Stock Brokers > The Share Centre
About The Share Centre
Gavin Oldham, who founded The Share Centre, was a partner in Wedd Durlacher, one of the two big stockjobbers in the old market. His firm, which had family connections dating back to Bone Oldham in 1884, was bought by Barclays Bank. There he teamed up with Peter Forster, director of business development at The Share Centre, who had been at Barclays for 25 years, and Jeremy Helliwell, now Operations Director at The Share Centre. The result was Barclayshare, or Barclays Stockbrokers as it is now known.
In 1990 Gavin left Barclays to set up The Share Centre, which started providing share services to the public in April 1991. Since then the company has grown consistently, offering its services through newspapers, major listed companies, retail stores and the large UK government privatisations. In 1993 it was chosen to offer low-cost share dealing services for corporate client companies of SG Warburg. In 1994 it ran the House of Fraser employee new issue service and in 1995 it provided National Grid with a dedicated flotation service for its staff.
In 1996 The Share Centre introduced one of the lowest ever minimum commission for share-buying: just £2.50 (see their charges page). Meanwhile, to prepare for fully automated dealing, it introduced a share settlement system based on CREST, the new share clearing organisation designed to replace the old Stock Exchange systems. 1997 was the year of de-mutualisation, and a change of Government.
The Share Centre originated "subscription-free" transfer into PEP for Building Society Shares, and played a leading role in offering share services for the new plc's, including the new Colonial Share service. Thomson Travel was the major event in '98, and The Share Centre handled over 300,000 registrations, 105,000 of whom applied for the issue.
In a major expansion of its share services for employees and shareholders of listed companies, The Share Centre acquired the Corporate PEP business of Bradford & Bingley in early '99, completing the transfer over the Easter weekend. It now administers over 167,000 Share Accounts, PEP's and ISA's with a combined value of approximately £750m.
In the fourth quarter of 2000 The Share Centre started to provide direct Internet Access for Account Customers. This major development proved extremely popular, as customers are able to review their valuations and place dealing instructions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In January 2001 Immediate Dealing was introduced to the web site, and now accounts for over 40% of all dealing instructions placed.
The Share Centre is a privately owned, independent group. Gavin Oldham remains the majority shareholder in the parent company, now called Share plc, accompanied by fellow staff and directors and a number of long-standing personal shareholders. However, shareownership in the newly-restructured company underwent a major change in 2000, with existing Account holders and new ISA customers being offered the opportunity to receive Free Shares in Share plc.
In addition, they have created our own 'Internal Market' known as 'ShareMark' to allow the trading in Share plc shares, accessible via www.sharemark.co.uk.
Share Account
Opening a Share Account with The Share Centre couldn't be easier. You don't have to deal straight away. An unused account costs nothing to open and nothing to close - so if you change your mind there's nothing to lose.
ISAs
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are a tax-free way of investing, designed to encourage savings and investment habit for everyone. They're the Government's alternative to PEPs and TESSAs for new subscriptions.
Their ISA allows you to invest directly in shares and the selection is yours. You will still avoid UK tax on all investments within your portfolio, so long as it stays fully invested - no UK dividend income tax and no UK capital gains tax. You can do so enjoying the same ease, flexibility and service that they give to all our Share Account customers, and if you're unsure of what to do at any stage, there's optional access to personal investment advice.
Benefits:
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Your own tax-free share portfolio
Low dealing and administration charges
24 hour, 7 day access to your portfolio online
Wide range of investments
The Shareholder magazine with your half-yearly valuations
Optional investment advice
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Visit http://www.share.com/
Stock Brokers > BestInvest
About BestInvest.co.uk
Bestinvest take a different approach to most other investment advisers. Typically, they do not receive any commission from transactions, their income is derived mainly from the value of clients' investments. In that way they avoid the potential conflict of interest that can affect the impartiality of advice. They only prosper if clients remain with them and the value of their investments grow.
Their own research analysts carry out hundreds of face to face meetings with fund managers each year. They typically discount all of the initial commission on Funds and ISAs and negotiate further discounts with the managers.
Their approach is designed for the medium to long term investor who wants to sleep easily at night but earn competitive returns.
You can purchase practically any type of investment through Bestinvest - ISAs, Unit Trusts, Investment Trusts, Shares, Insurance Bonds, Stakeholder Pensions, Guaranteed Income Bonds, Venture Capital Trusts, Enterprise Investment Schemes and many others.
Services
Execution Only
This is available to all customers. You gain the benefit of Bestinvest's research and discounted dealing terms and your portfolio can be monitored via the Client Centre section of their website.
Advisory
Organising your own investment affairs is time-consuming and requires a thorough knowledge of investment matters. Their trained advisers can take away this problem by making a bespoke recommendation for you once they have an adequate understanding of your circumstances and objectives. There is no explicit charge for this service but it is usually restricted to investors with portfolios of at least £40,000.
Pension reviews and complex financial plans may be charged on a fee basis but this will be agreed in advance with customers.
Investment Management
If you want to delegate the task of monitoring and managing your investments and your portfolio is in excess of £250,000 you might want to appoint Bestinvest as your Investment Manager. They generally charge a fee of 0.25% of the portfolio value every six months.
Visit http://www.bestinvest.co.uk
