HC Deb 11 July 1979 vol 970 cc210-3W
Mr. Craigen

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list, for each enterprise in which the Government have shareholdings, the total number of employees of those companies and the percentage employed in Scotland;

(2) if he will publish the current list of the Government's shareholdings apart from those held by the National Enterprise Board, Scottish Development Agency and Welsh Development Agency, stating the date the shares were purchased, the name of the company, the total number of shares held, the percentage that these shares represent of the equity capital of the company and the costs of the acquisition of the shares.

Mr. Lawson

The following is the information in so far as it is readily available:

Date of first acquisition Company Number of shares held Percentage of issued share capital held by the Government Cost of acquisition £ Number of United Kingdom employees Percentage of employees in Scotland
July 1968 … Beagle Aircraft Ltd. (in liquidation) 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 — —
1,086,957 £1 ordinary founders shares
April 1971 … British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. 32,668,224 £1 ordinary shares 100 32,668,224 13,534 4.5
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 (a) 38,550 18.2
1936 … British Sugar Corporation 14,500,000 50p ordinary shares 24.18 (b) 5,953 N/A
2,478 N/A
August 1976 … Drake and Scull Holdings Ltd. 598,166 £1 8.4 per cent. "E" preference shares. 7.76 598,166 — —
July 1971 … Harland and Wolff 10,996,082 £1 ordinary shares 100 4,604,000 7,800 —
December 1976 … John Hastie of Greenock (Holdings) Ltd. 40,000 £1 "B" redeemable participating preference shares and 310,000 £1 "C" redeemable preference shares. 47 350,000 180 100
August 1976 … Kearney and Trecker Marwin Ltd. 800,000 13½ per cent. £1 "B" cumulative preference shares. 26.46 900,000 1,056 N/A
100,000 13½ Per cent. £1 "D" cumulative preference shares.
August 1974 … KTM Machine Tools (Holdings) Ltd. 338,141 £1 ordinary shares, 950,000 redeemable convertible £1 "A" preference shares and 3,222,200 reedemable £1 "B" preference shares. 77.78 4,510,341 — —
August 1965 … Kintyre Farmers Ltd. 5 £1 ordinary shares 0.002 5 — —
December 1974 … Marathon Shipbuilding Co. (UK) Ltd. 32,000 7½ per cent, redeemable cumulative £100 preference shares. 62.34 3,200,000 1,000 100
March 1974 … Mersey Docks and Harbour Co. 4,137,265 10p ordinary shares 20.67 (c) 8,094 —
July 1973 … National Nuclear Corporation 3,500,000 £1 ordinary shares 35 3,685,000 2,360 8.47
July 1973 … Norton Villiers Triumph 1,000,000 £1 "A" redeemable preference shares. 21.56 2,372,000 530 —
1,372,000 £1 "B" convertible redeemable preference shares.
Date of first acquisition Company Number of shares held Percentage of issued share capital held by the Government Cost of acquisition £ Number of United Kingdom employees Percentage of employees in Scotland
April 1971 … Radiochemical Centre Ltd. … 6,266,783 £1 ordinary shares 100 6,266,783 1,337 —
1936 … Short Bros Ltd. … 3,600,000 £1 ordinary shares 100 (d) 17,810,000 (e) 6,000 —
7,710,000 £1 "A" preference shares
8,000,000 £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
1979 … St. Vincent Drilling Ltd. … 1 £1 ordinary share 50 (f) 1 — —
1876 … Suez Finance Co. Ltd. … 710,125 FF100 capital shares 7.67 (g) — —
September 1963 … Toplis and Harding (Middle East Ltd. (in liquidation). 998 50p shares 99.8 — — —
May 1975 … Triang-Pedigree (1971) Ltd. … 25,000 £1 ordinary shares and 100 £10,000 redeemable preference shafes. 95 1,025,000 — —
August 1969 … Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (in liquidation). 875,000 £1 ordinary shares and 12,000.000 25p ordinary shares. 48.4 3,530,000 — —
May 1978 … Standard Mill (Rochdale) … 300,000 £1 preference shares 56.81 300,000 220 —
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 5,000 176 —
Notes:
(a) 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 £570.5 million.
(b) Shares were awarded to the Government on redemption of Government loans through the Trade Facilities Act 1921.
(c) 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.
(d) Of which 8.49 per cent, held on behalf of the Government by SB (Realisations) Ltd.
(e) Cost relates only to shares acquired since 1936.
(f) The other £1 share is held by BNOC.
(g) The Government acquired shares in 1876 at a cost of about £4 million.
(h) The Inland Revenue from time to time have miscellaneous holdings of shares which have been acquired under arrangements to meet tax liabilities, but such shares are disposed of as early as practicable.