Investors in software company CODA (CODA:AIM) who hold their shares in nominee accounts can now sign up to a special email alert service. One down side of nominee accounts is that, unlike share certificates, your name is not on the share register. If your name is not on the register you do not automatically get the company mailings.

But CODA has taken matters into its own hands and is now providing an email service to put nominee investors on an equal footing to certificated holders. The company has written to 400 nominee investors offering the service, which will include notices of meetings and alert shareholders when the annual report and accounts is available online.

CODA company secretary Dave Belmont, says: ‘Private shareholders form an important part of our shareholder community. We have taken a lead in communicating with those in nominee holdings who historically receive little or no information from the company.’

Belmont has already written to 177 investors from seven nominee accounts of which 20 have opted in for the bulletins. He is now sending out another 235 letters. The move follows a new mandatory regime for main board companies. New legislation, written into the Companies Act 2006, means companies quoted on the main board are obliged to send information to nominee investors, if they ask for it and the broker facilitates it.

However, Aim companies like CODA are not obliged to do this. As well as alerting investors to key dates in the corporate calender, CODA’s bulletins will include the latest regulatory announcements. If you wish to subscribe to the service visit www.coda.com/investors/alerts.