HC Deb 27 April 1995 vol 258 cc646-7W
Mr. Duncan

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will produce a table showing the gross proceeds of all privatisations since 1979 and the net proceeds after taking account of(a) underwriting fees and sales commissions, (b) accounting, banking, legal and consultancy fees, (c) marketing and advertising costs, (d) the actual or estimated cost of employee and small shareholder incentives, (e) any other expenses associated with the sale, (f) any small shareholder incentives, (g) any tax or debt write-offs agreed ahead of the sale and (h) interest income or other offsetting receipts, itemising each of these costs separately, and expressing total costs as a percentage of total gross proceeds. [19894]

Sir George Young

It is not practical to list all companies that have been privatised as many were subsidiaries of nationalised industries and were sold by the parent body, not the Government; consequently, information is not held centrally for all such sales. The table shows the companies privatised by the Government since 1979. Non-sale costs are shown where this information is held centrally; in some cases, costs are initial estimates rather than outturns. The administrative costs incurred by the vendor department are not included. To the extent that the costs shown in the table include non-cash costs—debt written off and the cost of bonus shares—they would not normally be set against the net proceeds which are measured in cash terms. Receipts from privatisation have amounted to £60 billion over the past 15 years.

Privatisation Costs (£million)
gross proceeds of sale
Privatisation Year of sale equity debt total 1Sale Costs Cash injection 3Debt written off Employee incentives Loyalty incentives Intereston application monies Total costs As per cent. of total gross proceeds Net proceeds
British
Aerospace2 1981 149 149 6 100 60 166 111.4 -17
Cable and Wireless2 1981 224 224 9 35 44 19.6 180
Amersham International 1982 63 63 3 3 0 0 63
NFC 1982 54 54 0 49 100 149 278.5 -96
Britoil 1982 549 549 13 13 2.3 536
Associated British Ports2 1983 48 25 73 3 81 1 85 116.1 -12
Enterprise Oil 1984 392 392 11 1 10 2.5 382
BT2 1984 3,916 3,500 7,416 185 2,790 56 82 4 3,109 41.9 4,307
British Gas2 1986 5,434 2,500 7,934 187 37 185 7 402 5.1 7,532
British Airways 1987 892 892 35 160 15 8 4 213 23.9 679
Royal Ordance 1987 190 190 4 1 5 2.7 185
Rolls-Royce 1987 1,348 1,348 34 283 14 5 326 24.2 1,022
BAA 1987 1,225 1,225 46 44 3 17 2 108 8.8 1,117
National Seed Development Organisation 1987 66 66 1 37 38 58.3 28
Professional and Executive Recruitment 1988 6 6 1 1 15.0 5
British Steel 1988 2,500 2,500 58 4,489 18 2 4,564 182.5 -2,064
General Practice Finance Corporation 1989 145 145 1 1 0.4 145
Harland and Wolff 1989 8 8 1 205 422 629 8,275 -621
Short Brothers 1989 30 30 2 366 390 759 2,529 2,529 -729
Regional Electicity Companies 1990 5,182 2,815 7,997 5202 51 64 34 6 6 6
Generating Companies2 1991 2,228 768 2,996 585 24 41 6 6 6 6
Scottish Electricity Companies 1991 2,918 626 3,544 114 1,044 11 53 1 1,219 34.4 2,325
NTL 1991 48 22 70 2 2 3.1 68
Insurance Services Group 1991 470 470 7 50 57 81.0 13
BTG 1992 28 28 3 3 10.5 25
Northern Ireland Electricity 1992–93 704 70 774 29 2 15 47 6.0 727
DVOIT 1993 5 5 2 2 50.0 2
Forward 1994 5 5 1 1 10.9 4
DTELS 1994 7 7 2 2 27.3 5
Belfast International Airport 1994 33 15 48 4 4 7.4 44
British Coal 1994 963 963 35 1,633 1,669 173.3 -706

Notes:

1 Costs to Government (often some costs will fall to the company).

2 Excludes costs and proceeds of secondary sales(s).

3 Since 1979.

4 Includes up to £5 million to be paid in 1996.

5 Costs to 31 December 1991 excluding VAT and stamp duty.

6 Lack of information on VAT and stamp duty costs means this is not available on a consistent basis.