Share Advice

Britton123

My family and I made a group purchase on 27 August 1997 of Dragon Oil Shares, all under one name. We now need to recall how much each of us put in. We know we have 371 shares today and I understand that there was a share issue during September 1997 of 1 for every 25. I have phoned the Irish stock exchange and the closing share price on 27 Aug 1997 was 3 irish pounds. The exchange rate to GBP on that day was 0.91GBP=1 irish pound

How do I work out the initial amount put in please?

371 shares X 3/0.91 = £1,223 - what about the share issue?

AnotherJoe

Britton123 wrote: »

How do I work out the initial amount put in please?

371 shares X 3/0.91 = £1,223 - what about the share issue?

The share issue has got nothing to do with how much you put in. How much you put in is what you spent on the day which you've just worked out.

bigsy

Britton123 wrote: »

371 shares X 3/0.91 = £1,223

Should that not be 371 x 3 x 0.91 = £1012.83 GBP?

bowlhead99

Britton123 wrote: »

My family and I made a group purchase on 27 August 1997 of Dragon Oil Shares, all under one name. We now need to recall how much each of us put in. We know we have 371 shares today and I understand that there was a share issue during September 1997 of 1 for every 25. I have phoned the Irish stock exchange and the closing share price on 27 Aug 1997 was 3 irish pounds. The exchange rate to GBP on that day was 0.91GBP=1 irish pound

How do I work out the initial amount put in please?

371 shares X 3/0.91 = £1,223 - what about the share issue?

People are probably confused by you saying "there was a share issue during September 1997 of 1 for 25", which implies people were given a free share to go with the 25 they already had.

However what you mean is that on 1 Sept 1997 there was a share CONSOLIDATION of 25 old shares becoming one new one.

So, if you really do have 371 "new" shares today, on certificates printed with the nominal value of each share as Irish 0.25p or EUR 0.10, then you must have originally had (371x25= ) 9,275 old shares marked IrishPound 0.01p, before the consolidation/conversion.

However, I don't believe the person at the Irish stock exchange if they were telling you the share price was 3 Irish POUNDS. Or you misunderstood. Back in those days, pre consolidation, they would have been 3 Irish PENCE (IRp3, not IR£3) and at 0.91 UK pounds to the punt, a share price of 2.73 UK pence (uk£0.0273).

So you would have bought 9275 shares for 3 Irish pence each, costing 278.25 Irish Pounds total, which at that exchange rate of 0.91 UK pounds to the punt would be about uk£253.20. (plus whatever broker fees). That was on Wednesday 27 August.

As the shares were consolidated on Monday 1 September, three business days later, and everyone gave up 25 old shares to be given 1 new one, you may not have been given an "old" share certificate for the 9275 shares at all, and instead just issued with the 371 "new" shares around about that time, which would then have been worth about 68 UK pence each with the whole lot worth the same uk£250ish that you paid.

By the time the company was taken private and delisted last summer, they paid UK 800p for each share so a tidy profit for you if you sold then. If you didn't, the new owner might still want to pay the 800p for them, but maybe not.

Apodemus

Cross posted with Bowlhead who has given a much better and undoubtedly correct answer!