Under the 1985 Companies Act, the register of shareholders of a company was open to the public, although a small fee could be charged to non-shareholders wishing to inspect it. Instances of ‘direct action’ against shareholders by militants opposed to activities of a company and the misuse of information in shareholders’ registers generally have led to a change in the law under the Companies Act 2006.
The information contained in annual returns made up to any date after 30 September 2008 is no longer generally available. Specifically:
- public companies whose shares are traded on an EU regulated market only have to file the names, addresses and holdings of shareholders who have held 5 per cent or more of any class of shares at any time during the year in question; and
- all other public companies and private companies only have to supply shareholder names and holdings, not addresses, in respect of all shareholders.
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators has published a guidance note on this matter.
We would like to thank you for the superb work and attention to detail that has gone into our dispute with the council so far!