Shares digital

Shares Rating

Share 1 (low)-5 (high)

Management: 4

Market: 1

Product:

Financial strength: 4

TOTAL SCORE: 12/20

It’s a novel approach to attracting new investors but stockbroker The Share Centre is giving anyone who signs up to one if its individual savings account (ISA) 200 free shares ahead of its planned float on Aim.

The private client broker’s parent company Share is expected to have a market capitalisation of £60 million when it joins the junior market around May. Investors who sign up to new ISAs before next Friday (4 April) will qualify for free shares.

Gavin Oldham, chief executive of Share, says: ‘Personal investors have played a key role in our growth and development to date and at this exciting stage for the company, we feel it is right to include them in our plans for the future.’

Share is offering four million new shares to new ISA investors. Half will be given to investors who take out ISAs this tax year and half will be allocated to those who take out an ISA next tax year.

These shares presently trade on ShareMark, the dealing platform for private companies, and currently change hands at about 36p giving the 200 shares a value of around £70.

Because the company is traded on ShareMark, there is already some public information out there about its finances. In the half year to 30 June Share reported turnover of £5.8 million, up 9% on last year’s £5.4 million. Pre-tax profits were £1.7 million.

An admission document setting out full details of the flotation is expected from around mid April onwards. To qualify for the free shares investors either have to take out a new ISA to the value of £7,000, or transfer to a Share Centre ISA from their current broker.

To qualify for next year’s tranche of free shares an ISA has to be taken out before 3 April 2009.