General Shareholding
1. How do I register the death of a shareholder?
2. Is Equiniti Limited regulated by an independent body?
3. Do you provide any incentives to shareholders?
Lost Certificates
4. Do I need a share certificate?
5. I've lost my share certificate. Can I get a new one?
6. I've reported a missing certificate but now I've found it. What should I do?
Dividends
7. I've lost a dividend cheque. Can I have a new one?
8. Can I have my dividends as shares instead of cash?
9. Can I have my dividends paid straight to my bank account?
Buying, selling or transferring shares
10. I want to transfer my shares.
11. Can I transfer shares to a child?
Shares
12. How do I sell my shares?
1. How do I register the death of a shareholder?
If you are administering an estate, you may need to transfer shares into the names of beneficiaries or sell the holding. However if you hold shares within Stagecoach Profit Sharing Schemes please contact us on 01738 442111.The first step is to write to Equiniti Limited to let them know what you are going to do. They will then place a temporary marker on the register to ensure that wherever possible, they do not issue further dividend payments in the shareholder's name. They will also send you the forms that you will need to complete.
There are two ways of re-registering the holding, depending on the size of the estate.
If the estate is large, you may need to obtain a grant of representation. This is a document that appoints the representatives who will administer the estate. You may need advice from your solicitor on how to go about this or you can contact the Probate Registry (their number is in Yellow Pages or the Phone Book) for more details.
You will then be asked to return the completed forms with an 'office copy' of the grant. This is a copy of the front page of the document which has been sealed by the Probate Registry.
If you are going to transfer the shares, you will be asked to complete a transfer form and return it to the Registrars with the share certificates for the holding. You will then be issued with a certificate in the new name.
If the estate is small, with relatively few assets, and you do not need to obtain a grant of representation, many companies have special arrangements designed to make things easier for the family of a deceased shareholder to sell or transfer the shares.
To qualify, the total value of the estate must be below £234,000 and the value of any stock or shareholding should not exceed £10,000. The charge for using this special arrangement is £23.50 (including VAT) and the form that you will be sent must also be guaranteed by an insurance company. This can be arranged on your behalf for a countersignature fee of £30.
To follow this procedure, please write to Equiniti Limited with a copy of the death certificate, confirming that the value of the estate is below this threshold and you will be sent the forms you need.
If shares were held in joint names, the account can simply be re-registered in the sole name of the other holder. A photocopy of the death certificate is required to amend the register and the share certificates should also be sent so that replacements can be issued in the new name.
2. Is Equiniti Limited regulated by an independent body?
Equiniti Limited is regulated by IMRO for investment business which includes these services offered by Equiniti Limited:
Custody and corporate nominees,
Share dealing schemes,
Dividend Re-Investment Plans (DRIPs),
Investment Trust Saving Schemes,
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).
The Investment Management Regulatory Organisation or IMRO is a company recognised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to regulate services that are offered to investors. More information is available at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/. Please note if you follow this link you will be leaving this site.
The maintenance of company registers is not regulated although our service is monitored by CRESTCo and the companies for whom we act. If you have a complaint on any area of our service, please let us know: we will do our best to answer your concerns.
3. Do you provide any incentives to shareholders?
No. We believe that shareholders should benefit from the business through increased long-term shareholder value and for this reason, we do not offer any discount to shareholders on our services.
4. Do I need a share certificate?
A share certificate in your name is evidence of your ownership of shares.
However, with the development of electronic means of trading shares, most corporate investors no longer use share certificates and rely instead on secure systems for exchanging data with the registrar and the London Stock Exchange. Some brokers now offer services which enable you to hold shares in electronic format without needing to have a share certificate. This means that in theory you can deal much faster because there is no need to supply certificates as evidence of ownership, but there is often a charge for this service.
5. I've lost my share certificate. Can I get a new one?
If you lose your share certificate or it has been stolen, you should inform Equiniti Limited immediately by phoning: 0871 384 2408 (Calls to this number are charged at 8p per minute from a BT line. Other telephony providers costs may vary.). You'll need to tell them about any certificates you still hold so they can identify which share certificate is missing.
They will then make a note of the lost or stolen certificate and send you a letter of indemnity. In signing and returning this indemnity, you are confirming that if the lost share certificate subsequently comes to light, you will return it to us to be cancelled. You are also required to guarantee that the company, in which you are a shareholder, will not be liable for any loss as a result of issuing the duplicate certificate.
In most cases, you'll need to pay an administration fee before we can send you a new share certificate. At the moment, the charge is £30 plus VAT. This is because we have to do extra work to make sure that the process is as secure as possible.
To protect your company, the letter of indemnity must also be guaranteed by an insurance company. This is sometimes called 'countersigning' or 'joining in' an indemnity. Your insurers may offer this service but could charge you a fee.
If you like, we can arrange countersignature with our insurers at the same time as we process the letter of indemnity. The charge depends on the value of the share certificates that are being replaced because the higher the value, the more risk the insurer will be taking. The current Royal & Sun Alliance Countersignature Fees are shown below.
| Value of shares £ | Total cost |
| Up to 1,000 | £22.00 |
| 1001 - 5,000 | £33.60 |
| 5,001 - 10,000 | £50.00 |
| 10,001 - 15,000 | £70.00 |
| 15,001 - 25,000 | £80.00 |
| 25,001 - 30,000 | £116.00 |
| 30,001 - 50,000 | £200.00 |
If the missing share certificate has a value greater than £50,000 it has to be referred to the Royal & Sun Alliance for an individual quote.
6. I reported a missing certificate but now I've found it. What should I do?
If you have already completed a letter of indemnity and sent it back to our registrars, the original certificate is now invalid. You must send it back to them to be cancelled.
If you have not yet returned it, please send the letter of indemnity back to our registrars with a covering letter confirming that you have found the certificate and there is no need for a replacement to be issued.
7. I've lost a dividend cheque. Can I have a new one?
Yes. If you confirm the details, our registrars will send you a replacement. If the cheque was for less than £50 you will not be charged, but for larger payments there is an administration fee of £11.75 (including VAT).
8. Can I have my dividends as shares instead of cash?
Yes. If you would like to opt in to a DRIP scheme, please write to Equiniti Limited with your request stating your details and the name of the company in which you hold shares.
9. Can I have dividends paid straight to my bank account?
Yes, this is possible with most bank or building society accounts in the UK and is sometimes referred to as a 'payment instruction' or 'dividend mandate'.
Mandating your dividends is easy and has a number of advantages for you.
Firstly, the dividend will go into your account on payment date - there is no chance of it being delayed in the post and you do not have to wait for a cheque to clear.
Second, the payment method is more secure than receiving a cheque through the post.
Thirdly, tax information about the dividend is sent direct to you at your registered address. Go to the Registrar Forms page to download a payment instruction form.
We work hard to ensure our software is virus-free but as with all files downloaded from a web site, you should run virus-checking software before opening.
10. I want to transfer my shares.
If you want to give or sell your shares to someone that you know, you can transfer your holding using a stock transfer form. Please download and complete the form with:
- full name and address details for both transferor (the old owner) and transferee (the new owner),
- the signature of the transferor,
- the name of the Company (referred to as Name of Undertaking) in which the shares are held,
- the class of share (for example Ordinary Shares),
- and the amount to be transferred in both words and figures.
The form is in PDF format. In order to read the format you will need the Acrobat Reader.
We work hard to ensure our software is virus-free but as with all files downloaded from a web site, you should run virus-checking software before opening.
Unless you instruct us otherwise by filling in the boxes on the form, we will automatically send the new certificate to the transferee at the address quoted and any balance certificate back to the transferor.
Stamp duty may be payable depending on the type of transfer. As a general rule, if no money is changing hands then the transaction is not liable for Stamp Duty. To be exempt, the transfer must fall into one of the categories shown on page 2 of the form. For example, if you are giving your shares to another person as a gift, the transfer will fall into category 'L'.
More information about stamp duty is available on the Inland Revenue's website (for example, more details of exemptions are detailed in chapter 2 of the Stamp Office Manual which can be downloaded from: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/so). Please note if you follow this link you will be leaving this site.
11. Can I transfer shares to a child?
It is usually possible to transfer shares to someone below the age of sixteen (or eighteen if the company is registered in England) but you should note that this can lead to complications: for example, dividends will be paid only in the name of the shareholder and if you subsequently wish to transfer shares held in the name of a minor, you will need a court order.
Alternatively, you can continue to hold shares in your name on behalf of the minor, segregating them from other shares you may hold by adding a 'designation'. This is a short identifier, usually a few letters long that marks the shares on our records as a separate holding. You can do this by filling in a stock transfer form, completing the form with your name as both transferor and transferee and specifying a designation in the transferee details. When choosing a designation, you must avoid using names and recognisable phrases.
12. How do I sell my shares?
You can sell your shares through a stockbroker or sharedealing service. There are a variety of services available. Some take orders to buy or sell shares via the Internet; many operate telephone or postal dealing services.We have set up a low cost execution only share dealing facility with a division of Brewin Dolphin, Stocktrade, exclusive to Stagecoach shareholders. The commission is 0.5% up to £10,000 with 0.2% being charged on the excess thereafter, subject to a £15 minimum. Shareholders who would like further information should write to Stocktrade, 81 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3ES. Telephone 0845 601 0995, quoting dealing reference Low Co020. Postal dealing packs are available on request.