How to fi d out if a few old shares are worth anything.

[Imtoooldforallthis]

Just that really I have some shares in two companies, Google hasn't really helped. When I've looked on Hargreaves Lansdown it want me to set up an account and I don't want to do that just yet as I have a feeling that they are worthless.

“The first thing to do is to find out if the company on the share certificate is still trading. To do this, type in the company name in the search box on the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) website (londonstockexchange.com). The difficulty with old share certificates, however, is that the company may have gone bust, changed its name or been taken over. LSEG suggests the best way to see whether a shares certificate is still valid and worth selling is to consult a stockbroker.
“It will cost you a small fee but, if there is money to be made from them, a stockbroker should help,” it says.
Another way to check on a share certificate’s validity is to contact the company registrars whose name should be written on the certificate. Companies use registrars to keep a record of who owns their shares. The registrars keep lists of all the registered owners and they can trace ownership back, sometimes for many years. They can also often help investors by tracing the history of the company and finding out whether it has changed name, gone bankrupt, merged with another company or been taken over.
If you cannot trace the registrar named on your share certificates (maybe they too have changed names or gone out of business), the LSEG suggests you contact one of the UK’s three main registrars who may be able to help. These are: Equiniti (equiniti.com), 384 2030 0871 384 2030; Capita (capita.co.uk), 664 0300 0871 664 0300; and Computershare (computershare.com), 702 0003 0870 702 0003.”

Thank you, I'll have a look.

Are you happy to share the names here and someone may know?

Yes they are Falkland Island Holding and Wiggins group.

You can look up the companies on Companies House. Here is Falkland Island Holdings
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03416346/filing-history
It is clearly trading and solvent and paying dividends. How much your shares are worth is mainly dependent on how many of them you have!

Thank you so much, the shares were like 10p and 1p ordinary shares, does that make a difference?

The 'nominal value' of shares is largely irrelevant in terms of selling - it depends on their market price.
The number that you hold is probably more helpful in determining value. Note 24 in the accounts suggests that the share price was £2.41 per share in mid 2022 having been a bit over £3 in the two previous years. That should give you. Broad idea of value based on how many shares you have

Falkland Island Holdings has an investor relations page so should be able to contact them or their brokers

www.fihplc.com/investor-information/index.php

Wiggins Group look like they changed to Planestatiom then ceased to exist

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00397916

Thank you so much

Where would be the best place to sell them.

I'd contact the investor relations page linked above and ask them

Remember you are also entitled to any dividends that you have not received over the years. The company secretary should record unpaid dividends.