BP Shares (Hansard, 7 December 1987)

§ Mr. Malcolm Bruce
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many investors have taken up the Bank of England's offer to buy partly paid BP shares at a guaranteed price.
71W

§ Mr. Norman Lamont
As of close of business on 3 December, I understand the Bank of England had made disbursements in respect of 253 acceptances.

§ Mr. Malcolm Bruce
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many partly paid BP shares have been bought by the Bank of England from investors selling to the bank at the guaranteed price.

§ Mr. Norman Lamont
As of close of business on 3 December, I understand the Bank of England had received acceptances in respect of 72,233 shares.

§ Mr. Chris Smith
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the light of current share values, he has any intention of extending the final possible date for the Bank of England's offer to repurchase partly paid BP shares beyond 6 January.

§ Mr. Norman Lamont
No.

§ Mr. Gordon Brown
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list, for each day from 20 October until 2 December, the price that will be recognised as the market value in partly paid BP shares, for the purposes of calculating allowable losses to offset against capital gains tax or for computing trading losses.

§ Mr. Norman Lamont
Capital gains and losses on quoted shares are normally computed by reference to the actual price at which transactions are conducted. It is only in limited circumstances — for example, where a transaction is not at arm's length or is between connected persons—that regard is had to market value. Generally, market value is computed by reference to the prices quoted in the stock exchange daily official list. However, those prices do not always give a guide to market value for particular transactions for tax purposes, particularly when there are large price movements during the day or where sizeable blocks of shares are concerned. In these circumstances it would be necessary to have regard to all the facts of the individual transaction. Against this background, it is not possible to provide a single figure for what would be the market value for tax purposes for shares in an individual company on an particular day.