Could you be sitting on a fortune in forgotten shares?

Discovering forgotten share certificates might sound like a tired movie plotline, but it’s far more common than you’d think.

After a flurry of privatisations of state-owned businesses in the 1980s, many people who had never dabbled in the stock market before took a punt – with one of the most memorable campaigns being British Gas’ ‘Tell Sid’ series of adverts.

Over time those who invested might have mislaid the certificates or perhaps moved home and lost touch with the company.

Now there are billions of pounds worth of shares and dividend payments estimated to be sitting unclaimed by investors who have forgotten about them, so it’s worth investigating. 

How much is out there?

There are shares and dividends worth £2.8 billion still waiting to be reunited with their owners, according to the latest count from lost assets recovery platform Gretel.

Around two million people are believed to have shares worth, on average, £1,250 each that remain unclaimed – and some of that money could belong to you, or someone in your family.

Malcolm Steel, Client Strategy Director at independent advice firm Mearns & Company said: “Losing touch with savings and investments is more common than you might think.

“Many people are completely unaware they have money due to them from lost shares - and some may be owed many thousands of pounds.

“We have several clients a year who discover they have shares in something they had forgotten about.”

Another source of unclaimed assets is windfall shares from financial services firms that have ‘demutualised’ – that is, those that have converted from being member-owned, such as a mutual life insurance company, to a limited company owned by shareholders.

How to find old shares

If you remember owning shares, then the first move should be to dust off any old paperwork boxes and see if you can find the proof.

If you come across an old share certificate, check whether the company still exists. All limited companies in the UK are registered at Companies House.

You can search for details, like previous company names and the registered office address, free of charge.

You should also check with the respective registrar to ensure that your certificates are still valid - a registrar being a place that hold details of the shares after they’re offered to the public. You can find out which registrar deals with your company by contacting the firm itself.

Registrars can also assist in tracing the history of the company including any mergers, takeovers or name changes that have occurred over the years.

However, if you’ve mislaid the certificate, you’ll need to find (or replace) it if you want to value or sell your shares.

You’ll need to confirm you own the shares – which can be tricky, especially if you’ve moved house. Contact the registrar for the company in question, who may be able to verify your shareholding.

If you manage this, then the certificate can be replaced via the registrar, though it will incur costs that could run to hundreds of pounds, depending on the value of the shares.

If you dimly remember owning shares, but can’t find a certificate or remember if you still hold them, then you’ll need to begin your detective work to see if you’re owed anything. 

Again, you’ll need to start by contacting the company's share registrar, if you know the company name.

You might have previously heard of the Unclaimed Assets Register – a database that helped locate lost assets in bank accounts, pensions and investments – and it would have been your first port of call.

However, it was decommissioned in 2022 by Experian, which administered it.

Other services are still available to help you locate lost shares - such as Gretel, which describes itself as a “hub” for finding and recovering lost assets and is free to use.

To find lost shares you’ll need to provide a few basic details, plus as many addresses as you can remember. You’ll also need to provide any other names you’ve been known by, such as maiden or married names. 

If you come across any platforms that charge you to perform the search, be careful – often you can do it for free yourself, so a little research here can really save you some cash.

Lost dividends

If you do find you’re a shareholder, you might also be due backdated dividend payments – earnings that companies distribute among their shareholders each year.

If this is the case, you should hopefully get them paid back to you. However, some companies impose time limits on these, and this can vary by country (although the London Stock Exchange mandates a minimum of 12 years) and there may be a fee to reclaim these.

If you do receive dividends, you’ll need to declare these on a self-assessment tax return. The first £1,000 of dividends are tax-free in the current tax year (reducing to £500 in the 2024/25 tax year, which starts on April 6).

Paul Barham, Senior Tax Partner at accountancy firm Mazars, says: “The self-assessment system requires taxpayers to disclose all their income and gains on an annual basis.

“If the historic dividends have not yet been disclosed then depending on when the dividends were originally payable, the taxpayer may need to amend a tax return previously submitted - or make what’s called an ‘unprompted disclosure’ to HMRC to declare the income not previously included in a tax return."

What to do with paper certificates

Once you’ve been reunited with your share certificate, you might want to sell - or convert it into digital shares. Both options will require a little legwork, as paper certificates are being phased out in favour of digital versions, and you’ll need the services of a stockbroker (broker) to help you.

If you want to sell, you’ll need to find a broker who is still dealing in certificated (paper) shares, and they’ll be able to walk you through the process of (and any fees incurred in) the sale.

If you want to keep hold of the shares, then the good news is many online brokers will be able to convert paper shares into digital holdings.

You’ll first need to open an account with an online share dealing platform, which is where your digital shares will be held.

It’s also important to remember that even though you already hold shares, if you open a new account and use it to purchase others, your investments could go down in value as well as up, meaning your money can be at risk – so be sure to get fully informed before opening it.

It’s worth taking professional advice here, as converting shares digitally alters the way they’re held, so don't be afraid of getting help to understand the changes that may occur.

If you do go ahead, then you’ll just need to send your certificates to your chosen platform along with a completed transfer form.

Be aware there may well be charges for this, and do consider sending certificates by a tracked postal service, as losing them at this point would be even more frustrating...

Key takeaways

• There are billions of pounds of unclaimed shares and dividends from people who have forgotten or lost touch with the companies they invested in
• If you have an old share certificate, speak to the company’s registrar to find out if it’s still valid
• If you know you have shares, but have misplaced the certificate, you can get these replaced for a fee
• If you can’t remember if you have any lost shares, you can use asset recovery services to help search them out for you
• If you want to sell your shares or convert your paper certificates into digital holdings, you’ll need to speak to a dedicated stockbroker who deals in certificated shares