selling shares

Kate253

I have a small number of shares I got a few yrs ago. Have never done anything with them but now want to cash them in. They were originally bought via Davy Stockbrokers but all correspondence since as been via computershare. Can I sell them over the phone? How does it work with the price at the time? Do I get the sale price at time of phoning or at the time they issue the cash? I have a form somewhere but that seems slow if trying the sell at best price, phone is instant, or can you send on a signed form after?

What about the tax man? It's not much but the price is dropping every day and I want to sell before they are worth half their current value...

This is all new to me

Bizness

Where are the shares held now? Have you a paper share certificate, or are they held electronically in a nominee or Crest account with Davy or Computershare? If you are getting all correspondence through Computershare, then it is likely that Computershare hold them electronically via a nominee account.
You can sell them over the phone with Computershare. You will need your 11 digit Shareholder Reference Number (SRN) ready when making the call. The SRN appears on your share certificate or your nominee statement. The share price at which you sell will be confirmed whilst on the phone - payment can be either in sterling or euro. Settlement typically in 10 days. Details on the Computershare Ireland web-site.

Computershare not the cheapest - cost to sell is 1% of the value of the transaction plus €60.00.

If Davy's hold them, then can sell through Davy's.
If paper certificate, then can sell via any broker.

Taxman - first €1270 of a capital gain or profit per annum is tax free, any gains above that taxed at 33%, unfortunately and exorbitantly imo. The cost to buy and sell the shares + stamp duty can be offset against the gain. If you have capital gains losses carried forward from previous years or from a loss made this year, then can offset those losses against this gain.

Whether to sell or hold is your decision - depends on the company and it's future prospects and the general direction of the stock market in the months to come.

Kate253

[QUOTE=

Computershare not the cheapest - cost to sell is 1% of the value of the transaction plus €60....[/QUOTE]

Whhat?? Oh that's nuts. At the moment they are only worth about 200Eur but was thinking of selling as they are dropping in value every day. At that rate, there won't be much in it!

Bizness

It might be worth ringing Computershare to see if they can give you a better deal than that quoted on their web-site. Or else ring the company's investor relation team (contact details will be on the company's web-site) to see if they have any facility for small stake shareholders to sell at a nominal price (they themselves may have negotiated a price with Computershare).

If the stock appears to have any good long term prospects, it may be best to hold onto them if you have to pay the full transaction costs, though I assume that Computershare charge you an annual nominee account fee, so best to get rid of them if they do.

MfMan

Mother holds shares in an Irish company in certificate form. She wants to sell them, but how? She doesn't have an alc. with AIB so can't sell them there. Nor does she have an alc. with a stock broker. BOI, who she is with, won't sell shares any more. Computershare doesn't recognise the company when I ring them up and get talking to the automated answering service. She could transfer them to me but that would involve paying stamp duty which has to be arranged with a solicitor or accountant.

Advice?

Bizness

The company whose shares your mother holds, go to their main web-site, click on the 'Investors' tab, and within that there should be a link which details who their registrar is, if it is not Computershare, it could be Capita. If not listed, there should be an Investors Relations team contact number/e-mail for the listed company on their web-site and they will tell you who their registrar is. The registrars like Computershare, Capita normally offer a facility for individual shareholders to sell their shares via them (prices are on the registrar's web-site itself) - they just need your shareholder reference number printed on the share certificate, as well as cross-referencing your mother's address.
Not the cheapest to sell via the registrars - probably akin to AIB for an over the counter transaction, but for a once off, it might be your best bet, especially if the actual sales value in hundreds or thousands versus tens of thousands - cost to sell via registrar is typically 1% of the value of the transaction plus €60. See if you can negotiate a better price with the Registrar, or even ask the Investors Relations team of the listed company, if you can get a discount on the sales commission - the listed company may have a special price set up with the Registrar - I know some FTSE listed companies have. The likes of Campbell O'Connor would be cheaper, but your Mum would need to set up an account I think. You could price Fexco, TD Waterhouse, Saxo etc too.

marc_faber

Kate253 wrote: »

Whhat?? Oh that's nuts. At the moment they are only worth about 200Eur but was thinking of selling as they are dropping in value every day. At that rate, there won't be much in it!

which company are we talking about ? ( that you have shares in )

MfMan

Bizness wrote: »

The company whose shares your mother holds, go to their main web-site, click on the 'Investors' tab, and within that there should be a link which details who their registrar is, if it is not Computershare, it could be Capita. If not listed, there should be an Investors Relations team contact number/e-mail for the listed company on their web-site and they will tell you who their registrar is. The registrars like Computershare, Capita normally offer a facility for individual shareholders to sell their shares via them (prices are on the registrar's web-site itself) - they just need your shareholder reference number printed on the share certificate, as well as cross-referencing your mother's address.
Not the cheapest to sell via the registrars - probably akin to AIB for an over the counter transaction, but for a once off, it might be your best bet, especially if the actual sales value in hundreds or thousands versus tens of thousands - cost to sell via registrar is typically 1% of the value of the transaction plus €60. See if you can negotiate a better price with the Registrar, or even ask the Investors Relations team of the listed company, if you can get a discount on the sales commission - the listed company may have a special price set up with the Registrar - I know some FTSE listed companies have. The likes of Campbell O'Connor would be cheaper, but your Mum would need to set up an account I think. You could price Fexco, TD Waterhouse, Saxo etc too.

Much obliged Sir.