Share Dealing Discussion Area

mojy

Hi Guys,
New to this thread and looking for some advice. Hubby has some Abbey shares and now wishes to sell them. Abbey want a £35 one off fee for this but wondered if there was a cheaper way of doing this. This will be a one-off sale. Any advice appreciated.

sasparillo

gt94sss2 wrote: »

You actually don't own the BAA shares anymore as after Ferrovial gained over 90% of the shares in BAA, they compulsory acquired the rest (including yours).

A copy of the letter you should have received informing you of this is here

However, you can claim the money that they paid for your shares by contacting the share registrar yourself at:

Computershare
Investor Services PLC,
PO Box 858,
The Pavilions,
Bridgwater Road,
Bristol, BS99 5WE
telephone: 0800 408 0103

This method is free - saving yourself the 15% commission!

Regards
Sunil

This is very interesting, m_i and Sunil.

Alex Mitchell, MD of Keysearch seems to have written to many (maybe just the smaller - in holdings not in height ? ) shareholders in March 2007. It does not make sense to me that Computershare Investor Services plc are asking the shareholders individually to contact them. Surely Computershare should be dealing with Capita, the former registrars and dealing with this en masse? And Keysearch, which is part of Capita, obviously have the names, addresses and share certificate nos for the shares

Computershare in July 2006 before the next BAA dividend was due at the end of August 2006 wrote on behalf of ADI to shareholders, some of whom received cash dividends, some of whom received dividends as part of a reinvestment scheme, who had accepted the offer asking for BAA share certificates to be sent to ADI/Computershare.

Shareholders then received cheques in respect of these shares in early August 2006. At least some shareholders who were in the reinvestment scheme did not receive any August share certificates as a last dividend.

In March 2007 Alex Mitchell, Managing director of Keysearch, based in Beckenham, Kent and part of Capita, which were the Registrars before the ADI takeover, wrote to at least some shareholders (was your name correctly spelt in the letter?) stating that ADI was trying to identify shareholders of certain shares.

The exact wording is as follows "Following the takeover, ADI has now acquired all remaining BAA shares, including those held by BAA shareholders who did not accept the takeover". Hmm.

The letter on the first page seems very official giving a free helpline number for Keysearch and saying that Keysearch, part of Capita, had been appointed by ADI to search for "BAA shareholders who have lost contact with the company and carry out an asset reunification programme."

So between August 2006 and March 2007 apparently some shareholders "lost contact with the company", according to Alex Mitchell, MD of Keysearch. Surely there was nothing to indicate that these shareholders were still shareholders in BAA?

It is only on the second page of the Keysearch literature in much smaller print that it says says it is a "voluntary programme" and "part of Capita plc". Capita Registrars having lost the BAA account, if you remember.

Much further down in the small print comes the question, "Is there an administration fee for the Keysearch service?" which states there is a 15% admin fee - if you read down far enough.

Much further down below all this is the phone number of Computershare Investor Services plc. The exact wording is "If you have any questions, on your entitlement, or otherwise in respect of you [sic] shareholding in BAA, you can contact Computer Investor Services plc (registrar to BAA and ADI - 0800 408 1003)." Keysearch's freephone number is the one printed in large numbers on the cover page.

Keysearch say that "if you cannot locate your BAA plc shares certificates, and still wish to use the service, you will need to complete the letter of indemnity section of the Claim form. Letters of indemnity for entitlements over £4675 (or 500 shares) require a countersignature by a bank, insurance company or guarantee society, which will usually require a fee. Alternatively, we can liase with BAA's registrar [ie Computershare] to provide a countersignature and deduct their indemnity administration fee from your entitlement".

So Keysearch, part of former Registrars Capita http://www.capitaregistrars.com/corporate/products/keysearch.asp charges a fee from both Computershare (rather ironic since they have a list of shareholders because Capita Registrars were the former BAA registrars) and individual shareholders.

Furthermore Computershare says on its form "If you have mislaid your share share certificate please complete and sign below in order that a letter of indemnity can be issued. Please note there is a fee for the issue of each indemnity. Details of our fees ie administration, countersignature and waiver fees will be sent with the letter of indemnity."

But what if you haven't lost or mislaid the share certificates for the dividend reinvestment scheme but sent those received when instructed by Computershare in July (but kept photocopies), received a payout in August and didn't receive the August share dividend certificates from either Capita or Computershare which seem to be the shares which Alex Mitchell, MD of Keysearch, part of Capita, is talking about?

Appreciate your thoughts on this!

SMC_2

I have never sold any shares but I think I will be soon and don't know where to start

My parents have used TD Waterhouse and my sister has used Abbey as she has bank accounts with them.

Just looking for suggestions of who I should look at.

Thanks!!

garrison_2

I'd like some advice on choosing a broker for US stocks. First of all, I'm wondering whether I should try and find a US or UK broker? Selftrade in the UK deal in sterling only, so you have the added complication of the exchange rate. Is this a big enough reason to go for a US broker? US brokers who allow UK sign ups seem thin on the ground. I've heard of one so far, but they require you to invest a minimum of $10,000. Someone else in the thread said Selftrade are limited on the number of US stocks they offer, but I've heard elsewhere that they're not. Can anyone clarify?

Jason

cloud_dog

Surely the exchange rate complication happens one or the other - with a UK broker its when you deal and with a US broker its when you deposit funds.

I deal with SelfTrade and have purchased US / Canadian stocks. Surely woth the likely ongoing weakness of the $ you would be better off retaining funds in sterling and converting to $ when you purchase.

Lazy_Runner

3 years ago when I was in an investment club, we used Mytrack. They were ok. You downloaded some software so you could trade online, see your balances etc. Not all communications between us were perfect, sometimes misunderstandings because of our common language etc, but as I said, on the whole, they were ok.
About 5 years ago, some concerns were raised about the company they used for the back end processing.
Our parent investment club, switched to optionsexpress, and I belive they were very satisfied with them.
However in the meantime, optionsexpress now use the same back end processor as Mytrack.

Optionsexpress is meant to be better on controlling your trade in terms of setting limits etc than Mytrack.

In terms of signing up, we certainly didn't start with $10000, but we may have been economical with the truth as we wanted to trade options.

However if you are just trading stocks, if memory serves, you need a minimum of $500 per trade. If you put a some of money in the account and just buy stocks, you should be all right. I don't believe the $10k minimum applies in this case.

As I am sure you are aware, due to the regulatory requirements, you will be required to complete a lot of paperwork including tax declarations etc.

Good luck!

Lars_A

Hi everyone

Anyone know how to invest £1000 in metals ?

Is the only way in through Hedge Funds ?

Lars_A

Hi everyone

Anyone know how to get into commodities ?

I have £1000 for starters to invest into metals ... is Hedge Funds the way to go ? Or is there a better more direct route

Thanks

Kamran

Hi all,

I've been wanting to play at the stock market and saved a small amount of money that I'm comfortable I'd like to use. I've been using NATWEST STOCK BROKERS as my share dealing service, simply because they're my bank, but their system isn't too great.

Can anyone reccomment a share dealing service that a) is online, b) is cheap and c) is advanced yet fairly straightforward to use?

I've been share dealing for around 2 years now, so although I wouldn't say I'm experienced, I think I'm ok in my comfort zone

Many thanks!
Kam

gt94sss2

Lars_A wrote: »

Anyone know how to get into commodities ?

I have £1000 for starters to invest into metals ... is Hedge Funds the way to go ? Or is there a better more direct route

You could consider ETC's - but you may be better off just buying shares in a mining company..

Regards
Sunil