Share Certificates

MACKEM99

Over many years I have collected numerous share certificates.  This is due to me taking shares instead of dividends, with a certificate for anything between 1 and several shares. Do I need to keep them all?

Thanks

M99

refluxer

Have you checked their value ?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

used to be you could get them consolidated, contact registrar.

Vortigern

Yes, you need to keep them all, if they are proper share certificates rather than statements of holding in a nominee account.
You could transfer them all to a nominee account with a broker like X-O. No fees for holding and easier to sell, when the time comes.

refluxer

I was just thinking that if the certificates were for only 1 or 2 shares, then there's a chance they won't be worth transferring to an online nominee account as the cost to sell might outweigh their value. Depends on what they are though, obviously.

JGB1955

refluxer said:

I was just thinking that if the certificates were for only 1 or 2 shares, then there's a chance they won't be worth transferring to an online nominee account as the cost to sell might outweigh their value. Depends on what they are though, obviously.

You would transfer the WHOLE set of shares into one nominee account.  The paper certificates are your proof of ownership.  Replacing them costs tens (if not hundreds) of £.

refluxer

JGB1955 said:

refluxer said:

I was just thinking that if the certificates were for only 1 or 2 shares, then there's a chance they won't be worth transferring to an online nominee account as the cost to sell might outweigh their value. Depends on what they are though, obviously.

You would transfer the WHOLE set of shares into one nominee account.  The paper certificates are your proof of ownership.  Replacing them costs tens (if not hundreds) of £.

Ah - I was presuming that 'numerous share certificates' meant they were for different companies. On re-reading the original post, it appears they might be for the same company (although the post is still a bit ambiguous), in which case - my mistake !

MACKEM99

refluxer said:

Have you checked their value ?

What difference does that make?

MACKEM99

refluxer said:

JGB1955 said:

refluxer said:

I was just thinking that if the certificates were for only 1 or 2 shares, then there's a chance they won't be worth transferring to an online nominee account as the cost to sell might outweigh their value. Depends on what they are though, obviously.

You would transfer the WHOLE set of shares into one nominee account.  The paper certificates are your proof of ownership.  Replacing them costs tens (if not hundreds) of £.

Ah - I was presuming that 'numerous share certificates' meant they were for different companies. On re-reading the original post, it appears they might be for the same company (although the post is still a bit ambiguous), in which case - my mistake !

Not your mistake at all I was not clear.  It is several certificates for same company ie rolls Royce and some for national grid.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

it seems that Equiniti is registrar for RR,

How do I amalgamate my shareholdings?

If you have more than one shareholding, you may want to amalgamate all of your shares into a single shareholding. This means that whenever we pay a dividend you will receive one single payment for all of your shares and we will not send you multiple mailings.

This is a free service and can be arranged over the telephone by calling 0371 384 2000 and quoting the unique shareholder reference numbers that you would like to amalgamate.

refluxer

MACKEM99 said:

refluxer said:

JGB1955 said:

refluxer said:

I was just thinking that if the certificates were for only 1 or 2 shares, then there's a chance they won't be worth transferring to an online nominee account as the cost to sell might outweigh their value. Depends on what they are though, obviously.

You would transfer the WHOLE set of shares into one nominee account.  The paper certificates are your proof of ownership.  Replacing them costs tens (if not hundreds) of £.

Ah - I was presuming that 'numerous share certificates' meant they were for different companies. On re-reading the original post, it appears they might be for the same company (although the post is still a bit ambiguous), in which case - my mistake !

Not your mistake at all I was not clear.  It is several certificates for same company ie rolls Royce and some for national grid.

No worries. In which case, consolidating them all into one online nominee account would be a good option, as suggested above.

Share holders with physical certificates are being encouraged to move away from paper shares to holding them in electronic form these days anyway (a process called 'dematerialisation' of shares, if you want to google it) so you might as well make a start now. I did this recently and discovered that some online share dealing providers don't accept them. An online nominee account usually makes share dealing quicker and cheaper, plus there are no physical certificates to lose.

I ended up sending my certificates to x-o who are good for occasional trades because they don't currently charge any holding or inactivity fees and there is a flat fee of £5.99 when you come to sell.

In some ways, my comment about checking the value still holds true because the collective shares obviously need to be worth more than the selling fee plus the ('Royal Mail Signed For' ?) postage costs to send to the nominee service in the first place.