§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has about the number of persons who bought shares in British Telecom who have now sold them.
§ Mr. Butcher[pursuant to the reply, 29 April 1985 c. 57]: About 2,150,000 applicants were allotted British Telecom shares under the United Kingdom public offer for sale last November. It is estimated that British Telecom now has about 1.75 million shareholders. This implies that around 400,000 of the original allottees have sold their shares and that 81 per cent. of the allottees have held on to their shares. These figures exclude shares held in trust for 222,000 British Telecom employees under the Government's free and matching share offer.