How to sell Ryanair shares

Micky-c

I’ve owned a small number of shares in Ryanair for a few years, held in my Halifax share trading account.
When I tired to sell them today, I was told by the Halifax that Brexit had made this impossible, and that I would have to find another stockbroker to sell them for me. Ryanair is based in Ireland, and apparently EU based airlines must be majority owned by EU residents, which obviously we in the UK no longer are. So trading in their shares if you are in the UK, either by buying or selling, is now extremely difficult.
I’ve sent a few messages to brokers, but so far I haven’t found anyone who will sell these shares for me. Anyone sold any Ryanair shares in the last few weeks? Can anyone give me details of a low cost broker who they know for certain will sell my shares?

macman

Aviation holdings can only appreciate in the next few years, so, unless you are desperate to sell, I'd retain them.
How big is your holding? The broker and commission charges may simply make it not worthwhile.

london21

Did not know this although only own M&S shares and funds.
Might be worth contacting Hargreaves Lansdown.

redped

Out of curiosity, I've just tried to buy some Ryanair shares via HL (well, to see if it'd let me), and I get the following:

"Online dealing not available

In response to the UKs departure from the EU, Ryanair announced that from 1 January UK shareholders cannot buy new ordinary shares in the company.

If you are an EU national and wish to purchase this stock, please call our Helpdesk on 0117 900 9000 who can confirm this and place an instruction for you. Please note we will need evidence on our systems that you are an EU national to confirm this."

Note that it's to do with nationality, rather than physical location - although I'm assuming the OP isn't an EU national either.  There's more info at https://investor.ryanair.com/brexit/

csgohan4

weird, I topped up my IAG shares a few months ago and had no problem, they are based in EU as well

wmb194

csgohan4 said:

weird, I topped up my IAG shares a few months ago and had no problem, they are based in EU as well

They trade as CDIs, the LSE equivalent of the US's ADR, and so are a way to work with the rules. Ryanair also has CDIs on the LSE so it seems strange iWeb didn't convert the old LSE shares. IIRC that's what other Irish companies did e.g., Smurfit Kappa.

https://www.iairgroup.com/en/investors-and-shareholders/shareholders/shareholders-information-faq

But Ryanair CDIs trade in euros so this could be iWeb's issue.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/RYA/ryanair-holdings-plc/company-page

Thrugelmir

You maybe left in limbo until 50.5% of the issued shared capital is in the hands of EU nationals. Currently a transition period. One assumes that they'll be a mechanism to address the issue if it doesn't happen in the normal course of events. Though airlines aren't the most attractive of propositions to own. 

wmb194

Have you tried asking stock brokers in Ireland?

house_help

I also have Ryanair shares. Mine are in AJ Bell SIPP. I do not want to sell at moment but i did try to online back in March and couldn't. when I raised with them via secure message back then they said I could sell but only by phone and they would honour the online dealing fee. By time they had confirmed I had sold something else so decided to keep soni have not tested if they will do it but I have saved copy if the msg just incase for future after seeing this!

maxsteam

RyanAir are listed on a number of exchanges. Degiro offer trading of the shares, including through the Dublin and Paris markets. They charge €10 per holding to transfer stocks into an account. Their dealing charges are low.

maxsteam

macman said:

Aviation holdings can only appreciate in the next few years.

some have gone, and some will go bust.