Ultimatum at Bradford & Bingley
Updated: 19:00 EST, 3 December 2003
MORTGAGE bank Bradford & Bingley said it will sell unclaimed shares from its flotation, representing more than 2% of its total share issue, in three months if the owners do not claim them.
A spokeswoman for the bank said around 47,000 former members of the building society had not claimed their shares following its flotation three years ago.
'We have done a huge amount of work trying to track these people down. We managed to contact 100,000 but we don't know where these remaining ones are.'
The former building society, which focuses on mortgages for businesses, people renting out their homes and people without full-time employment, gave each account holder 250 shares following its flotation.
When Bradford & Bingley sells the shares, currently around 15m, the owners have nine years to come forward and claim the proceeds as well as any dividends paid up to the date of the sale.
Despite a fall in first-half profits, the bank raised its interim dividend 12.2% to 5.5p in August as a sign of confidence in its future.
People who think they may be owed shares should ring 0870 7030120.