Dictum Meum Pactum.

In 1923 the London Stock Exchange received its own coat of arms, with the motto “Dictum Meum Pactum” (My Word is My Bond).
Contrary to the belief held by the acolytes of such as Her Grace, the Duchess of Thornberry, GCMP, [Dame Grand Comrade of the Most Self-Righteous Order of St Mary & St Peter of Islington & Finsbury] and the Abbess of Hackney & Mother Superior of the Black Sisters of Stoke Newington, those who make their living on the London Stock Exchange are an upright, honourable and above all, law abiding group of people. They HAVE to be for their regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority insists upon such and those falling short will find themselves out of a job and/or out of business!
Mention the phrase, “private shareholder” to your average “rent-a-trot” you know the type – the loud mouthed, sneering heckler who attends every public hustings he or she can and jeers contemptuously at any and everybody who dares utter anything other than words that would meet with the approval of Karl Marx – and he/she will conjure up in their mind the image of a white upper class male that resembles in their imagination “Bertie Wooster” who talks in an exaggerated mark standard southern received accent, is lounging around on a couch situated on the quarterdeck of a very large luxury yacht moored off Cap d’Antibes with a glass of “champers” in his hand whilst speaking on a hand free telephone to his stockbroker in London with the words such as, “Jolly good! What-o! I say, old “Bonkers” appears to be a jolly good egg! What!”
Now, maybe, just maybe in 2019 there are still characters like this who have survived since 1919, but IF [Well, there is Jacob Ress-Mogg – Ed.] they still exist, their numbers are vanishingly small! Except of course in the imaginations of “rent-a-trot”!
However, the FACT of the matter is this: Most private shareholders are ORDINARY PEOPLE!
They are NOT very wealthy. Most are elderly and need the dividend income to supplement their occupational pensions and/or state pensions – to enable them to pay the electric and gas bills and to spend a little money on their grandchildren on their birthdays and at Christmas.
This “false perception” is a BIG problem as “rent-a-trot” and his/her comrades will be urging “The Proletariat’s Champion” – aka Comrade Corbyn – to expropriate the shares that these good people hold in such as SSE PLC.
NB: Declaration of interest: The Editor holds shares in SSE.
Hopefully, IF Comrade Corbyn receives the keys of #10 from Her Majesty, he will NOT have received an overall majority from the British People. This means that he will have two options:
#1: Seek and negotiate a coalition.
#2: Govern as a minority administration.
Most observers expect Comrade Corbyn to opt for #2.
This will mean that should he put a renationalisation bill before the Commons oppostion MPs will be able either to stop it or amend it.
We would suggest an amendment.
This amendment should concern the level of the compulsory purchase price the shareholders will receive. It should be the HIGHEST price the stock has traded at since privatisation. In the case of SSE this is £16.79 that was reached on 5th December 2014. FYI the lowest price the stock has traded at was £2.91 in July 1996.
What this means for the shareholders is this: None of them loose any money! Some gain quite a lot.
For instance: take the aforementioned example of your Editor.
I purchased and sold SSE shares from the beginning of 2014. I currently hold 2,000 shares. These shares were purchased in seven lots between 26th July 2017 and 22nd May 2019 and the average cost per share (including stamp duty and brokerage fees) is £13.20 per share which values my shareholding at £26,399. This means that were Comrade Corbyn to put through the Bill and the Tories were to amend the Act along the lines I have suggested I would receive from the British taxpayer the sum of £33,580 that would have caused me to make a capital gain of £7,181.
I would also suggest another amendment: that ALL gains from such compulsory purchase orders would be subject to Capital Gains Tax at the standard rates and subject to the standard thresholds – whether held inside an ISA or not. Shares in qualifying pension funds should still be exempt.
Were such an amendment enacted my gain would be subject to CGT but at £7,181 would be below the threshold.
What would I do with the money?
Reinvest it to provide dividend income from another source.
You may additionally ask dear reader, “Why the background image of a young lady in a state of undress?”
To irritate such as Harridan Hatemen and of course the Duchess of Thornberry and the Abbess of Hackney who will denounce it as outrageously sexist and demeaning to ALL women!
Do I care?
Err…. No.
I like to call it “diablerie signalling”, as opposed to virtue signalling!
Diablerie is said to be the quality of being reckless or wild in a charismatic way.
I however prefer it’s archaic meaning of sorcery supposedly assisted by the devil! Which I think is closer to the Abbess of Hackney’s opinion about Moi!