a spot of advice

[GrahamR15]

hi wondering if anyone can advise a little. ???

i have some class/type b shares in the company i work for which show up as 100 £1 shares of 1000 though obviously not a true representation of the value paid for them.
this entitled me to a 10% share of profits though being a small limited company the friendly local accountant has no trouble showing the company makes nothing. Problem is im leaving and am duly expecting i will get offered the same as a previous employee that left which was £1 each for his shares so £100. This i im not gonna be comfortable with but what is right or wrong? is this to be put down as life expierience or am i entitled to more?

many thanks
g

[Eric Mc]

On what ground do you think you are entitled to more?

[GrahamR15]

Eric Mc said:

On what ground do you think you are entitled to more?

Because initial investment was over 50x the amount offered

[TurricanII]

Rightly or wrongly if I were leaving I would ask the accountant to value the company/check how much the company is worth on a reconiled balance sheet and ask for at least 10% of that, if your class b shares are in fact supposed to be worth 10% of profits. Or I would not sell the shares which may become a pain in the ass in the future for the other shareholders and may become profitable for me if the company grows.

Beware the diluting problem, where they can issue a load of shares and make yours worthless. I am not sure what protection you might have against that. Reading the shareholder agreement might be a good start.

Other info on a similar tale:
http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/archive/i...

[Eric Mc]

GrahamR15 said:

Eric Mc said:

On what ground do you think you are entitled to more?

Because initial investment was over 50x the amount offered

Fair enough. So you paid how much for your shares?

[GrahamR15]

I paid 5k another here paid 10k and in same position

[Eric Mc]

I had assumed that the amount you paid was negligible, or that you had received the shares as part of a staff incentive scheme.

Obviously, if you had paid a reasonable amount for the shares you would like to at least get your money back. In the real world, that is not always the case as the value of the company and its shares may not be as high as they were at the time you purchased them.

Getting a fair and indeopendent valuation of the shares may be what you need - but you may have to fund that valuation out of your own pocket - and they may not come up with the answer you would have liked.

[GrahamR15]

Thanks you've just pretty much confirmed what I was thinking!

[TurricanII]

All, is it fair to say that the OP cannot be forced to sell the shares at a lower price? Are they effectively his property so he can set whatever price he likes? And can you sign that right away in a shareholder agreement?