HC Deb 23 March 1978 vol 946 cc744-8W
Mr. Woodall

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the current list of Government shareholdings, apart from those held by the National Enterprise Board, at 28th February 1978, stating: the date shares were purchased, the name of the company, the total number of shares held, the percentage these shares represent of the issued capital of the company, and the cost of acquisition of the shareholding.

Mr. Joel Barnett,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th March 1978; Vol. 946, c. 45–6] gave the following reply:

The following is the information available in the form requested; the date is that on which shares were first acquired:

Date Company Number of Shares held Percentage of Issued Share Capital held by the Government Cost of acquisition
£
July 1968 … Beagle Aircraft Ltd. 1,000,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 100 1,142,490
March 1975 … British Channel Tunnel Company Ltd. 3.652,174 £1 Ordinary Shares 100 8,505,000
April 1971 … British Nuclear Fuels Ltd 1,086,957 £1 Ordinary Founders Shares. 32,668,224 £1 Ordinary Shares 100 32,668,224
May 1974 … British Petroleum 197,124,223 £1 Ordinary Stock Units of which 77,817,507 are held by the Bank of England;and 1,000 £1 8 per cent. Cumulative First Preference Stock. 51 (including the proportion held by the Bank of England). 180,980,226*
1936 … British Sugar Corporation 14,500,000 50p Ordinary Shares 24.18 †
July 1971 … Harland and Wolff 10,996,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 100 4,604,000
1st August 1965 … Kintyre Farmers Ltd. 5 £1 Ordinary Shares 0.002 5
December 1974 … Marathon Shipbuilding Co. (U.K.) Ltd. 24,000 7½ per cent. Redeemable Cumulative £100 Preference Shares. 55.39 2,400,000
March 1974 … Mersey Docks and Harbour Co 4,137,265 10p Ordinary Shares 20.67 ‡
1 10p Special Share.
July 1973 … National Nuclear Corporation 3,500,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 35.00 3,685,000
July 1973 … Norton Villiers Triumph 1,000,000 £1 "A" Redeemable Preference Shares 21.56 2,372000
1,372,000 £1 "B" Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares.
April 1971 … Radiochemical Centre Ltd. 3,266,783 £1 Ordinary Shares 100 3,266,783
1936 … Short Bros. Ltd 2.880,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 96.28§ 17,770,000║
7,710,000 £1 "A" Preference Shares.
8,000,000 £1 "B" Preference Shares.
November 1975 … John Hastie and Co. Ltd. (in receivership) 200,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 63 700,000
500,000 £1 Cumulative Redeemable "A" Preference Shares.
December 1976 … John Hastie of Greenock (Holdings) Ltd. 40,000 £1 "B" Redeemable Participating Preference Shares 47 350,000
310,000 £1 "C" Redeemable Preference Shares.
August 1976 … Kearney and Trecker Marwin Ltd. 800,000 13½ per cent. £1 "B" Cumulative Preference Shares 26.46 900,000
100,000 13½ per cent. £1 "D" Cumulative Preference Shares.

Date Company Number of Shares held Percentage of Issued Share Capital held by the Government Cost of acquisition
£
August 1974 … KTM Machine Tools (Holdings) Ltd. 338,141 £1 Ordinary Shares 77.78 4,510,341
950,000 Redeemable Convertible £1 "A" Preference Shares.
3,222,200 Redeemable £1 "B" Preference Shares.
1943 … SB (Realisations) Ltd. 42,050 £1 5 per cent. Redeemable Cumulative Preference Shares. 100 1,262,170
581,302 25p Ordinary Shares.
250,000 25p "A" Ordinary Shares.
1876 … Suez Finance Co. Ltd. 710,125 FF100 Capital Shares 7.67
September 1963 … Toplis and Harding (MiddleEast) Ltd. (in liquidation). 998 50p Shares 99.8 —
May 1975 … Triang-Pedigree Ltd. 25,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 95 1,025,000
1,000,000 £1 Redeemable Preference Shares.
August 1969 … Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (in liquidation) 875,000 £1 Ordinary Shares 48.4 3,530,000
12,000,000 25p Ordinary Shares.
September 1973 … West Highland Crofters and Farmers Ltd. 10 £1 Ordinary Shares 0.017 10
February 1977 … Wolverhampton Industrial Engines Ltd. 50,000 10p "A" Ordinary Shares 2.4 5,000
* Made up of £2,000,000 in 1914 and £178,980,266 in 1975. The total represents the cost to the Government of its shareholding prior to the sale of 66,785,591 shares in June 1977: proceeds from that sale (which reduced the Government's shareholding to 51 per cent.) were £570,500,000.
† Shares were awarded to the Government in redemption of Government loans through the Trades Facilities Act 1921.
‡ The Government's shareholding represents partial compensation for the loss suffered by the Government on the collapse of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1970. The loss (£10.206 million) was equivalent to 60 per cent, of the £17.01 million Government loans outstanding before the collapse. The shares were acquired at the capital reconstruction of the undertaking in 1974.
§ Of which 26.84 per cent, held on behalf of the Government by SB (Realisations) Ltd.
║ Cost relates only to shares acquired since 1936.
¶ The Government acquired shares in 1876 at a cost of about £4 million.