CHAPTER 6.

STOCKS AND SHARES

1 Issuing stocks and shares

Task 1a. Discussion

If you possess a large amount of money, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the following?

 putting it under the mattress

 buying a lottery ticket
 taking it all to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo
 putting it in a bank
 buying gold
 buying a Van Gogh painting
 investing in property or real estate
  buying bonds
 buying shares

Task 1b. Reading

Read the following text and answer the questions.

1) Why do people form limited companies ?

2) Why do companies issue shares?
3) Why do people buy the shares?

COMPANIES

Individuals and groups of people doing business as a partnership, have unlimited liability for debts,
unless they form a limited company. If the business does badly and can’t pay its debts, any creditor can
have it declared bankrupt. The unsuccessful business people may have to sell nearly all their possessions
in order to pay their debts. This is why most people doing business form limited companies. A limited
company is a legal entity separate from its owners and is only liable for the amount of capital that has
been invested in it. If a limited company goes bankrupt, it is wound up and its assets are sold, liquidated
in order to pay the debts. If the assets don’t cover the liabilities or the debts, they remain unpaid. The
creditors simply do not get all their money back.

Most companies begin as private limited companies. Their owners have to put up the capital
themselves, or borrow from friends or a bank, perhaps a bank specializing in venture capital. The founders
have to write a Memorandum of Association (GB) or a Certificate of Incorporation (US), which states the
company’s name, its purpose, its registered office or premises and the amount of authorized share capital.
They also write Articles of Association (GB) or Bylaws (US), which set out the duties of directors and the
rights of shareholders (GB) or stockholders (US). They send these documents to the registrar of
companies.

A successful, growing company can apply to a stock exchange to become a public limited company
(GB) or a listed company (US). Newer and smaller companies usually join “over-the-counter” markets.
Very successful businesses can apply to be quoted or listed (i.e. to have their shares traded) on major
stock exchanges. Publicly quoted companies have to fulfill a large number of requirements, including
sending their shareholders an independently-audited report every year, containing the year’s trading
results and a statement of their financial position.

The act of issuing shares (GB) or stocks (US) for the first time is known as floating a company
(making a flotation). Companies generally use an investment bank to underwrite the issue, that is to
guarantee to purchase all the securities at an agreed price on a certain day, if they can’t be sold to the
public.

Companies wishing to raise more money for expansion, can sometimes issue new shares, which
are normally offered first to existing shareholders at less than their market price. This is known as a rights
issue. Companies sometimes also choose to capitalize part of their profit (turn it into capital) by issuing
new shares to shareholders instead of paying dividends. This is known as a bonus issue.

Buying a share gives its holder part of the ownership of a company. Shares generally entitle their
owners to vote at a company’s Annual General Meeting (GB) or Annual Meeting of Stockholders (US) and
to receive a proportion of distributed profits in the form of a dividend, or to receive part of the company’s
residual value if it goes into liquidation. Shareholders can sell their shares on the secondary market at any
time, but the market price of a share – the price quoted at any given time on the stock exchange, which
reflects, more or less, how well or badly the company is doing – may differ radically from its nominal value.

Task 1c. Comprehension

Write questions that could produce the following answers

1) They have to send their shareholders a report at the end of every financial year, including
independently-audited financial statements, and hold an annual general meeting.
2) A market for young or small companies which do not want to have their shares tradded on the
major stock exchanges.
3) It issues new shares, offering them to existing shareholders first.
4) It’s when a company chooses to issue new shares to existing shareholders rather than pay them
a dividend.
5) They are generally entitled to vote at companies’ General Mettings and to receive a dividend if
the company makes a profit.
Task 1d. Vocabulary
Find words in the text which mean the following.
1) having a responsibility or an obligation to do something, e.g. to pay a debt
2) a person or organization to whom money is owed (for goods or services rendered, or as
repayment of a loan)
3) to be insolvent: unable to pay debts
4) everything of value owned by a business that can be used to produce goods, pay liabilities, and so
on.
5) to sell all the professions of a bankrupt business
6) money that a company will have to pay to someone else (bills, taxes, debts, interest and mortgage
payments, etc)
7) to provide money for a company or other project
8) money invested in a possibly risky new business
9) the people who begin a new company
10) the place in which a company does business: an office, shop, workshop, factory, warehouse, and
so on

11) to guarantee to buy an entire new share issue, if no one else wants it
12) a proportion of the annual profits of a limited company, paid to shareholders.

ALTERNATIVE TERMINOLOGY:
Americans often talk about corporations rather than companies and about an initial public offerinng
rather than a flotation.
Another name for stocks and shares is equities, because all the stocks or shares of a company – or at
least all those of a particular category – have equal value.
Two other terms for nominal value are face value and par value
Other names for a bonus issue are a scrip issue (short for ‘subscription certificate’) and a capitalization
issue, and in the US, a stock dividend or stock split.

2 Stock Markets
Task 2a. Vocabulary
Rather than endlessly repeating the words ‘rose’ and ‘fell’, financial journalists use a large number of
verbs and phrases to describe the movements of security prices. Classify the following sentences,
according to whether you think the verb or expression means:

A. to rise after previously falling

B. to rise a little
C. to rise a lot
 D. to fall a little
E. to fall a lot

1) Boeing stocks rocketed after rumours of a forthcoming merger with another leading
aircraft manufacturer
2) The Dow-Jones index crashed after continuing rumours about the President’s health.
3) Exxon stocks shot up after a new deal to pump Siberian natural gas was announced
4) The Footsie rallied in London in the afternoon, gaining 30 points in late trading.
5) Grundig shares slipped after the news of boardroom changes.
6) In Paris, the CAC-40 plummeted, after the unions called for a threeday general strike
next week
7) Leading shares were slightly weaker in Tokyo, the Nikkei losing six points.
8) Most shares were a little stronger in Milan this morning, when the exchange
reopened after yesterday’s public holiday.
9) On the Frankfurt exchange, the DAX index finished slightly firmer, up 12 points.
10) Philips shares jumped after the company revealed that it was negotiating a new
licensing deal with Sony.
11) Procter & Gamble stocks plunged after it was revealed that the company had lost
over $100 million as a result of a derivative deal.
12) Share prices recovered in Hong Kong today, the Hang Seng finishing up ten points.

Task 2b. Vocabulary

Match up the following words and definitions

blue chip defensive stock growth stock insider share-dealing

institutional investors mutual fund market-maker portfolio
stockbroker

1) a company that spreads investors’ capital over a variety of securities

2) an investor’s selection of securities
3) a person who can advise investors and buy and sell shares for them
4) a stock in a large company or corporation that is considered to be a secure investment
5) a stock – in an industry not much affected by cylical trends – that offers a good return but only a
limited chance of a rise or decline in price
6) a stock – which usually has a high purchasing price and a low current rate of return – that is expected
to appreciate in capital value
7) a wholesaler in stocks and shares who deals with brokers
8) financial organizations such as pension funds and insurance companies which own most of the shares
of all leading companies (over 60%, and rising)
9) the use of information not known to the public to make a profit out of buying or selling shares.

Task 2c. Vocabulary

There is a logical connection among three of the four words in each of the following groups. Which is
the odd one out, and why?

1) annual report – external auditors – financial statements – stockbroker

2) blue chip – defensive stock – growth stock – right issue
3) bonus issue – dividend – over – the – counter – shareholder
4) creditor – market – maker – shareholder – stockbroker
5) debt – equity – share – stock
6) face value – market value – nominal value – par value
7) float – liquidation – share issue – underwriter
8) institutional investor – insurance company – liabilities – pension fund
9) mutual fund – portfolio – risk – underwriter

Task 2d. Discussion

Imagine that you have just come from a secret meeting of a company’s board of directors, which has
made a decision that you know will financially ruin a close friend of yours unless she can sell some
shares before the board’s decision becomes known. You are having dinner at her home that same
evening. Should she expect you to warn her? Should you do so?

Task 2e. Case Study : Ethical Investments

Imagine that a relatives, who knows very little about finance, asks you to invest $10,000 for her in a
portfolio of investments, but insists that she only wants her money invested in ‘wholly ethical
companies’.
Which of the following activities would cause you to rule out a company as a possible investment?
 emitting a large quantity of CO2 into the atmosphere
 factory farming
 making donations to political parties
 manufacturing weapons
 marketing powdered baby milk in countries without pure water supplies
 not recognizing trade unions
 paying low wage levels in developing countries
 producing nuclear energy
 selling alcohol
 selling tobacco
 relocating production to countries with lower labour costs
 testing cosmetic products on animals
 trading with oppressive regimes