§ Miss Quennellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in respect of the companies, boards or other bodies in which Her Majesty's Government holds shares, in so far as can be done without disproportionate time and effort, the size of the holding, the length of time held, and whether or not dividends are received for the holding.
Name of Company Number of shares held Dividends received (a) Beagle Aircraft Ltd. (in liquidation) 1,000,000 £1 Ordinary shares No British Nuclear Design & Construction Ltd. 260,000 £1 Ordinary shares (b) No British Petroleum Co. Ltd 174,461,538 £1 Ordinary Stock Yes 1,000 £18 % Cumulative First Preference Stock Yes British Sugar Corporation 1,125,000 £1 Ordinary shares Yes Brown Bayley Ltd 2,400,000 £1 Ordinary shares (b) Yes Cable and Wireless 30,000,000 £1 shares Yes Cammell Laird (Shipbuilding & Engineers) Ltd. 1,500,000 £1 Ordinary shares (c) No George Kent Ltd 3,017,577 Ordinary shares of 50p (b) Yes 1,244,180 Deferred Ordinary shares of 50p (b) Yes Herbert Ingersoll Ltd. 38,250 "A" £1 Ordinary shares (b) No 36,750 "B" £1 Ordinary shares (b) No International Computers (Holdings) Ltd 3,500,000 £1 "C" Ordinary shares (d) Yes Itabira Iron Ore Co. Ltd. (in liquidation) 61,220 £1 First Preference shares No 380,000 £1 Second Preference shares No 493,982 £1 Ordinary shares No Kearney and Trecker Ltd 300,000 Redeemable Convertible £1 Third Preference shares (b) Yes Nuclear Enterprises Ltd. 7,353 £1 "B" Ordinary shares (b) No Power Jets (R & D) Ltd. (in liquidation) 200,000 £1 Ordinary shares Yes Rolls-Royce (1971) Ltd. 30,000,000 £1 shares No SB (Realisations) Ltd. (e) 42,050 5% Redeemable Cumulative £1 Preference shares. No 581,302 25p Ordinary shares No 250,000 25p "A" Ordinary shares No Suez Finance Company 645,591 FF100 Capital shares Yes Toplis & Harding (Middle East) Ltd. 998 50p shares No Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Ltd. (in liquidation). 875,000 £1 Ordinary shares No 7% Unsecured Loan Stock 1975 (£940,000) (f) No Welsh Highland Light Railway (in liquidation). 5% Debenture Stock (£35,774) No Notes:
(a) The information refers to the last accounting period for which information is available. The fact that no dividends were received in this period does not always mean that they are not normally payable.
(b) Equity and preference shares previously held by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation but transferred to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 1st May, 1971.
(c) The Public Trustee holds these shares on behalf of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry,
(d) The Government have so far paid only 10p for each share. The balance of 90p per state is due on 28th September, 1972.
(e) SB (Realisations) Ltd. is the holding company for the Government's share in Short Brothers and Harland.
(f) This Loan Stock is in Fairfields (Glasgow) Ltd., which is a wholly owned non-operative subsidiary of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders.
This table covers all the shareholdings held by Government Departments except for a number of small groups of shares held mainly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in mixed agricultural enterprises such as agricultural co-operatives. These shares were listed in a reply to the hon. Member for Leeds South (Mr. Merlyn Rees) on 25th January, 1972: their total nominal value is very small. Unsecured and secured loans made by the former Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, and which have been transferred to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, have been excluded.—[Vol. 829, c. 381–2.]
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§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe great majority of Government shareholdings are in the form of equity for which in general there is no maturity date. Moreover there is no overall timetable for disposing of these holdings, so that it is not generally possible to give an indication of the length of time for which the Government will continue to own the shares. Otherwise, following is the information: