The Share plc Group contains 9 wholly owned subsidiaries. The simplified group
structure is as follows:
The Share Centre
The Share Centre, the principal subsidiary of Share plc, commenced operations in April 1991 and its main business is the provision and administration of self select share services for personal investors, through which the following can be traded:
(i) shares, warrants, covered warrants and nil paid rights in companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market, AIM and PLUS Markets;
(ii) shares in companies traded on Sharemark;
(iii) shares in certain companies listed on overseas stock exchanges where the shares can be settled through CREST and dealt in Sterling; and
(iv) shares in open-ended investment companies and units in unit trusts, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds and exchange traded commodities.
The Share Centre provides and administers Share Accounts, ISAs and Investment Club Share Accounts to personal investors, both directly and through corporate customers, throughout the UK. In addition, The Share Centre acts as an administrator of SIPs and EIS Portfolios and promotes a SIPP product which is administered by a third party. The Share Centre also offers both stakeholder and non-stakeholder CTF accounts, accepts HMRC-allocated CTFs and provides junior investment accounts for children ineligible to hold a CTF.
The market for trading shares is very competitive and The Share Centre charges a commission of 1 per cent per trade (subject to a minimum of £7.50 per trade, or £2.50 per trade for purchases dealt in one of three daily aggregated dealing sessions). Frequent or high value traders who pay £80 plus VAT a year to obtain the frequent trader tariff option can deal at a fixed rate of £7.50 per trade on trades up to trade sizes of £25,000.
If a customer holds sufficient shares in Share plc, dealing commissions can be reduced to £5.25 per trade by virtue of a Dealing Commission Credit Rebate, a shareholder benefit.
The Share Centre prides itself on providing a high level of customer service and has a growing team offering advice to customers on investments and their general financial position. The Share Centre publishes two quarterly magazines, The Shareholder and The Fundholder which are sent to customers and contain advice and guidance on, amongst other things, investing in shares and funds, research and analysis on quoted companies.
The website for The Share Centre is www.share.com
Sharemark
Sharemark was initially designed to facilitate the trading of Share plc’s shares by shareholders and prospective shareholders. It has evolved into a trading platform for a range of unquoted companies, as well as to existing quoted companies seeking a secondary trading facility. Sharemark is regulated by the FSA via The Share Centre and the website for Sharemark is www.sharemark.com.
Sharemark is a multilateral trading facility developed especially for the buying and selling of infrequently traded shares. It currently has a range of stock admitted to trading, which include equities, loan stock and bonds. Share plc has traded on Sharemark since 30 June 2000. Prices for shares quoted on Sharemark, including that of Share plc’s shares, are determined using a periodic auction-based methodology, arriving at a single price without a bid-offer spread, often on a weekly basis.
To date, there are 24 stocks traded on Sharemark.
Sharemark is also used as the market trading and valuation mechanism by Investbx, the West Midlands regional trading platform. Investbx is supported by the West Midlands Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands.
Sharefunds
Sharefunds oversees the administration of third party OEICs and can also act as Authorised Corporate Director of the OEICs it administers, if required. The website for Sharefunds is www.sharefunds.com.
In January 2008, the SF Portfolio Fund, a funds of funds OEIC, was launched, enabling retail investors to invest in one of three low cost managed portfolios, either within or outside an ISA, CTF or SIPP.
Sharesecure
Sharesecure is a trustee custodian for both the Group’s and other third party corporate Share Incentive Plans. In addition to Share plc, Sharesecure currently provides corporate trustee services to Christian Salvesen plc, Arla Foods plc, Biocompatibles plc, Hyder Consulting plc and Venture Production (Services) Ltd.
