Interesting days ahead with the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of The Royal Mail (formerly known as Consignia…). The shares are eagerly awaited and look like they will rise on the first day of trading due to strong demand, and also the hard assets it owns. For example the property (real-estate) alone is worth a fortune, such as the London Mount Pleasant Complex near Kings Cross. So good to see demand for equities, and this lead me to look at share ownership of UK shares.

The ONS (Office of National Statistics) published a report on the 25th Sept 2013.
It is gives a breakdown of who owns UK shares:-

[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_327674.pdf]

Some fantastic figures:

At the end of 2012, the UK stock market was valued at £1,756.3 billion. UK quoted ordinary shares was £1,756.3 billion. Of this, the rest of the world held 53.2% (£935.1 billion).

UK individuals owned an estimated 10.7% of the UK Stock market.

Unit trusts held an estimated 9.6% of the UK Stock market

Insurance companies held an estimated 6.2% of the UK Stock market

Pension funds held an estimated 4.7% of the UK Stock market

Non-British shareholders owned 53% of the UK Stock market

The financial crisis of 2008 led to unprecedented government intervention in the UK financial industry. There was initial recapitalisation of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) in November 2008 with a further injection in 2009. The recapitalisations of LloydsTSB Group plc and HBOS plc took place in 2009. Government also participated in two subsequent recapitalisations of Lloyds Banking Group plc. in 2009. On 31 December 2012, these interventions equated to shareholdings valued at £42.6 billion. The 2.5 % of UK shares are held by HM Government, almost all in FTSE 100 companies. This is due to the government interventions in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Interesting numbers from our Office of National Statistics.