Vodafone defends ‘low cost’ share sales scheme

Vodafone has moved to reassure Irish investors that they will not lose out after it emerged that many would fare worse under its low-cost dealing option than if they had used an already available online alternative.

The British telecoms giant yesterday unveiled details of a “low cost” scheme to allow small shareholder to sell their shares.

Under the scheme, anyone with between one and 50 shares could sell at no commission.

Those private investors holding between 51 and 1,000 shares will be charged commission of either 21 cent a share or 35 cent a share – depending on whether they hold their shares electronically or via a paper share certificate.

In both cases the maximum commission will be €42 under the service being offered for Vodafone by its registrar Computershare.

However, under its standard online service, Computershare can already sell shares for many Vodafone customers at an even cheaper rate.

Commission

The existing online service charges commission of just 1 per cent per share.

It has a minimum charge of €40 for paper transactions, which means there is little difference for holders of paper certificates.

But people who hold shares electronically through a Vodafone Share Account are subject to a minimum charge of just €32.

On that basis, if they hold more than 152 shares, they would be better off using Computershare’s standard online sale option than availing of the “low cost” scheme.

There are more than 230,000 Irish shareholders in Vodafone with holdings of between 51 and 1,000 shares.

The company says that the average holding is 236 shares.

A spokeswoman for Vodafone said the discrepancy arose because of an exchange rate conversion.

However, while the foreign exchange factor could explain the small discrepancy affecting holders of paper certificates, it does not account for the significant differential affecting investors holding shares electronically.

In response to queries from The Irish Times, Vodafone said: “In order to make sure that no-one is disadvantaged . . . we will ensure that all holders receive a [commission] rate that is no more than the equivalent online rate when trades are executed.”