What exactly is a limited business?

Gerrup Outta Dat!

I was always under the impression (mistakenly) that a Ltd. company had limited liability in the case of bankruptcy, but in return for this privilege they weren't allowed to seek money or funding from selling shares (don't ask me where I drew that ridiculous conclusion. I always though that "small businesses" were Ltd.

My dad is self employed as a plumber and his business is called Smith Ltd, (not real name) he obviously doesn't have shareholders, but I was shocked to see that Ryanair is a Ltd. company but you can buy shares in them.

Are there any advantages to being limited and what are the disadvantages?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

I was always under the impression (mistakenly) that a Ltd. company had limited liability in the case of bankruptcy, but in return for this privilege they weren't allowed to seek money or funding from selling shares (don't ask me where I drew that ridiculous conclusion. I always though that "small businesses" were Ltd.

My dad is self employed as a plumber and his business is called Smith Ltd, (not real name) he obviously doesn't have shareholders, but I was shocked to see that Ryanair is a Ltd. company but you can buy shares in them.

Are there any advantages to being limited and what are the disadvantages?

If your father has a Ltd company he has sought money from selling shares to the owner of the company ie himself. A limited company is legally separate from its owner.

Ryanair is not a Ltd but rather a plc which is like a Ltd company that is allowed to have as many shareholders as wants to buy. There is a shareholder limit on a Ltd company.

Gerrup Outta Dat!

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

If your father has a Ltd company he has sought money from selling shares to the owner of the company ie himself. A limited company is legally separate from its owner.

Ryanair is not a Ltd but rather a plc which is like a Ltd company that is allowed to have as many shareholders as wants to buy. There is a shareholder limit on a Ltd company.

But according to wiki Ryanair is LTD.

Does more people buying into Ryanair not "water down" the value of the share?

If I even buy one share in Ryanair does that mean that I own a tiny percent of the airline? If Ryanair has no cap on the number of shares I can buy does that mean someone with enormous capital can buy so many shares that they will own more of Ryanair that O'Leary and the Ryan heirs themselves?

Fighting Tao

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

But according to wiki Ryanair is LTD.

Does more people buying into Ryanair not "water down" the value of the share?

If I even buy one share in Ryanair does that mean that I own a tiny percent of the airline? If Ryanair has no cap on the number of shares I can buy does that mean someone with enormous capital can buy so many shares that they will own more of Ryanair that O'Leary and the Ryan heirs themselves?

Why look at wiki where anyone can edit and not look at the Ryanair website?

It’s a Designated Activity Company d.a.c.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

But according to wiki Ryanair is LTD.

Does more people buying into Ryanair not "water down" the value of the share?

If I even buy one share in Ryanair does that mean that I own a tiny percent of the airline? If Ryanair has no cap on the number of shares I can buy does that mean someone with enormous capital can buy so many shares that they will own more of Ryanair that O'Leary and the Ryan heirs themselves?

The company decides how many shares are available. These are usually traded on the stock market.

If they want more money they can issue new shares.

The trading company for Ryanair is Ryanair dac(formerly Ryanair ltd) but the company on the stock market that owns Ryanair dac is Ryanair holdings plc.

Gerrup Outta Dat!

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

The company decides how many shares are available. These are usually traded on the stock market.

If they want more money they can issue new shares.

The trading company for Ryanair is Ryanair dac(formerly Ryanair ltd) but the company on the stock market that owns Ryanair dac is Ryanair holdings plc.

So if they wanted more money and sold more shares would that result in a fall or increase in share price?

Why did BOI go from ca. €18 a share to ca. 18c?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

So if they wanted more money and sold more shares would that result in a fall or increase in share price?

Usually there would be a fall. Sometimes the value would rise.

Usually the share price of the company multiplied by the numbers of shares in issue (market cap) is worth more than the book value of all the assets. If you spread the intangible premium over a larger number of shaes the share price will fall. If the market believes that the extra cash wil allownincreased profitability the share price miht rise.

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

Why did BOI go from ca. €18 a share to ca. 18c?

Because the financial crisis happened and the market felt that the many of the assets of the bank (ie the loans primarily morgages) issued to customers were worthless as they were secured by assets which if realised would be unable to cover the debts.