Share Dealing Discussion Area

wednesday2212

Hi,

Which is the cheapest company if I don't do any trades - I just have a few shares on which I am sitting?

thanks

Wed

chris_m

If you don't want to do any trades, surely you don't need any company?

wednesday2212

Hi Chris,

Apologies for my ignorance...

If I don't have a company what do I do with my existing shares? Do I just get a certificate issued or something and then close my account?

I am holding them for the medium/long term - how do I sell them when I decide to sell. Would I then need to set up a new trading account?

thanks in advance!

chris_m

How are your shares held at present? If you don't have them held in a nominee account somewhere surely you already have the certificates?

As to selling, if they are held in a nominee account then the operator of that would probably be the easiest and cheapest way to sell. If you have the certificates, then the easiest way would be to just go to a branch of your own bank that handles share dealing. it may not be the cheapest but if you try to put them in the hands of a broker, then sell the, do check if there any costs incurred in doing that other than the actual dealing cost - eg account opening or closing fees, transfer in fees, etc - which could still make your bank the cheaper.

wednesday2212

I have them in an account with TD Waterhouse. This was set up when the account was transferred from Hoodless Brennan. I never make any trades, I just log on now and again to see how they are doing, but I'm incurring a monthly charge for this! I don't think I have any certificates.

chris_m

Ah right, now I see your problem. Well, you have two choices as I see it;

1) get them withdrawn as certificates and close the account
2) Transfer them to another broker - you'll have to check the mechanism and whether TDW will charge anything for this.

The only broker I have any knowledge of is https://www.x-o.co.uk - whose website states no charges for transfer in of shares and no non-activity fee, could be worth a look if you wish. They charge £5.95 per trade so that is what it would cost to sell the shares once in their account if tha is what you want to do at some point in the future. I'm sure other brokers will offer a similar service but x-o are the only ones I've used and can comment on.

wednesday2212

Chris - that is exactly what I was looking for. No no activity fee!! Brilliant stuff many thanks!!

fizzypop

How do you optimise placing a buy order within your self-select ISA?
Funds can be transferred in seconds and immediately available to trade so I guess you can transfer in just before the market opens around 9am.
Tomorrow the 15 April is a scheduled buy day but when do iii place their bulk buy order during the day?
Presumably when you come to sell you can sell any day since the trade costs £10.
Still feeling my way but VOD, AV., NG. and RSA as divi earners now in my portfolio.
Thanks

northerner77

Am new to this. What are defensive shares? What would be some good examples in the current climate? Cheers.
Also, how do I find out what Glencore's initial share price is likely to be? (See Economist article)

JamesU

northerner77 wrote: »

Am new to this. What are defensive shares?

Hi Northerner77, welcome to MSE. From a quick Google, this is a reasonable description:

A stock that tends to remain stable under difficult economic conditions. Defensive stocks include food, tobacco, oil, and utilities. These stocks hold up in hard times because demand does not decrease as dramatically as it may in other sectors. Defensive stocks tend to lag behind the rest of the market during economic expansion because demand does not increase as dramatically in an upswing.

northerner77 wrote: »

What would be some good examples in the current climate?

Depends on how you perceive the current economic climate. Some may argue defensive shares are appropriate and undervalued at present, others that there are better shares to invest in elsewhere if we are coming out of recession. But in any case, there are examples of defensive shares across various sectors in the link below. The article was published in Sept 2010 though, so the data on FTSE 350 defensive shares in the table is not up to date right now (share price, yield, dividend cover):

http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/MarketsAndSectors/Sectors/article/20100920/a90ca052-c24a-11df-8649-00144f2af8e8/Big-yields-from-defensives.jsp

JamesU