Missing / Forfeit Shares

Itsallouttheresomewhere

I have a certificate for 20 x 25p M&S shares that I was awarded when I worked there.  Admittedly the share certificate is dated 1993.  
M&S now use Equiniti as their shareholder platform and they inform me that I no longer have any shares or dividends.  Can they actually do this?  As far as I am concerned those shares are my legal property and to my mind this constitutes theft.  So where have they gone?  More importantly, how do I get reunited with them?

eskbanker

Do you have any other supporting evidence of ownership, such as dividend payments or registrar correspondence?

wmb194

Itsallouttheresomewhere said:

I have a certificate for 20 x 25p M&S shares that I was awarded when I worked there.  Admittedly the share certificate is dated 1993.  
M&S now use Equiniti as their shareholder platform and they inform me that I no longer have any shares or dividends.  Can they actually do this?  As far as I am concerned those shares are my legal property and to my mind this constitutes theft.  So where have they gone?  More importantly, how do I get reunited with them?

At some point in the past are you certain you haven't sold them or transferred them into a stockbroker's account? When you spoke to the registrar (Equinti) are you certain they found your record? E.g., has your name changed in the interim? Ultimately though if the registrar doesn't think you own them there's not a lot you can do.

Dividends are usually forfeited back to the company after six years so you will have lost out there.

20 M&S shares are only worth about £50 (fifty).

Edit: Apparently there was a share split in 2002 so you are you certain you didn't receive a new certificate to replace this one from 1993? Perhaps you sold them then using the new certificate but didn't destroy this old one?

https://companiesmarketcap.com/marks-and-spencer/stock-splits/