Standard life share offer Warning

DavidP24

The reason you get put through to CAPITA when you call the NON CAPITA number is that CAPITA are rhe registrar.

It is a conflict of interest and even the Standard life press releases divert unsuspecting shareholders to this RIP OFF company who do not tell you that you have to insist on not being charged.

DavidP24

I thought it worth updating those who have still not claimed their Standard Life shares and what has happened to these.

If you claim your shares you will get the dividends all the way back to 2006, BEWARE to call the right number below or you will lose 15% PLUS VAT if you use Capita.

In Sept 2014 the company went through a consolidation selling off the Canadian subsidiary, at this time they reduced the number of shares, for every 11 shares you were entitled to you will get 9, but you will also get 73p per share for that sale in addition to dividend payments.

So adding all the dividends back to 2007 including an estimated 9p payable in May, I reckon for each 100 shares you would get approx £137.23 plus the 73p return after consolidation, so £210.23. If you sold the shares today at 340 your 100 shares would now be 81 after consolidation, so you would get £278.18+£210.23=£488.41 (gross of tax)

If you went via Crapita for both of these you would lose £87.91 per 100 original shares just for calling the wrong number and not saying I DO NOT WANT TO PAY YOUR STINKING FEE! You can sell shares via other companies and not be stung for as much as 15% nor 15% on dividend, both PLUS VAT.

I would not sell the shares at the moment, they were 560 in March 2015 and as I write this are around 340 up from 324 on Feb 11th 2016. The sector has been devalued due to reforms in the industry but outlook suggests share price is low at the moment, especially as there is more changes in this market which may lead to a buy out.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f37bc45e-92bc-11e5-94e6-c5413829caa5.html

You can expect Crapita to do an all out last push for missing shareholders and some of those people to sell their shares, but also once July has passed the obligation to the missing shareholders goes and the company will pocket up to £18m or may even pay it out as a dividend.

Get your claim in before July, just don't sell and definately don't sell via crapita!

Info about the shares and company prospects

http://www.lse.co.uk/shareChat.asp?ShareTicker=SL.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11077346/Standard-Life-the-best-way-to-take-your-windfall-all-your-questions-answered.html

https://www.barclaysstockbrokers.co.uk/Market-Insight/Analysis/Pages/Corporate%20Action%20docs/standard-life-030315.aspx

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/shares/11437775/Standard-Lifes-decision-to-return-nine-shares-for-every-11-has-left-me-worse-off.-Why.html

Standard_Life_ wrote: »

Only a few months to go for those still to claim demutualisation shares or cash

There are only a few months to go for those who have still to claim their shares or cash following the demutualisation of The Standard Life Assurance Company in 2006. We are continuing to try and track down those who may be eligible so if you have been contacted by Capita, our Registrars, please respond before time runs out.

When Standard Life demutualised in 2006 around 2.4 million policyholders were entitled to shares or cash. Of these, some 300,000 policyholders failed to make a claim.

Since then, we have worked to unite those policyholders with their assets, making substantial inroads through various campaigns. In October 2014 we asked our Registrars, Capita Asset Services, to undertake a further programme focusing on the remaining 61,000 or so people still to claim.

Those who applied for a with profits policy with The Standard Life Assurance Company by March 2004 and the policy was in force in May 2006 may be eligible. These entitlements are held in an Unclaimed Assets Trust and the last date for claims is 9 July 2016.

Capita (AKA Crapita) Asset Services is providing a RIP OFF service for anyone who has a valid claim. They will handle the claim on your behalf, for an administration fee of 15% plus VAT which will be deducted from any cash or dividend entitlement.

Alternatively, claimants can contact Standard Life Shareholder Services directly. This service is free of charge.

In the UK (open 8.30am to 5.30pm):

DO NOT CALL Capita Asset Services: 0345 608 1478* or +44 (0) 20 3471 6853*

DO CALL Standard Life Shareholder Services: 0345 113 0045* or +44 020 3367 8224*

Make sure you tell the person you DO NOT WANT TO PAY FEE

simoneves

I am both happy and sad. I am happy that I found this thread. I am sad that I didn't get my !!!! in gear and deal with this a year ago instead of procrastinating, and then forgetting completely, until I happened to find Capita's most recent letter and realize there are only 12 days left to claim my shares, and of course the share value has tumbled since you-know-what last week!

I am currently in the middle of extracting my policy info from SL themselves, since mine was a pension which I shut down a long time ago and have no remaining paperwork for. Hopefully, tomorrow, once somebody who's not working evening overtime, and has access to a particular e-mail inbox, has extracted my e-mail with a PDF scan of my signature and other info, they will give me my policy number and any other details I need to claim the shares.

However, I then found this thread.

So, to confirm, I can call SL Shareholder Services (the numbers in BLUE in the previous post) and I still have the option of requesting a share certificate to keep them, or selling them WITHOUT paying the 15%, or can I only sell them through Capita?

Given the state of the market right now, I assume I would however be very foolish to sell them, but be better off taking the shares and keeping them until (hopefully) some amount of recovery?

DavidP24

You do NOT have to sell them right now

Be warned that they have a habit of putting you through to the Capita line and they just follow a different script, but will try to confuse you.

You will still get your dividends, I did a spreadsheet that covers all the things that have happened, if you let me know how many shares you have I can post how much you are due in dividends. Typically it is £212 per 100 shares.

Actually if you wanted a better time to sell it was last March, however, once the date passes in 12 days all the unclaimed share value will be added to the company so the price should go up, still I would wait until it gets to previous levels.



I found people that will share deal for a few quid when it is actually time to sell.

https://www.degiro.co.uk/

simoneves

Yeah, last March/April was about the last time I gave any thought to it...

!!!!!!!

I am so clueless on this stuff. Are you saying I still get the dividends as a payment now, on top of the shares that I'm not going to sell yet, or only when I sell?

I'm in California, but I still have a functional UK bank account, so hopefully it won't be a problem when the time comes, although I'll have to look into the tax implications.

Thanks!

DavidP24

Yes when you claim the shares you get all the dividends owing, one of them was large because in Sept 14 they did a consolidation return, so for every 11 shares you had you now have 9 but at the same time they returned £73 per 100 shares as a return to investors in addition to the dividend for that year.

The amount you get is not related to the share price, the share price is only important when you have to sell.

You will need an address for the cheque and the share certificate.

You can earn 10k in the UK before you pay tax off the top of my head. As these dividends were spread from 2006 to 2016 it could be argued that each dividend only applies to the year it was allocated.

bigadaj

DavidP24 wrote: »

Yes when you claim the shares you get all the dividends owing, one of them was large because in Sept 14 they did a consolidation return, so for every 11 shares you had you now have 9 but at the same time they returned £73 per 100 shares as a return to investors in addition to the dividend for that year.

The amount you get is not related to the share price, the share price is only important when you have to sell.

You will need an address for the cheque and the share certificate.

You can earn 10k in the UK before you pay tax off the top of my head. As these dividends were spread from 2006 to 2016 it could be argued that each dividend only applies to the year it was allocated.

Dividends are classed as income, not capital gains.

Up to this year then there's no additional tax due on dividends unless you were a higher rate taxpayer, going forward there's a £5k per year allowance which, if you exceed it, results in more tax being due as a standard rate taxpayer as well.

DavidP24

I did not use the term capital gains, but thanks for your input

bigadaj

DavidP24 wrote: »

I did not use the term capital gains, but thanks for your input

Fair enough, just seemed a little ambiguous to me and the taxation of dividends is soemthing that can confuse people.

The personal tax allowance and the capital gains tax exemption are both now around £11k so they are close in value and again could be confused.

Many people think that dividends if taken as say accumulation units in funds or drip or otherwise invested back into shares count as capital when they should always be treated as income.

Also note your point about the excessive fees charged by registrars for historic dividends which is good and useful, seen several threads where people have been caught by this, so thanks for emphasising this.

DavidP24

Thanks for your input, really do appreciate it, I think for most people here they will not be hitting any limits, but Crapita will try to stitch them up because it is their way.

I called non capita line a while back and they put me through Crapita, I said "I specifically asked not to speak to you" he said "oh it is the same we just mark the paperwork that you do not want to pay our fee"