Delisted company

melbury

I am trying to find out if companies for some of the share certificates I have had for years still actually exist.

After looking on Google, one company (World Trade Systems plc) says that the shares have been delisted, not that the company has been dissolved or anything.  Does this mean that the few shares I have are worth anything or should I just throw the certificate away?

Worst thing I ever did was buy some penny shares.  The names of some companies have been changed over the years and the shareholding completely diluted (some down to one share) - rubbish!

Thrugelmir

Keep the certificate. The company still exists. Though I wouldn't bank on anything positive happening. 

"The Directors have decided to delist the Company since it has no active business and no source of business income. The Directors believe that in order to reconstruct the Company's business, for the benefit of all shareholders, it is necessary to cancel the listing of the Company. The cancellation of the listing is expected to take effect on 27 Mar 2020.

The costs of reconstruction when the Company is listed, albeit suspended, would be prohibitive. Therefore the cancellation of the listing at this time will benefit all shareholders and creditors as it will enable the Company to avoid insolvency and the costs related thereto.

 The Directors have decided that it is not necessary to seek approval of shareholders for the cancellation thereby saving further unnecessary costs. Even after the cancellation of the listing, the Company remains a public limited company and shareholders will be kept informed of the activities in the same manner as before."

moneysavinghero

Delisting just means that the shares are no longer tradeable on the stock exchange - the company could still be trading.

But in this case, the latest accounts say that your shares are basically worthless:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01698076/filing-history

melbury

Thank you both for the very helpful replies.

I will just put the certificate away again - it was heading for the shredder along with a couple of others.

wmb194

No, it looks like something happened with World Trade Systems in May 2020, some kind of all-share acquisition by a company named Ta Yang Group in Hong Kong. The RNS talks about 'gifts' but it sounds like an all share acquisition to me. How many shares do/did you hold? If I'm reading the RNS correctly, link below, if you owned less than 1,000 then it looks like you'd receive nothing. There are a couple of e-mail addresses in there that you were meant to respond to but I'd guess it might be too late now.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/world-trade-systems/rns/minority-shareholders--exchange-wts-for-tayang/202005110700123701M/

Edit: A quick Google found this thread on ADVFN where some people are chatting about it. Basically, they were of the opinion that it's worthless. One poster states that WTS had been suspended for 12 years before delisting.
https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/world-trade-systems-WTS/share-chat