Ordinary Shares

[Petal12]

Morning all, I’m hoping someone far more intelligent than me can help me understand a query I have regarding shares. I am currently dealing with my late aunt’s estate. I requested a valuation statement from equiniti for the purposes of probate expecting this to confirm a figure around £11k but they have returned with £124. The document I found which alerted me to her holding with costain stated 249 ordinary shares 50p. Yet the share price for Costain online is £45 a share. I’m sure they’re providing accurate info but I just don’t understand. What are ordinary shares and why are they only worth 50p? Do I need to question this further? My aunt and uncle played the stock market a lot and made good money from it so I’m unsure why these low value shares were kept? Many thanks

I think that's probably the nominal value of the shares rather than their current market value. If you have 100 shares just multiple the current share price by 100 to get your market valuation. When you sell there will be some admin charges but shouldn't be much. Good luck.

Is it possible the share price today is actually around 50 pence rather than £50?

Share prices are often quoted in 'GBX' not 'GBP'.
GBX refers to a penny making the shares 50p each, not £50 each.

Costain share price is currently 45 GBX - ergo pence and not pounds.

Looks like it's only 44.75 pence today so the valuation may be correct unfortunately

I'm the finance app I use it's GBP for pounds and GBp for pence.

The GBX rather than GBP makes much more sense - thanks everyone, really appreciate your help