320, and we think there may be more lying around.

Recently she received a couple of letters from a Centrica company offering to reunite her with this missing money for 15% + VAT.

I've seen a number of threads from 2008 suggesting it was possible to contact the registrar directly and reclaim the dividends. Nothing more current though and it looks like National Grid have changed their registrar to Capita.

A message on the National Grid website says:

We are writing to investors that have an entitlement to unclaimed dividend payments that are over 12 months old totalling £40.00 or more. The dividend payments were made either by National Grid plc or by one of the companies which existed prior to the formation of National Grid plc. We have appointed Capita Asset Services (Capita), the registrar for National Grid plc, to help contact you and assist you in claiming the outstanding dividend payments to which you are entitled.This dividend reunification service offered by Capita is voluntary and there are some frequently asked questions on the reverse of the letter you received which you may find helpful.

If you take no action you will not receive your entitlement.

This suggests that this might NOW be the only way to get any of the dividend payments.

Is there still an avenue get something nearer the full value of the dividends, or is Capita Asset Services the only route possible?

Broceliande

Dividends cheques are usually issued to Certificated share holders. Do you hold any certificates for those?

Dagadog

Yes, we also found the original British Gas PLC share certificate, and subsequent issues of the Centrica and National Grid shares.

westy22

Just write to Capita as the Registrars telling them the dividend cheques are out of date and ask them to reissue a consolidated cheque for the total amount due. They should not make any charge for this.

Then make sure your GF remembers to bank it!

CLAPTON

Dagadog wrote: »

Yes, we also found the original British Gas PLC share certificate, and subsequent issues of the Centrica and National Grid shares.

if you started with british gas shares you should now have three different shares in three different companies

Centrica
BG Group plc (exploration)
National Grid

Broceliande

All 3 share certificates should be 1999 or later. The last dividend paid for Centrica was November and BG is due anytime now. If your girlfriend has not changed name or address you should have dividend cheques up to those dates.

As a call to Capita is a premium rate call, writing, as suggested already is the way. Check for ID requirement on their website, just in case, but her signature, if unchanged should be enough.

It may be worth putting those certificates into nominee in future.

Chino

Centrica offers a nominee service called "FlexiShare" which includes an optional dividend reinvestment plan.

"http://www.centrica.com/index.asp?pageid=243"

grey_gym_sock

westy22 wrote: »

Just write to Capita as the Registrars telling them the dividend cheques are out of date and ask them to reissue a consolidated cheque for the total amount due. They should not make any charge for this.

no? i thought registrars did charge for this.

there was a thread in which somebody got the charges reduced, perhaps to a single charge instead of 1 for each dividend.

westy22

I had assumed that these would be small face value cheques (if they total only £320 over 20 years) - Capita do make a small admin charge if the original cheque value was more than £30 -

"Charge for Replacement Dividend cheques and statements.
If the value of the original dividend cheque is over £30, a fee is applicable to cover administration costs. You will need to include a cheque made payable to Capita Registrars Limited with your letter."

Ifts

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

there was a thread in which somebody got the charges reduced, perhaps to a single charge instead of 1 for each dividend.

In that thread the OP got the charges reduced to a single charge - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64528413#Comment_64528413